September 2005 Volume 30, No.3 ISSN 0384 7335 The Griffin A PUBLICATION OF HERITAGE TRUST OF NOVA SCOTIA HERITAGE TRUST OF NOVA SCOTIA is a charitable organization. All donations are tax creditable. The history of the Governor’s North Farm and Mulgrave Park, Halifax by Garry D. Shutlak The Governor’s North Farm was laid out some years Street, on the north by Duffus, on the east by Campbell after the founding of the Town of Halifax. Originally, Road. On the south it was bound by Richmond Street, the farm contained upwards of eighty acres of land, containing some forty acres of land on which, in 1783, which may have included Joseph Jennings Farm where Sir John Snape Hamond had built a summer home and Fort Needham was built, Lambert Folkers farm and outbuildings at the northern end of the property extended the farm southward to Young Street. The beyond what is now Fort redrawn farm was bounded on the west by Gottingen Continued overleaf A section of the 1878 atlas showing the Governor’s farm and Mulgrave Park as it looked in 1878. Plate “U”, Hopkin’s Atlas 1878. Courtesy Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia. History: continued from page 1 out, one called Acadia and the other, Mulgrave. Unfortunately, I Needham. Of these lands, the have not found any record of why grove of beeches bounded by one park was called Acadia, but Campbell Road (Barrington), we presume in honour of the Duffus, Albert and Richmond early French name for Nova Streets have a long history, how- Scotia. ever, the name Mulgrave Park The other park was named only dates from 1870. In the early after George Augustus Phipps, history of the province, the area Earl of Mulgrave, who was was a summer camp for the appointed Lieutenant-Governor Mi’kmaq thanks to its abundant beginning in 1858 and ending in supply of spring water. 1863 when, upon the death of his The Griffin Among the early settlers of father, he became the Marquess of Halifax, the area was best known Normanby. We assume the park A quarterly newsletter for the duel between Scottish was named in his honour some published by William Bowie and Irish Richard time after this date. However, the HERITAGE TRU S T OF John Uniacke, Jr., in 1819 in which area is often labelled on early NOVA SCOTIA the popular wealthy young mer- maps as Mulgrove Park, which chant William Bowie lost his life. Unless otherwise indicated, may be an allusion to the grove of the opinions expressed in The challenge resulted from some beeches which covered the park these pages are those of the insulting remarks made by Mr. grounds and contained water contributors and do not Uniacke. The duel took place on courses and a reservoir. Russell necessarily reflect the July 21, and the thirty-six-year-old Street, one of the streets in Glebe views of Bowie was fatally wounded and Lands, was named after Phipps’s HERITAGE TRU ST OF died a few hours later at a nearby wife, Laura, daughter of Captain NOVA SCOTIA. farm house. Mr. Uniacke was Robert Russell, R.N. Editorial Committee: charged with murder but found From the opening of the Nova Anthony Lamplugh, innocent. Scotia Railway Station at Janet Morris, Nancy O’Brien, In 1857, Lieutenant-Governor Richmond in 1855, the area Sandra Sackett. Sir Gaspard LeMarchant signed became a place of recreation for away the right and title to the Contributers to this issue: passengers, the citizens of the Fred Hutchinson property to the Nova Scotia Board North End and the general Truman Layton of Works in consideration of £200 population of Halifax who first Joyce McCulloch a year in perpetuity to himself used horse-drawn street cars and, Janet Morris and his successors in addition to later, electric ones to travel north Nancy O'Brien the salary granted by the civil list. to Young Street. Picnicking in Elizabeth Pacey The land was then resold to the summer, skating on the pond in Sandra Sackett Board of Railway Commissioners, winter, and tobogganing on the Garry Shutlak which cut down some of the adjoining steep streets was Barbara Thompson copse of beeches, laid out land for enjoyed by all ages. Submissions are welcomed. building lots, built the Richmond After war broke out in 1939, it Deadline for the next issue: railway yards, and began the soon became apparent that November 1, 2005 industrialization of the North Halifax needed additional accom- Please send your End. modation for the influx of military submissions to The map of the City of Halifax men, merchant mariners, defence HE RITAGE TRUST O F published in 1872 shows that the workers, dockyard employees, etc. NOVA SCO TIA, P.O. Box 36111, Spring Garden RPO, two streets running north and Some accommodations were Halifax, N.S. B3J 3S9 south between