Dartmouth Firsts 3 - City of Dartmouth

1879

November 29, 2022April 22, 2016 by Dartmouth

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

Although the exodus of young people seeking work in the United States continued, and there were several houses for sale or let in 1879, yet the industrial situation seemed to be improving.

The annual output of the Starr Factory was about 40,000 pairs of skates and many of these were shipped to the United States and to Europe. Of late years German competition was beginning to threaten their sales. About this time they commenced the manufacture of shovels, and the firm continually submitted tenders on government bridge-building projects. Among local jobs completed by the Starr Factory in 1879 was the making and setting-up of iron vaults and doors for the new Merchants Bank at Halifax. (Now Royal Bank.)

Aggressive Dartmouthians kept up their agitation for a railway that spring. There was talk in the air that the Allan line might build piers in Dartmouth if railroad connections were made available. At a public meeting held in April 1879, resolutions were passed memorializing the Dominion Government on the subject of building a branch line from Windsor Junction. About that time also, steps were taken to beautify the town when the Council encouraged the planting of shade-trees by abating taxes on property so ornamented. The tax rate was $1.05 compared with a 75 cent rate in the first year of incorporation. The estimate expeditures for the municipal year beginning May 1st, was $16,882. An amount was to be asked for the purchase of Lake Loon, and $200 was voted to build a school-house for [black] children. J. G. Foster became Town Magistrate.

Perhaps the biggest construction job that year was the $1,990 contract for a new Baptist Church on King Street built by Rhodes Curry and Co. of Amherst. This Gothic-style edifice occupied the site of the original Church which was then removed to the rear to be used for Sunday School classes.

About the same time, the lofty three-storey structure at the southwest corner of Portland and Prince Street was built for Mrs. Isabelle Lawlor. (This is now Chisling’s corner.)

The present Lesbirel building on Commercial Street was erected for George Craig, the barber-photographer, by Contractor John T. Walker, also in 1879. This soon became the leading tonsorial parlor in town and was patronized by leading citizens. Mr. Craig possessed considerable talent and ambition. As a young man he worked regularly as a factory hand in the Ropeworks, and employed his nightly leisure learning the barbering trade. Barber shops then kept open evenings, and also on Sunday mornings to serve Saturday midnight shop-workers.

Safety razors were 40 years away. The danger and difficulty of manipulating straight-edge razors did not encourage the majority of males to practise the fine art of shaving, with the result that many a man made frequent visits to his chosen barber-shop where his private shaving-mug was held in readiness. Shaves were seven cents. Most adults grew moustaches, sometimes sideburns. A haircut on Saturday night was generally taboo, even though long waits were of little consequence. Spending an hour or so in a group where everybody knew one another was an entertainment in itself, especially with a punster like George Craig steering the conversation.

The masculine privacy of 19th century barber-shops was seldom violated by the presence of women. Occasionally of an afternoon, some fond mother whose young hopeful needed a haircut, might be seen herding the little fellow past the customary row of spittoons to a distant seat where both were isolated from the men-folk, over whom an awed silence would generally descend.

The unsolved mystery of Dr. John McDonald, was brought again to public attention in 1879 when a human skull was found underground in the cellar-kitchen of the house where the Doctor once lived on Blockhouse Hill. For a time the incident aroused considerable excitement among older residents who now felt there was sufficient proof that Dr. McDonald had been murdered in that house. At the ensuing inquest, however, a former occupant, Mrs. Mary Loner declared that the skull had been given her by the widow of Dr. John Slayter, and that she had hidden it in the ground some years previously. Dr. W. H. Weeks also stated that he recognized the skull as the one belonging to Dr. Slayter, and it was supposed to be the head of one of the “Saladin” pirates who were hanged in 1844.

In October, Dartmouth had another mystery on its hands. Hugh Greene well-known resident and former inn-keeper at Skerry’s Corner was listed as missing. His family organized search-parties to scour the woods for some days until tidings came that the old man had eaten dinner at Nichols Hotel at Grand Lake on the 18th. More parties continued the search in that area, and only abandoned their attempts when it was felt that Mr. Greene must have frozen to death or been drowned.

County Magistrate Andrew Shiels, best known as “Albyn,” died in his 88th year at his residence 114 Ochterloney Street in November. His first blacksmith shop was set up near the ferry wharf in Halifax. In the volume of Albyn’s poetry available at the Provincial Archives, appear the following lines deploring the fact that the sacrifices of early settlers are not better remembered:

Lo! even in Quakertown, the fiendish raid Is quite forgotten that the Micmacs made;

And all the legends which it once could boast Have, with itself in Dartmouth, long been lost!

Nor is there any vestige left that says,

Where stood the Blockhouse in the former days.

By 1879 several telephones had been installed in business houses and offices of Halifax. The first telephone line in Dartmouth was a private wire strung that autumn from the residence of John P. Mott at Hazelhurst to one of his factory buildings about 150 yards southward.

In the shipbuilding line, Eben Moseley built a 32-ton schooner called the “Mora.” Alexander Forsyth acquired the grocery establishment in the new shop and residence at the present 85 Commercial Street which had been previously erected by E. L. Coleman. The latter lost the property in a Sheriff’s sale. At the northeast corner of Pine and Ochterloney Streets, an unoccupied house belonging to Alexander Richard was destroyed by fire.

Dartmouth deaths in 1879 included Olivia, 28 years, wife of John Greene, Portland Street jeweler; Anne 61, wife of David Falconer at “Greenvale”; Charlotte, wife of S. P. Fairbanks, Eastern Passage Road (Woodside); Mary Ann 24, wife of Peter O’Hearn, Halifax schoolteacher; Charlotte Donig, 53, wife of John Mansfield; Mary 92, widow of James Collins, Portland Street; Elizabeth 78, widow of Michael Waddell, Blockhouse Hill; Barbara 69, widow of John Jackson; Louise 70, widow and second wife of ex-Premier James W. Johnston, died at residence of her stepson at “Sunnyside”; Stephen Faulkner 66, Dundas Street; Francis Young 67, shipbuilder; Sackville McKay 73, Ochterloney Street; Daniel Sullivan 52, Austenville; Jeremiah Donovan 79; Henry Monohan 39, Porto Bello Road at Port Wallace.

1878

November 20, 2022April 22, 2016 by Dartmouth

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

The first public demonstration of a telephone in Dartmouth, and also the first local broadcast over wires took place on March 21st, 1878, when a vocal and instrumental concert at the Town Hall was heard and acknowledged through telephone apparatus set up in the Dominion Telegraph Company’s office at 187 Hollis Street in Halifax. The Dartmouth hookup was made by connecting a telephone instrument to the local telegraph wire, an extension of which had been run in to the auditorium of the Town Hall.
This Dartmouth exhibition of the newly-invented telephone, previously advertised as a feature of the concert, was highly successful. Communication was held with the City, and the notes of musical instruments were clearly heard by a group assembled in the Halifax office. They in turn rendered a short program which was listened to by the Town Hall audience. A few names of our own people who took part in the concert and whose voices may have been among those that went out over the wire that evening are preserved in the newspapers. According to the program there were readings by Miss Sarah Findlay, Dutch recitations by Thomas Harrison and a medley of songs by Messrs. Shute and Ruggles. The 63rd Regiment Band furnished music.
The proceeds of the concert were in aid of the Dartmouth Temperance Reform Club, which had just been organized with Dr. W. H. Weeks, John Lawlor and John E. Leadley as the principal officers. They had a membership of nearly 600, and were campaigning for funds to erect a commodious hall for meetings and entertainments.
Dartmouth had two spectacular night-fires that year. The more glaring one occurred at the gristmill in April. The second was at Oland’s Brewery in early August. Both were disastrous. At the unoccupied four-storey gristmill, wind-fanned sheets of flame shot upward to redden the sky so alarmingly that people in west-end Halifax imagined their own downtown business section was ablaze. Elderly Dartmouth men of our time who were youths in 1878, often related how they were impressed into giving the fire-fighters a spell at the hand-pump engines on that fearful night when flying embers threatened rooftops and stifling smoke choked the lungs. The efforts of workers were largely centred on saving the storehouse.
The gristmill fire was among the last jobs of the old style rope-drawn engines, for in July the Town took delivery of a brand new horse-drawn fire engine from the Silsby Manufacturing Company of Seneca Falls, N. Y. In honor of the consort of the Governor-General of Canada, the engine was named ‘the “Lady Dufferin.” She was long considered one of the most efficient machines in Eastern Canada.
There were 39 pupils in the High School department that term. At the closing examinations on July 10th, the following were prize winners in order of merit: Annie Hunt, Edward Fairbanks, Louis McKenna, Libbie Creelman, Sarah Creighton (now Mrs. Walter Creighton of 114 Ochterloney St.), Lizzie Adams, Ida Bowes, Georgie Grant, Emma Findlay, Alice Downey.
Another move was made in 1878 towards the installation of a water-system when the Town purchased Lamont’s Lake and its gristmill for $3,719.11. Policeman John “Elbows” McLellan was given a $30 increase in salary. A new steel bell weighing 870 pounds was set up in a tower erected on the fire-engine house. Fire gutted the residence and shop of J. E. Leadley who kept a general store, Post Office and telegraph office at Poplar Hill corner. The property was owned by J. R. Ormon, grocer, who was then doing business at Sterns’ Corner near the ferry. Councillor John P. Mott took J. Walter Allison into his establishment and the firm became known as J. P. Mott and Company. The foundry of Mumford and Sons (near the present Police Station) had the most powerful welding-hammer in the Province and was turning out about 1,000 tons of finished iron-work every year. The 90-ton schooner “Blanche” was launched at Ebenezer Moseley’s shipyard. Dartmouth Ropeworks won a bronze medal at the Paris Exposition. A weekly newspaper called the “Dartmouth Tribune” commenced publication in July.
The summer was generally hot. The steamer “Goliath” ran trips from Halifax to Cow Bay where passengers were landed on the beach in small boats. At Lawlor’s Island in September over 1,000 children and adults attended St. Peter’s Sunday School picnic. At Dartmouth there was still the odd bear lurking as will be learned from a newspaper item of October 1878: Bruin is terrorizing certain Dartmouthians just now. The other night he made an unsuccessful raid on a soap manufactory for tallow. Traps have been set, and armed men with dogs await him at night.
There was a Dominion election in 1878 when the Conservatives came back to power on the platform of the National Policy. This policy was adopted by Sir John A. Macdonald’s party largely as a result of the persistent agitation of George G. Dustan of Woodside, who had been long pleading for a protective tariff on sugar imports so that Sugar Refineries could be established and operated with some degree of security. Dartmouth and Halifax County forgot their old enmity towards the Confederationists and elected two Conservatives.

1876

December 31, 2022April 22, 2016 by Dartmouth

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

In the leap year of 1876 the Cabbage Club paraded through town on their annual sleigh drive to Griffin’s Inn at Preston. This time they were accompanied by lady friends. The recently organized Red Caps Snowshoe Club of Halifax held a snowshoe race from First Lake to Porto Bello. Eli Veniot, carpenter at the ferry, was fatally injured while cutting ice out of the paddle box of one of the boats. Bowes’ icehouse at the foot of Nowlan Street was badly gutted by fire. The horse races drew a crowd to Second Lake in mid-February.

A lengthy Act for supplying Dartmouth with water passed the Legislature that winter. The Act noted that the ratepayers had previously ratified the borrowing of $33,000 for such purpose. By this legislation the Town was now authorized to construct a water system, provided it received the approval of ratepayers at the town meeting. (The equivalent of a plebiscite.)

The Union Protection Company was organized that year. John Y. Payzant resigned as Stipendiary Magistrate, and was succeeded by Robert Motton of Halifax. The Town Council’s recommendations that a suitable Town Hall be provided; that a steam fire engine be secured and a school be built in Ward III, were approved by the citizens at the annual Town meeting in April. The proposal to construct a water system, however, was defeated by a majority of 13 votes. The number of ratepayers in attendance would be about 100. Estimated expenditures for the year were $14,500, which amount included $5,000 for schools. The salary of Miss Sarah Findlay, assistant to Principal Alexander McKay, was raised to $200. There were 12 teachers on the staff, and 11 buildings used. Central was the “big school”. A few classes were held in private homes.

Luther Sterns, who kept the Post Office as a side line in his brick business establishment on Water Street, resigned as Postmaster on April 1st. He was succeeded by John E. Leadley, and the Office removed to the latter’s shop and residence at the southeast corner of King and Portland Streets.

Dartmouth firms which sent their products to the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876 included Starr Manufacturing Co., Ropeworks, Symonds’ Foundry, Adam McKay and Ebenezer Moseley, marine paint.

That summer the heat was almost intolerable. In August the mercury rose to 93, the highest in 14 years. Boat-loads of bathers rowed from Halifax to Sandy Cove and Mill Cove. A dozen Dartmouth names of boys appeared in the newspapers as having swum across the harbor at that time. Among the list were Lewis Payzant, 14 years; Charles E. Creighton, Charles H. Harvey, Byron A. Weston and John Woodaman.

In the same newspaper we found the first record of an organized baseball game in Dartmouth, although there must have been games in earlier years because the Common field was available for playing, and by 1876 baseball clubs in Halifax were regularly competing against one another, and even against outside teams. The Halifax-Dartmouth series that summer was between the Bluenose Club of Halifax and the Victoria Club of Dartmouth. On the local nine were Colin McNab, George Sterns, Fred Leadley, Charles Robson, L. Payzant, J. Bowes, W. Bowes, L. Mylius, T. Creighton.

About the time that the famous Fishermen’s four-oared shell crew of Halifax left to compete for the world’s championship at Philadelphia, there was a big regatta held on Second Lake at Dartmouth. The Williams crew won $30 as first prize in the whaler race by defeating the Young-Parker crew and the Heffler crew. In the wherry race with two pairs of paddles, Williams and McKay won $20 as first prize. Other contestants were Moseley and Henderson, Mosher and Wilson. The Williams crew also won the four-oared scull race. In the canoe race Peter Cope won the $14 first prize. Of four competitors in the tub race, Henderson finished first, with Moseley second. First prize $3.

In September the Warden and Councilors of Dartmouth participated in a monster torch-light procession which welcomed home the Fishermen’s crew at North Street railway depot. In the harbor the big cable steamer “Faraday” boomed out a salute of cannon and sent up intermittent shafts of skyrockets into the drizzly darkness.

Wooden Park School on the Common, known as the “Common School” was built in 1876 at a cost of $4,676. Henry Elliot was the architect, and his brother Thomas G. Elliot, the contractor. This building was intended to accommodate all lower grades of the whole school section, so that many young pupils hitherto enrolled at Central School, now had to travel longer distances. They came from homes as far away as the present North Woodside and upper Portland Street areas, and also from Tufts’ Cove neighborhood.

The two-masted twin-screw lighter “Robbie Burns” modelled by Eben Moseley, was built for Contractor Duncan Waddell that year. At the Methodist Church, alterations were made which extended the edifice 20 feet nearer the street. A handsome new front and tower largely improved its appearance. “Willow Cottage” on Preston Road (Prince Albert Road) formerly owned by Thomas Short, was purchased by Councilor Maurice Downey for $2,200. Rev. Alexander Falconer was then selling off his household effects on Cole Harbor Road (289 Portland Street) preparatory to his departure for Trinidad in December. He was to be succeeded at St. James’ Church by Rev. P. M Morrison.

The first telegraph poles and wires made their appearance in Dartmouth during the latter part of 1876. They were erected by the Dominion Telegraph Co., who were constructing a line from Halifax to Canso. In January 1877, a telegraph office was set up in Leadley’s Post Office which gave our town the first electrical communication with Halifax and with the outside world. No longer would it be necessary for merchants and others to send their employees over on the ferry with urgent messages, as had been the practice hitherto. The rate for a 10-word telegram to Halifax was 15 cents, which was about the price of ferriage. The first telegraph operator here was a Miss Phinney from Richibucto, N. B. Later on, Miss Frances Leadley learned the telegraphic art.

1873

January 16, 2023April 22, 2016 by Dartmouth

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.

1870

December 31, 2022April 21, 2016 by Dartmouth

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.

Hazelhurst

December 27, 2022April 21, 2016 by Dartmouth

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

This is John Mott’s residence “Hazelhurst” at 62-64 Pleasant Street undergoing demolition. Shown is the rear of the house with a back door for tradesmen. The driveway curved around to the main entrance with its partly-open sun porch facing the harbor where I used to see elderly Mrs. Mott and some rocking-chaired ladies enjoying the scenery on fine afternoons when I delivered the “Evening Mail” newspaper there just prior to her death in 1896. The place was then purchased by J. Walter Allison. At that time there were no houses on that side of Pleasant Street from Old Ferry Road to Albert St. When Mr. Allison’s widow died in 1934 the 10-acre estate was acquired by A. A. MacDonald. He remained until the P.E.I. Highlanders leased the residence for officers, and erected barracks on the lower grounds for occupation during World War II. The late W. G. Martin and others transformed the land.

Directly opposite 127 Pleasant Street the hollow foundation marks the site of “Beechwood” where Hon. Dr. McN. Parker resided from 1863. He practiced in Halifax and is said to have been the first surgeon in Nova Scotia to perform an operation on a patient with the use of an anesthetic. Dr. Van Buskirk of “Maplehurst” administered the ether. One of the rooms at “Beechwood” was used as a private school. Rev. Robert Falconer who became President of Toronto University in 1907 once attended there. He was then Principal of Pine Hill College. He became Sir Robert in 1917.

The view from across the street, looking South East towards Old Ferry Road, then and now.

pleasant st — A panorama made from the photos seen below, this is Hazelhurst estate, as seen from somewhere near what was once the driveway to Blink Bonnie from Pleasant St, looking northwest around the year 1890. Pleasant Street at Old Ferry Road seen in the foreground, Dartmouth Cove at middle left, what is now Downtown Dartmouth at upper middle. The Dartmouth ship yards are seen middle left, while Halifax is seen in the distance on the upper left. Dartmouth Common at the top middle. On the upper right much of “Slabtown”, later Austenville, still in a forested state.

A similar view to the image composite above, except from a vantage point a few blocks up the hill c.1950s. Much of Hazelhurst remains undeveloped, Newcastle having been a recent addition at this point. The lack of harbor bridge helps to pinpoint the date to before 1955.

See also:

French Prison: Near old Ferry Road, Dartmouth Cove, probably built about 1793, afterwards J. P. Mott & Co. soap factory

Dartmouth from Mount Amelia

“Survey of Ferry-House Lot belonging to J.P. Mott Esq.”

Dartmouth Common, 1890s

December 29, 2022April 21, 2016 by Dartmouth

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

This picture from Dartmouth Common was taken in the late 1890s. Symonds’ Foundry, was formerly that of James Greig. The Gorham house to the left, fronted Church Street. In that residence, Mayor W. S. Symonds convened the first Town Council meeting in May, 1873. See plaque at CNR Station nearby. Opposite Gorham’s is the boat-shop of E. F. Williams. The walls of the old tobacco factory can be seen west of the small pitch-roof cottage. The corner-field this way from the cottage was then the swampy home of pollywogs and frogs, and in winter the mecca of skating children.

