Rockingham, Nova Scotia
Encyclopedia
Rockingham is a community located in Nova Scotia
's Halifax Regional Municipality
. It is part of a large suburban area along the western shore of Bedford Basin
, north of Clayton Park
and south of Bedford
.
, and south of Birch Cove and Princes Lodge
. Its eastern extent is formed by the shore of the Basin and its western extent is generally the top of the ridge along the bay, although this was subsequently extended westward to an area near the Birch Cove Lakes and Highway 102
.
In the 1840s William Evens and William Davey bought properties on the western shore of the basin. Evens, a butcher, built a slaughterhouse, while Davey established a large inn called the Four Mile House. When the Nova Scotia Railway was being built the two men persuaded the railway board to locate the first stop at Four Mile House. On February 1, 1855, the first ceremonial run of the Nova Scotia Railway came to Four Mile House. The village that grew up around the railway station took the name Four Mile House.
In 1886, the residents of the Four Mile House District decided their community needed a name that better reflected its growing prosperity. The name, Rockingham, was inspired by the Rockingham Inn that had been located two miles north at Prince's Lodge. The inn had burned down in 1833 but lived on in memory because of its links to Lieutenant Governor John Wentworth, Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, and the 2nd Marquis of Rockingham, a powerful English noble and friend of the Wentworths.
Four Mile House District was selected by the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity
in the early 1870s for a convent and institution of higher learning. "Mount St. Vincent" was built up the hill on a large parcel of land almost directly opposite the NSR station. The convent, along with its women's finishing school, Mount St. Vincent Academy and associated residence facilities opened in 1873 following approximately one year of construction.
The Intercolonial Railway (ICR), which had taken over the NSR, expropriated waterfront land at Rockingham Station from the Sisters of Charity during the early 1900s to widen its trackage leading to Fairview. Immediately prior to the Halifax Explosion
, telegraph operator Vince Coleman
managed to warn an incoming passenger train to hold at Rockingham Station's passenger station (the last ICR station stop before Richmond terminal), ultimately saving countless lives. The new rock cut being built for the railway through south end Halifax was finished in 1918 under the newly-created Canadian National Railways (CNR), with some of the blasted rock being used as infill to create the Halifax Ocean Terminals in the south end of the city, as well as infill of Bedford Basin off Rockingham Station to create what are now the Rockingham railway yards.
In 1925, Mount St. Vincent Academy was upgraded in status to a women's junior college. The community of Rockingham Station began to experience some subdivision of land as it was located in a cheaper tax jurisdiction (the Municipality of the County of Halifax) as opposed to the adjacent city which ended at Fairview. On April 5, 1961, the village's name was formally simplified to just Rockingham.
The creation of Bicentennial Drive
, an all-weather bypass highway to Bedford, likely spurred construction of the first major subdivision developments in 1962, although much of the Rockingham area on the hillside overlooking Bedford Basin would require significant blasting to create streets and underground services. Mount St. Vincent College was upgraded to a full university, named Mount St. Vincent University, in 1966.
On January 1, 1969, the community of Rockingham, along with many other surrounding areas of the Municipality of Halifax County
were amalgamated into the City of Halifax
.
Rockingham continued to benefit from being located immediately north of the peninsular city on the Highway 102 corridor to Bedford and beyond. The opening of the A. Murray MacKay Bridge
in 1970 led to improved connections between Rockingham and western Halifax to the City of Dartmouth
and particularly a new industrial park
named Burnside, which would become a major regional employer. A smaller industrial park named Bayers Lake was also built near Rockingham on the west side of Highway 102. New residential developments in the expanding city were subsequently built in Rockingham such as the Clayton Park
subdivision, located along the eastern slope of Geizer's Hill on the Rockingham-Fairview boundary.
During the 1970s-1980s, CN Rail and later Via Rail
operated a form of commuter rail passenger service on the railway line along Bedford Basin into downtown Halifax using frequently scheduled RDCs which were destined for Yarmouth
, Moncton and Sydney
. Rockingham's station was closed after the January 15, 1990 budget cuts to Via Rail saw these services discontinued. The Bedford Highway was redeveloped during the early 1990s into a major collector road from Birch Cove into the city.
