Three generations of Seelys conducted business out of Port Medway and their story is one of great success and misfortune, very much in step with the nineteenth-century shipping and shipbuilding economy of Nova Scotia's South Shore. Seely Hall was…

Edward Doran Davison, Sr. (1819-1894) was a prominent businessman, caring philanthropist, devoted family man, Methodist, self-taught mechanical engineer, and avid politician. In 1837, at the young age of 18, Davison acquired large tracts of forest…

Built in 1787, Cossit House is one of the oldest surviving houses in Sydney. It was built by Anglican minister, Reverend Ranna Cossit, a loyalist from New Hampshire who settled in Sydney in 1786. When Cossit agreed to the post, the…

Starr Manufacturing was established in 1861 by Dartmouth businessman, John Starr. The steel manufacturing company was located on the west side of Prince Albert Road just north of Pleasant Street. Initially, the company produced nuts, bolts, and…

The Pentagon Building in downtown Halifax was somewhat of a landmark in its day. Erected in 1860 at the foot of Buckingham Street where Granville, Hollis, and Upper Water converged, the odd-shaped building looked from one angle to be a miniature…

In 1862, the Halifax Skating Club was formed by a winter-hardy group of 'fancy skating' enthusiasts. They first took to the ice to perform the Lancers on Griffin's Pond in the Horticultural Society's Grounds, now commonly known as the Public…

Sir Sandford Fleming Park is named for the Scottish-Canadian engineer and businessman who, in 1908, gifted his property to Halifax to be used as a park. Fleming introduced international standard time to North America and was a driving force behind…

Before we had online dating services, a young woman might turn to creative sources for a potential mate - why not to the Mayor of a respectable town like Halifax, Nova Scotia? In the spring of 1939, an "attractive 22 year-old English girl" wrote to…

In 1947, the City of Halifax was preparing to celebrate the bicentenary of the founding of Halifax in 1749. As a symbolic gift to the city, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) arranged to have a huge Douglas Fir tree cut from the forests of British…

On the evening of Tuesday, February 18, 1919, a returned soldier dining at the Crown Cafe on Gottingen Street refused to pay his bill. According to the February 19 issue of The Evening Mail, the soldier then "abused the Chinese proprietor."…