Turner’s yard, within the picket fence, was flooded during rainy periods. Up the slope to the right, there was an extensive and luxuriant flower garden. Joseph Moore’s high stone structure at extreme left, was then occupied by the Downey family. It fronted on Coleman Street. Across the railway in the rear stood Moseley’s paint factory.

A similar view as above (this one from 1895), looking out over the corner of Park Avenue and Alderney Drive. https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31104991519&cm_sp=det--bsk--bdp

1847

November 30, 2022April 21, 2016 by Dartmouth

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

The year 1847 opened with a severe spell of weather. Newspaper items early in January inform us that “there was superior skating on the Dartmouth Lakes”. The thermometer at Citadel Hill registered 15 below on the 20th. The Axe Firemen of Halifax made merry on an exhilarating sleigh drive to Schultz’s Inn at Grand Lake, and returned through Dartmouth in Hiram Hyde’s Mammoth Tea Party Sleigh with six-in-hand and colors flying”. Another newspaper report that month mentions a misfortune of the Mailboat brig Margaret, which had been driven up on shore at Black Rock on the Dartmouth side of the harbor.

Distress and disease prevailed among the Mi’kmaq tribes at Shubenacadie and Dartmouth where several deaths had resulted from an outbreak of fever that winter. Forthwith the Provincial Government directed that an [indigenous] Hospital be prepared in the vicinity of the encampment, with Dr. Jennings as the Superintendent.

As the latter was a Conservative, and a comparative stranger on our side of the harbor, the Liberal newspaper Nova Scotian indignantly asked why he received the appointment over the head of Dr. DesBrisay, a Dartmouth physician, who had long ministered to the [Mi’kmaq] gratuitously.

A few weeks later when Dr. Jennings’ accounts for attending these [Mi’kmaq] were up for discussion in the Assembly, a Committee of the House recommended that a sum of money be also set apart for the remuneration of Dr. DesBrisay “whose humane disposition has urged him to supply the numerous [Mi’kmaq], who annually resort to the neighborhood of Dartmouth, with advice and medicine during a period of 14 years”.

Another Legislative Committee headed by Hon. Hugh Bell reported on possible sites for a Provincial Insane Asylum. One property owned jointly by G. A. S. Crichton and the heirs of Michael Wallace, comprising about 100 acres on the western side of First Lake, was available for £500. Another at Birch Cove in Bedford Basin, had 900 acres and would cost £1200. A third was at Prince’s Lodge, and contained 470 acres with a price of £1500.

The Birch Cove land was recommended because it was conveniently situated for a supply of fresh water from a higher elevation. The Dartmouth site was strongly urged by Hon. J. E. Fairbanks on account of its commanding situation and beautiful view; but the objection was that the water supply would have to be forced up the slope from the lake by artificial means.

The Simultaneous Polling Act, by which elections were to be held on a single day, became law in that session of 1847. This important Bill was introduced by Attorney General Johnston, a summer resident of our town. Provision was made for polling places at numerous centres, one of which was to be in the township of Dartmouth. No longer would freeholders hereabouts be obliged to travel to the Halifax polling booth where disorder and heckling generally prevailed during the long-drawn-out elections under the old arrangement. (In the enactment of this piece of legislation, Nova Scotia led all other British colonies.)

Dartmouthians evidently were continuing in their efforts that winter to obtain a water supply from neighboring lakes. In February, a meeting was announced to be held in the Mechanics’ Institute on a Monday afternoon, when a report from a Committee on that subject would be submitted.

Mrs. Gould’s account of early Dartmouth mentions an entertainment held in the old schoolhouse by General Tom Thumb and his manager P. T. Barnum. This may have been in February of 1847, because the famous midget spent a few days in this port while waiting for the steamer to proceed to Boston. Tom and Mr. Barnum were returning from a four-year tour of Europe.