On April 1, 1996, the City of Halifax was merged into the Halifax Regional Municipality. Preceding and following amalgamation, subdivision development in the western part of Rockingham continued apace, spurred in particular by the opening of Dunbrack Street and Northwest Arm Drive, however the most significant period of recent growth in Rockingham occurred between 1997-2003 with the Clayton Park West subdivision which was a 20-year development that filled within a quarter of the budgeted timeframe. Clayton Park West became one of the fastest-growing, densest new developments in Nova Scotian urban history. The rapid development was spurred by the conversion of the Bayers Lake Industrial Park into a "business park" model containing Halifax's first big box outlet stores, as well as new highway interchange construction between Lacewood Drive and Highway 102.
Today, the focus of Rockingham has moved from the former suburban centre located on the Bedford Highway, slightly north of Mount St. Vincent University and the CN station, to the new development at Clayton Park West which now extends to the northern extents of Rockingham at the Kearney Lake Road.
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
's Halifax Regional Municipality
Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia
Halifax Regional Municipality is the capital of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The Regional Municipality had a 2006 census population of 372,679, while the metropolitan area had a 2010 estimated population of 403,188, and the urban area of Halifax had a population of 282,924...
. It is part of a large suburban area along the western shore of Bedford Basin
Bedford Basin
Bedford Basin is a large enclosed bay, forming the northwestern end of Halifax Harbour on Canada's Atlantic coast.-Geography:Geographically, the basin is situated entirely within the Halifax Regional Municipality and is oriented northwest-southeast, measuring approximately 8 kilometres long and 5...
, north of Clayton Park
Clayton Park, Nova Scotia
Clayton Park is a Canadian suburban development in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality inside the city of Halifax.-Original development:...
and south of Bedford
Bedford, Nova Scotia
Bedford is a community in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was an independent town from 1980-1996. Bedford lies on the northwestern end of Bedford Basin, an extension of the Halifax Harbour...
.
Geography
Rockingham is situated on the western shore of Bedford Basin, north of Fairview Cove and FairviewFairview, Nova Scotia
Fairview is a former community and current neighbourhood within the urban core of Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada.-Geography:...
, and south of Birch Cove and Princes Lodge
Princes Lodge, Nova Scotia
Prince's Lodge is a Subdivision located on the shore of Bedford Basin between the communities of Rockingham and Bedford in the Halifax Regional Municipality Nova Scotia on the Bedford Highway .-History:...
. Its eastern extent is formed by the shore of the Basin and its western extent is generally the top of the ridge along the bay, although this was subsequently extended westward to an area near the Birch Cove Lakes and Highway 102
Nova Scotia Highway 102
Highway 102 is a north-south freeway in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia that runs from Halifax to Truro. It is the busiest highway in Atlantic Canada....
.
History
The first Europeans to settle in what was to become Rockingham were foreign Protestant farmers and innkeepers, starting in 1784. While the inns were too close to the city to benefit from stage coach traffic, they were conveniently located for drovers bringing their livestock to the Halifax market. Drovers lodged at the inns and kept their animals in the pastures while they arranged for their sale and slaughter.In the 1840s William Evens and William Davey bought properties on the western shore of the basin. Evens, a butcher, built a slaughterhouse, while Davey established a large inn called the Four Mile House. When the Nova Scotia Railway was being built the two men persuaded the railway board to locate the first stop at Four Mile House. On February 1, 1855, the first ceremonial run of the Nova Scotia Railway came to Four Mile House. The village that grew up around the railway station took the name Four Mile House.
In 1886, the residents of the Four Mile House District decided their community needed a name that better reflected its growing prosperity. The name, Rockingham, was inspired by the Rockingham Inn that had been located two miles north at Prince's Lodge. The inn had burned down in 1833 but lived on in memory because of its links to Lieutenant Governor John Wentworth, Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, and the 2nd Marquis of Rockingham, a powerful English noble and friend of the Wentworths.
Four Mile House District was selected by the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity
