1870s

1874

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From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

In response to a memorial from the clergy early in 1874, a Committee of the Town Council recommended that liquor licenses be restricted to 10, and that the annual fee be raised from $25 to $100. Robert Murphy, formerly of the 60th Rifles, was appointed Superintendent of Streets at $500 a year, and he was also to hold the office of Chief of Police for an additional $100. Twelve lamp posts for oil lamps were ordered erected in different parts of town.

By a vote of ratepayers at a public meeting in April the Council was authorized to issue debentures for a sum not exceeding $8,000 to purchase Lamont Lake or any other lake.

Work was commenced that year to extend Maple Street through to meet Ochterloney by acquiring and cutting down the sloping bank on the western side of the residence of Principal Ross at “Morven” (now St. Peter’s glebe house). The level land at the foot of the hill, formerly Stanford Tannery property, was purchased from P. J. Kuhn for $700.

Negotiations were also carried on with Frank C. Elliot to buy for $150, the swampy section south of the present Park Avenue so that Wentworth Street could be extended to make a thoroughfare for pedestrians towards Ochterloney Street. The high bank of slate rock at North Street and Wentworth would be cut down later for vehicular traffic.

John Dillman of Tulip Street, supplied two horses and carts with drivers at $2 each per day. In addition, five laborers at $1 per day were employed to work on the streets. A wooden sewer for the proper drainage of properties was laid in Portland Street that summer. Streets were now being constructed with a crowned surface. Halifax newspapers noted that Dartmouth was more advanced than their City in this respect.

Our school enrollment was 515, housed in five buildings. Alexander McKay, who had succeeded John Hollies in 1872, had established a High School Department, which was also an advance on Halifax where there was no High School as yet. Mr. McKay was encouraging the study of science, and soliciting donations of scientific apparatus for a laboratory.

A new wing had just been completed at Mount Hope Asylum. A life-size oil painting of Miss Dorothea Dix was presented to the Hospital that summer. Dr. Alfred C. Cogswell was now occupying the new house at “Locust Knoll”. John Esdaile advertised for sale his residence in Prince Arthur Park.

1873

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From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

By 1873 the newly established industries of Dartmouth were commencing to participate in the usual practice of holding annual sleigh-drives hereabouts. These establishments could not be expected to advertise their wares in all of the numerous newspapers then being published in Halifax, and consequently took advantage of other opportunities to make their products known to the public.

In February 1873 the employees of Starr Manufacturing Company boosted their Acme skates and new electro-plating department by parading in a long line of decorated sleighs through the business streets of Halifax, before proceeding to some popular hostel “out the road”. On the very next day, the employees of Symonds’ Foundry then numbering about 60 men, went through the same performance. Their destination was Bedford. With a Band discoursing music in the leading sleigh the horses jingled up George Street off the ferry followed by a 6-in-hand, a double sleigh and two 4-in-hand teams. In the last sleigh a steam-engine was rigged up and running, being supplied with steam from a stove in the sleigh. Crowds stopped on the sidewalks to view this unique attraction.

Dartmouth became an incorporated town by an Act of the Legislature in 1873. We were the first Town in Nova Scotia to obtain that distinction. Previously our problems had been decided by the Court of Quarter Sessions (equivalent to the present County Council), or by the Grand Jury, or by a majority vote of ratepayers at town meetings. From now on a Town Council, elected annually in May, would exercise control over all local affairs.

One great advantage of incorporation was that the Municipality of Dartmouth had the authority to raise money by the issue of bonds, on which only the interest need be paid, thus relieving the citizens of that time from heavy taxation which would soon be necessary to levy on them to meet the growing requirements of the community. The installation of a water system, for instance.

The boundaries of the Town were almost the same as those of the present day, and the whole area was divided into three Wards as indicated on old maps of Dartmouth.

Ward I then comprised all that portion of the Town lying to the south of a line through the middle of Portland Street to the Canal Bridge, and of a line through the middle of the present Prince Albert Road to Hurley’s (now George Fraser’s) at the Lake.

Ward II comprised the portion lying to the north of above lines, and to the south of a line through the middle of what is now Crichton Avenue, thence down through the middle of Ochterloney St.

Ward III comprised all the portion lying to the north of the Ward II line, as far as the Town’s northern boundaries.

The Act of Incorporation further stated that for all school purposes “the district lying between the northern boundary of the Town and the lands of the British Government; and the district lying between the southern boundary of the Town and Herbert’s Brook, shall form part of the Town of Dartmouth”.

In other words, Dartmouth school section embraced all the territory from Burnside to the present Green Street at South Woodside.

In the first town election James W. Johnston, Jr., and Joseph W. Allan were returned for Ward I. John Forbes and William Murray were elected by acclamation in Ward II, as also were Thomas Hyde and Francis Mumford in Ward III. W. S. Symonds was unopposed for Warden, and convened the first Town Council meeting on May 23rd at his home.

It is noteworthy that one of the first problems to be dealt with was that of a water-supply. At a meeting on June 9th, Councillors Johnston and Mumford moved that the water question be taken up by a special committee with the assistance of an engineer.

Arrangements were soon made to purchase the old Presbyterian Church building for a combined Fire Station, a Town Hall and a schoolhouse. The first Council meeting in this building was held on July 7th. Thomas Short was Town Clerk and Treasurer. W. H. Isnor, the livery stable proprietor near the ferry, resigned as Police Constable and was succeeded by Thomas Waugh of Pine Street.

Hon. Joseph Howe who had been Secretary of State at Ottawa, came back to Halifax that spring to be sworn in as Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. His health had not improved. Friends noted with silent sympathy his blanched cheeks and emaciated features. Perhaps indulging in that shadowy hope so often entertained by invalids, that a few hours sojourn in healthful haunts of an earlier day would restore his former vigor, Howe was driven on the ferry to our side of the harbor and out over his favorite Harvey Road to the Stag Hotel in Preston and return, on Thursday, May 29th. Of all the journeys undertaken by Joseph Howe during a long lifetime, this Dartmouth one was his last. At Government House early on the morning of Sunday, June 1st, the patriot Howe passed peacefully away. Most of Dartmouth went over to witness the funeral.

In 1873 the Starr Manufacturing Company were at the peak of prosperity. Their books showed a profit of $25,000 for the year, and the number on the payroll totaled 250. The Directors were seeking to purchase land at “Fairfield” or some other site for a Rolling Mill.

1872

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From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

In January 1872 Dartmouth purchased a second-hand Hand Fire Engine in St. John, N. B., which went into service here after considerable repair work was done at Adam McKay’s boiler shop. R. B. Morris of the Virginia Tobacco Company instituted a series of winter lectures at his factory on Church Street for the cultural improvement of employees and their families. Results of trotting races at the Dartmouth Lakes together with names of officials appeared in the “Halifax Citizen” in February. The list includes names of well known horsemen of that time including Thomas Farrell, John R. Glendenning, Garrett Kingston, James Settle, J. E. Leadley, Andrew Corbin, Richard Barry, Thomas Hyde. (These races were not likely the first to be held here, because older residents used to relate tales of trotting contests long before that date.)

The weather grew pretty cold that winter. In March the harbor was so covered with ice that the ferries smashed their way across with difficulty. Mill Cove and Dartmouth side were frozen solidly. Soldiers from Fort Clarence walked back and forth freely over the surface, and skating parties were out in force.

Hornsby’s Brickyard at Eastern Passage advertised that they were prepared to furnish 2,000,000 bricks that season. At Lawlor’s Island, recently purchased from the Lawlor family, a Government quarantine hospital was being constructed. At Dartmouth Frederick Scarfe, late of the brickyards, set up the Chebucto Planing Mill. The Starr Company sent another large shipment of Acme skates by the English steamer. They now had about 150 employees, and had just declared a dividend of 15%, with a bonus of $1,000 to Manager John Forbes.

That spring over 400 residents crowded the Mechanics’ Institute to consider the question of incorporating Dartmouth Town. James W. Johnston, junior, submitted a charter modelled after the City of Halifax. The matter was deferred until July when a vote of ratepayers was taken, with the result that 141 voted in favor of incorporation, and 98 against. The Committee then prepared a Bill for the next session of the Legislature.

There was a Dominion election in 1872. This time the anti-Confederates offered no opposition to Hon. Joseph Howe in Hants County. There seems to be only one record of a political meeting here, and that one was held at Hoyne’s Hotel. The Conservatives won in Halifax County, but Dartmouth went Liberal; in other words they were still strongly “Anti”.

In August a representative meeting of Dartmouthians was held in the Mechanics’ Institute to present a farewell address to Judge James W. Johnston, ex-Premier of the Province, who was taking final leave of Mount Amelia to dwell in the south of France. The address was moved by Andrew Shiels and seconded by Rev. Dr. James Ross, Principal of Dalhousie College.

1871

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From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

On January 29th, the fifth Sunday of the month in 1871, St. James’ Presbyterian Church was opened for the first services, and the new edifice was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. On the next evening, the ladies of the congregation held their annual tea-meeting and salon in the basement hall where a large number of members and guests met in a “most successful housewarming,” according to the Presbyterian Witness.

At the capitulation of Paris towards the close of the Franco-Prussian War in February, William Garvie lectured on the beauties of that City to a crowded audience at the Mechanics’ Institute. George Webber 36, an oiler on the Steam Boat, was fatally injured when the Captain started the engine, unaware that Webber was inside the paddle-box chopping out the clogging chunks of ice. A large flag used to be hoisted at the end of the ferry wharf in Dartmouth to notify Haligonians there was good skating at the lakes.

That spring William Heffler commenced a north-end ferry service with row-boats running from Stairs’ wharf near the Brewery across the Narrows to Richmond. Fare five cents. Ebenezer Moseley completed a small steam-ferry for Cape Breton parties. Colonel George Dawson, now back in England, sold to John F. Stairs a large part of “Fairfield” property on the southern side of Dawson Street, where houses were to be erected for employees through a financial arrangement with the new Ropeworks. The remainder of Fairfield” estate which took in Pelzant Street and extended easterly towards Wyse Road was sold off in building lots from time to time. Gatherings at rural auction sales usually came a long distance; consequently it was the practice for the auctioneer to serve lunches on such occasions.

In the Provincial elections of 1871 the secret ballot was used for the first time. Instead of announcing candidates of his choice, the voter wrote the names on a paper, and deposited a sealed envelope into the ballot box. Again Dartmouth went Liberal. So did Preston.

The decennial census of 1871 gave the population of Dartmouth as 2,191. Weather records show we had 42 successive rainless days.

That summer there died Colonel William Chearnley (Charnley) retired military officer of Halifax, and native of Ireland, whose enthusiasm for fishing and hunting greatly popularized the countryside to the eastward of Dartmouth. He knew thoroughly the woods, streams and lakes of that district, and for years practised and promoted the protection of salmon streams and of wild life in general. It was Colonel Chearnley who once composed the lines on the large swinging signboard of the “Stag Hotel”, favorite hostel for sportsmen of last century, the ruins of which may still be seen at the northeast corner of No. 7 Highway and Frog Lake Road (now BRIAN STREET) in Preston, and locally known as Brooks’ Corner.

At the Aquatic Carnival, all the events including the four-oared scull race for the championship of the world, were rowed in August over a six-mile course from the Yacht Club at Richmond to stake boats moored off Fort Clarence. Sadler of England also won the world’s single scull championship over a straightaway course from Fort Clarence. The oarsmen must have passed quite close to Dartmouth shore, because the referee tugboat “Henry Hoover” fouled her propeller in a hawser off the Marine Slip. Hundreds of spectators crowded our wharves.

About this time the Octagon House or “Ink Bottle House” was completed for Gavin Holliday, Production Manager at The Starr Company. John Keating (father of Mrs. J. Howe Austen) was the Contractor, and Henry Elliot the Architect. There is a tradition that Mr. Holliday vied with his business associate John Forbes at “Lakeside”, in the erection of this modern mansion. The place contains 14 large rooms adjoining which are anterooms. Fixed washbasins were installed in the bedrooms, and stoves set up for heating. The walls of the house were double-plastered, and the whole building was surrounded with a two-tiered verandah. Earth from the rear of the property was hauled to the front to lay out the beautiful octagon-shaped terraces. According to G. C. Holliday, a son now living in Florida, the Octagon House cost over $25,000.

What has often been erroneously referred to as the “Saxby gale” occurred on the evening of October 12th when one of the worst hurricanes in history lashed the harbor into a foam, buffeted shipping against inundated wharves and strewed the shore with wrecks from Eastern Passage to Tufts’ Cove. The rain was torrential. Nearly every wharf and private boathouse suffered, but the greatest damage was at Symonds’ Foundry where the undermining of the stone wharf toppled the pattern shop with its contents, and most of the moulding shop into the harbor. The loss was $10,000.

1870

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From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

The decade of the 1870s commenced with a boom in real estate which petered out after a few years of prosperity. One project attempted was the subdividing of about 100 acres of the virgin land of Mount Amelia where streets were laid out, and building lots surveyed. The promoters were Hon. James W. Johnston, Dr. Parker, John Esdaile, B. H. Hornsby, and others who became a corporate body in 1870 known as the proprietors of Prince Arthur Park. In that year, Mr. Esdaile built the first house. Except for the Harvey house at “Locust Knoll” and the France house at “Mapledene” (“Fairmont”), there was little or no development there for the next thirty years.

As the 50-year charter of the Steam Boat Company had expired in 1867, there was no longer any legal obstacle in the way of a competitive ferry. A new Company with a capital of $200,000 was incorporated in 1870 by George W. Corbett, a Dartmouth druggist, and others. Nothing seems to have come out of this project.