Gottingen and needed for families, others for sin- Campbell Road were named gle men or “benedicts whose fam- Tel: 902 423-4807 Victoria (then Russell, now Acadia ilies were living elsewhere.” An E-mail material to Street) and Albert. The streets agreement was reached among [email protected] running east and west between the federal, provincial and munic- www3.ns.sympatico.ca/heritage/trust Richmond and Duffus were ipal governments by which Fort ef named Ross, Kenny, Mulgrave Needham and Roome. Two parks were laid Continued on page 3 Page 2 The Griffin - HERITAGE TRUST OF NOVA SCOTIA History: continued from page 2 became a municipal park, and Mulgrave Park was turned over to the federal authorities. The Glebe Lands, north of Duffus Street, became the location for 290 prefabricated houses. This new community extended east from Gottingen Street to Barrington and north from Duffus to the Fairview Stone Quarries. All houses built in the new com- munity were large four-room or six-room designs. The houses were mixed and matched to reduce monotonous uniformity in the general appearance of the streets. The occupants were encouraged to make their neigh- bourhoods attractive and awarded Manning Pool. Bollinger Collection: 1942-668B. Courtesy Provincial Archives of prizes for planting trees, shrubs Nova Scotia. and gardens to beautify the area. Because the houses did not have built by Brookfield Construction house married students whose basements, they were heated with Company of Halifax. education had been delayed by Quebec heaters. In the fall of 1945, Mulgrave their war service. When these Mulgrave Park proper became Park’s Manning Pool and three buildings were demolished has the site of the Manning Pool, orig- staff houses were turned over to not yet been documented by the inally built as a two-storey “E” the City of Halifax to be converted author, but by 1957 the shaped building in the Art into emergency housing for the Stephenson Report suggested this Moderne style facing Barrington city and were used for public area be set aside for public hous- Street. During the war, the build- housing for several years. The ing to replace slums which could ing would be enlarged with an other three houses and the com- be found in different parts of the addition to the south, joined to the missary were transferred to city. The cost of the five-million main building by a breezeway, Dalhousie University and used to Continued on page 4 and an addition to the north turn- ing the “E” in an “F”. Another two wings with a breezeway would later be added to the north side of the building. This building was used to house officers and men of the merchant marine awaiting their ships for the cross- ing of the Atlantic in convoy. To the north six staff houses were built. Each 200-foot long building could accommodate 90 men, in single or double occupancy, with hot water heating, baths and elec- tric lights. A 106-foot long com- missary, or dining hall, was built to provide meals at moderate prices. All the buildings were designed by the architects or architectural department of the North End, Mulgrave Park and the Glebe Lands. Bollinger Collection: 1941-219. Wartime Housing Limited and Courtesy Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia September 2005 Page 3 History: continued from page 3 dollar project was shared among the federal, provincial and municipal governments, with four million being the federal share. In 1958, the architects at Central Mortgage & Housing Corporation and local architectur- al firms of L.R. Fairn and J. Philip Dumaresq designed the 22-build- ing, 348-unit complex. It consists of 2 eight-storey apartment build- ings and 202 three-storey maisonettes, all of fireproof con- struction. Some of the streets in the park were named in honour of ships associated with Halifax such as RCN Niobe and SS Jervis Bay. Most of the streets honour vessels of the Royal Navy. The Mulgrave Park rental Staff houses. Bollinger Collection: 1941-21. Courtesy Provincial Archives of Nova housing project was officially Scotia. opened by the Minister of Public can still find beech trees along ments many centuries ago, and Works on June 1, 1961. Since then, Albert and Barrington Streets, the which survived the clear cutting components of the complex have saplings of trees which first shad- of the railway and the devastation had major renovations, but you ed the Mi’kmaq summer encamp- of the Explosion. w HERITAGE TRUST OF NOVA SCOTIA Illustrated Public Lectures – Autumn 2005 Thursday, September 15, Thursday, November 17, Befores and the Afters.” A discus- 7:30 p.m. 6:00 for 6:30 p.m. Annual sion on line, design, texture, paint "Restoring an old Lunenburg Dinner.