On this occasion, the Halifax Morning Post published a lengthy account of Tom’s talents and his enormous earnings while abroad, noting that “he speaks French fluently, plays the piano and has taken part in French plays in the principal French cities. He has received valuable presents from the principal sovereigns of Europe, and has kissed more than a million and a half of ladies”. (Mrs. Gould does not mention any such osculations in Dartmouth.)

About this time, there was much misery and privation being suffered in Scotland and in Ireland where hundreds were actually dying from starvation. On this Continent, campaigns for famine funds were carried out in almost every large centre.

At Halifax, the Secretary of the Relief Committee was the well-known Alexander James. By March, they had collected £1,317. The contribution from Dartmouth amounted to £325, and the number of persons subscribing in this town was 86. Their names are preserved in the columns of the Halifax Sun, and constitute a valuable record of prominent citizens resident in Dartmouth at that period of our history.

Many on the Halifax and Dartmouth lists gave only a few shillings, indicating that our people were also feeling the pinch of poverty, for at that time the whole Province was in the doldrums of another depression. One newspaper reported that the price of flour and bread was the highest in 30 years.

This was partly caused by a sudden depletion of provisions, particularly meat and vegetables, resulting from an influx of over 1,000 immigrants suffering from typhus fever. Local bakers took advantage of the panic to double the price of bread.

Governor Harvey issued a proclamation that Friday, May 14th, be observed as a day of fasting and humiliation “that people may unite in supplication to Almighty God for pardon for their sins and for the removal of those heavy judgments under which we are suffering”. On that day, church services were held, and the closed shops along silent streets cast an appearance of solemnity over downtown Halifax and, we trust, over industrial Dartmouth.

If our industries in those days were down, they were not completely out, for there was at least one ship constructed at Lyle’s that year. She was the 270-ton “Mercy”, launched at flood-tide on the last Saturday morning of April.

At a foundry in Dartmouth, a set of cast-iron steps was moulded, and placed in front of the store of J. Wallace & Co., at Halifax, during the summer of 1847. These steps, novel in design, were highly praised for their utility, being tastefully perforated so as to admit light into the cellar. From the favorable comment in newspapers, one gathers that such a type of steps had hitherto been unknown. Thus is scored another mark in the record of Dartmouth’s “first things”.

A transatlantic “first” was made by the Dartmouth-built “Barbara” which arrived in this port after a record run from Ireland. The Halifax Morning Post of May 20th noted this remarkable achievement:

The barque Barbara with 296 passengers on board, arrived yesterday in 12 days from Galway—the shortest passage yet ever made by a Nova Scotia built vessel. The Barbara was built at the Ship Yard of our well-known builder, Mr. Lyle at Dartmouth.

1841

May 4, 2024April 21, 2016 by Dartmouth

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

When the new House met in February 1841, Joseph Howe was chosen as Speaker. That appointment brought a bit of political prestige to our side of the harbor, because Dartmouth was the largest center in Mr. Howe’s constituency.

An Act incorporating the City of Halifax was passed by the Legislature that session. Of more local interest, however, was an Act for regulating Dartmouth Common.

“An act for regulating the Dartmouth Common”, 1841 c52: “The Common of the Township of Dartmouth, situate on the eastern side of the Harbour of Halifax, in special trust, for the use of the inhabitants settled and resident in the Town Plot, or that might thereafter settle and actually reside within the Township of Dartmouth”

“An act to enable the Inhabitants of the Town Plot of Dartmouth to use and occupy the Common Field…in such way as they may think most beneficial to them”, 1789 c6 “Trustees named in the grant of the Common of Dartmouth, to call meetings of the persons interested in that Common; Trustees may sue, or be sued, as it respects the management and safe keeping of said Common; Proprietors, at their meetings, to vote money to pay the expense, and also the charge for managing any of the affairs of that Common, the same to be assessed, levied, and collected, as the public taxes are at Halifax, and to be paid to the Clerk, who is to be sworn, and is to be appointed at a meeting of the proprietors”

This was the “new town-plot” … As the trustees of the Common were all dead by 1841, there was no one in authority to prevent the increasing number of squatters from occupying parts of the Common, especially those portions adjacent to the waterfront in the vicinity of Black Rock. (The whole area of the new town-plot must have been so called from earliest times, no doubt from the black color of the slate rock there.)