One gathers from fragmentary sources that there were the usual outdoor activities that winter. A Halifax newspaper of January 22nd reported 12 inches of ice in Maynard’s Lake at Dartmouth, and “hundreds went over from Halifax on Saturday afternoon to enjoy the skating. The splendid band of the 78th Regiment went over also and discoursed sweet music at the lake. The wealth and beauty of Halifax were fully represented, and the scene was one of the rarest and most exhilarating description”.

The only known duel in the annals of Dartmouth took place that winter when two jealous suitors quarrelled on the ice over a young lady. These flaming youths determined to settle the affair on the morrow morning with pistols. Accordingly they met at the appointed place. Both fired. Both missed. Then they shook hands.

The steamer “City of Boston” lost on a voyage to England in 1870, had among its passengers Mr. Edward Billing prominent drygoods merchant of Halifax, who lived in the stone house at the corner of North and Edward Streets. The Starr Manufacturing Company’s report for the year ending April 30th, showed a profit of nearly $9,000. John Greene, who had learned his trade with McCullouch at Halifax, set up a jewelry store in the shop next south from Skerry’s old corner which was now occupied by the Greene family. About that time Robert Moyes, well-known foundryman, committed suicide in a mood of despondency.

In the spring of 1870 work was commenced on the building of St. James’ Church situated on a commanding knoll at the junction of the Eastern Passage and the Preston Roads, where there was once an old graveyard. Earth from this excavation was at first hauled to the foot of Portland Street and used as fill in the hollow near the present railway tracks. This procedure was halted when it was noticed that the debris contained numerous pieces of human bones. Some specimens of these bones, one of which was an adult skull, were presented to the Provincial Museum. They are now in the Museum at Halifax Citadel.

A branch of the YMCA was formed in Dartmouth at least by 1870, because during that summer the organization held a picnic on the grounds of Judge James at “Evergreen”, the proceeds were in aid of funds for their Reading Room. They held meetings at “Lawlor’s new Hall”. (This was over the present Harbor Cafe.) At First Lake, John Forbes built “Lakeside” now ‘‘Beechmount Apartments.”

At his Dartmouth shipyard Ebenezer Moseley built the 10-ton steamer “Whisper” for Robert Chetwynd of Halifax; the 22-foot sailing yacht “Marie” for George J. Troop, and another yacht for S. A. White of Halifax. The Steam Boat Co. donated the services of the “MicMac” to take Mount Hope patients on an afternoon excursion. The Italian Harpers furnished string music. (This practice kept up every summer and was discontinued about 20 years later when a patient took a notion to swim ashore from mid-harbour.)

At Halifax a new waiting-room was built for ferry patrons. This was an oblong-shaped one-storey structure on the south side of the gates, and contained a separate compartment for women. (The building remained in use until 1913.) At the Town offices in Dartmouth, the Clerk was relieved of his duties after auditors had discovered certain irregularities in the finances. At Coleman’s Cove in August (north of the foot of Ochterloney Street) the Plymouth Brethren held a baptizing ceremony when two males and four females were immersed before a large crowd.

Besides having a member in the first House of Commons, Dartmouth also had one of her residents in the first Canadian Senate. He was Jeremiah Northup, prominent Halifax merchant, who lived at “Fairfield” for a time after Howe’s departure. Senator Northup had been a member of the Liberal House of Assembly, but received an appointment to the Senate when he became a Conservative.

The Shubenacadie Canal, now owned by Lewis Fairbanks, ceased operations that summer. The last book entry, dated June 30th, debits Dennis Ring with $2.50 being tolls on 13 tons of timber. The books show that the Inclined-Plane was used to haul up yachts for painting. Fees were also received from vessels docking at Mill Cove wharf, and from icemen for ice-cutting privileges in the lakes.

The Way Office at Dartmouth was advanced to the status of a Post Office that autumn. Among the prized possessions of Mrs. Marion Moore is the following letter of notification written in the hand of Joseph Howe to her grandfather, and dated at Ottawa, September 13th, 1870:

Dartmouth is to be made a regular Post Office, and you are to have 40% commission on the business of the Office, with $52 per annum for taking the mails across. I will try to get some allowance for a delivery of letters in the town. Write me what this would cost. Yours truly, Joseph Howe, Mr. Luther Sterns, Dartmouth, N. S.

Blink Bonnie

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storyofdartmouth-5 blink bonnie
storyofdartmouth-5

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

This was the first house on the Prince Arthur’s Park hillside, constructed and occupied about 1870 by John P. Esdaile, Esq., a Montreal merchant. The Russells later called the place “Mount Pleasant.” The Redmonds re-named it “Blink Bonnie.”

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