page_title: North End, Halifax
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: North End, Halifax / History
caption_attribution_description: Angus A MacDonald Bridge (the 'Old Bridge') Halifax, Nova Scotia
context_page_description: The North End of Halifax is a subdivision of Halifax, Nova Scotia occupying the northern part of Halifax Peninsula immediately north of Downtown Halifax. The area once included historic Africville, and parts of it were severely damaged in the Halifax Explosion during World War I. A neighbourhood with strong African Nova Scotian roots, more recently the area has undergone gentrification.
context_section_description: The North End of Halifax began as an agricultural expansion north from central Halifax as African American and German Foreign Protestant settlers arrived in the province. It became the focus of industry in Halifax with the construction of the Nova Scotia Railway in the 1850s which located its terminal in the north end. Factories such as the Acadia Sugar Refinery, Hillis & Sons Foundry, and the Nova Scotia Cotton Manufacturing Company followed making the North End the focus of manufacturing in Halifax. Railway growth intensified with the extension of railways further into the North End and construction in 1878 of the grand North Street Station, the largest station east of Montreal.
  Wharves warehouses lined the waterfront, along with the city's prison at Rockhead and major defence installations such as HMC Dockyard and Stadacona (formerly HMCS Stadacona and Wellington Barracks, now part of CFB Halifax).  Much of this infrastructure, along with the neighbourhood of Richmond, was damaged or destroyed in a disastrous accident on 6 December 1917, commonly referred to as the Halifax Explosion.
  The explosion's aftermath saw the area north of North Street razed and a new street grid was superimposed over the old street patterns. New residential construction saw the creation of the historic Hydrostone neighbourhood, built during the relief construction following the disaster. Today the memorial bells at Fort Needham, which were recovered from a church that didn't survive the event, may be heard in the carillon and monument to the disaster. The Memorial was designed by Nova Scotia architect Keith L. Graham. The Halifax Shipyard was built in 1918 beside the Naval Dockyard, further entrenching the industrial character of the North End.
  The Halifax North Memorial Public Library, also designed by Graham, was opened in 1966 in memory of the victims of the explosion. Located on Göttingen Street, south of North Street, the library offers a welcoming environment as well as programs that strongly reflect the diverse make-up of the community.
  Seaview Park on the Bedford Basin is the site of Africville, the former African-Canadian community that was a safe haven for African slaves coming to Canada. The community was torn down in the 1960s preceding a proposed urban redevelopment of the region which would see new highways and the construction of the A. Murray MacKay Bridge, although the lands of the community were never used in a proposed port expansion.  In the ensuing controversy it was designated as parkland.
  The Africville expropriation is often characterized as an example of institutional racism in Halifax.  The municipal government justified the destruction of Africville by citing the poor living conditions of the community, despite having historically refused to extend those services to the community. The razing of Africville allowed for industrial development in the area and for the progress of the city's traffic grid, with the construction of the 'new' bridge. The Africville residents and descendants were dispersed among some of the North End's public housing projects, as well as into other parts of Halifax and Dartmouth.
  The North End has traditionally been home to a number of important African Nova Scotian institutions. Provincial institutions like the African United Baptist Association and the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Colored People were formed in the North End at New Horizons Baptist Church. Throughout the 20th century, Gottingen Street was the epicenter for black business and enterprise in Nova Scotia, including being home to a beauty shop and school owned by Viola Desmond. The North End housed one of the first Afrocentric schools in Canada, St. Pat's Alexandra, which closed in 2009.
caption: The Angus L. Macdonald Bridge opened in 1955, changing the North End and the Halifax-Dartmouth region forever.  Its western abutment is located at the foot of the North End and the bridge connects North Street with Dartmouth.
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