The Act of 1841 appointed new trustees in the persons of John E. Fairbanks, Henry Y. Mott and William Foster. They were empowered to subdivide the large area of Common land on the western side of Windmill Road, extending from about the present line of the new bridge on the north, to Geary Street on the south.

William MacKay, a well-known surveyor of that time, subsequently laid off the section into 41 building lots which were advertised at auction and conveyed to the highest bidder for 999 years, subject to an annual ground-rent of £1. Thirty-one of the lots were sold that summer. Some were bought outright by the holders, but others continued paying ground-rent for many years afterwards. (The MacKay map of the section, is still preserved at the Town Engineer’s office.)

According to the Act, revenue from the sale of these lands had to be applied to improve the remaining portion of the Common, and provide for the laying out of a street along the waterfront. (This is the present Shore Road).

Names of other streets in that vicinity like Fairbanks, Hare, Mott, Best and Lyle, commemorate trustees and original property owners. (Geary Street was named after the Priest who had charge of the Catholic cemetery. Turner Street, directly opposite, runs through the old Turner tanyard. The name of Foster certainly should be applied somewhere to honor a forgotten family who were long included among our early industrialists.)

From the Dartmouth “Atlantic Weekly” of April 29, 1899, readers may obtain the number of each lot of Common land, and the price paid for same at time of sale. The following names were among the first purchasers: George Turner, James Synott, William Stairs, C. A. Mott, James Whiteley, John Fenton, David Hare, Gilbert Elliott, James Keating, William Walker, Richard Best, Michael McKenna, John Thornham, John B. Woodworth, John Kennedy, Alexander Lyle, John E. Fairbanks, Richard McLearn and John Tapper.

On June 8th 1841, the Nova Scotia Philanthropic Society celebrated the Natal Day of Halifax by holding a picnic and athletic games at Turtle Grove “near the Windmill in Dartmouth”, whither they were transported on the “Sir C. Ogle”.

Another large group enjoyed an outing at Dartmouth on the afternoon of St. John’s Day, June 24th 1841, when the members of St. Mary’s Total Abstinence Society of Halifax crossed the harbor. A brass band on the deck of the “Sir C. Ogle” kept playing lively airs during two or three trips, until the full crowd of people had been transported.

These then “marched to a beautifully situated field, half a mile from the ferry, and kindly loaned for the occasion by Mr. Boggs. The progress through the pretty village of Dartmouth, and through the rural ways and woodpaths, was delightful”, says the account in the Nova Scotian. Between 700 and 800 met on the appointed ground where they indulged in games of ball and bat, and other sports. Quadrille and Contra dances were also got up on the green.

(About this time, the temperance cause was being preached in Europe by Father Theobold Mathew, and his influence was felt in North America. St. Mary’s Society had about 3,000 members. The Halifax Temperance Society had almost as many. In Dartmouth, St. Peter’s Total Abstinence Society had over 1,000, among whom many were Mi’kmaq. Most of Austinville district was then owned by Thomas Boggs. Roughly, the area from Christ Church cemetery to St. Peter’s School grounds was known as “Boggswood”. Not likely Pine Street was as yet constructed. Definitely lower Maple Street was not. The field referred to, must have been somewhere in “Boggswood”, other than the swampy section. [—I believe JPM is referring to the south side of Myrtle Street here]. The “ball and bat” contest mentioned, is the earliest written record of a baseball game being played in Dartmouth.)

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