page_title: Londonderry, Nova Scotia
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Londonderry, Nova Scotia / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Londonderry, Nova Scotia, streetscape
context_page_description: Londonderry is an unincorporated community located in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada, formerly called Acadia Mines. A bustling iron ore mining and steel making town of some 5,000 in the late 19th century, the population today stands at around 200.
context_section_description: Londonderry saw the pouring of some of the first steel made in Canada, and the first Canadian installation of the Bessemer process for making steel. Mining began in 1849 and eventually three mines - East Mines, Old Mountain Mine, and West Mines - were operated. Over 2 million tons of ore were produced.
  The iron ore seams that encouraged development, originally thought to be enormous, proved to be small, shallow, and very expensive to mine. That, coupled with poor management decisions and failed experiments with rotary type ovens as well as low world steel prices, spelled the demise of the iron and steel industry in Londonderry. The fatal blow to the community came with a destructive fire in 1920 which destroyed a large portion of the town. The mine operations were foreclosed in 1924 and the town never recovered thereafter. The once vast ruins of the former steel mill were torn down and sold as scrap during the scrap metal drives of World War II.
caption: Londonderry, Nova Scotia
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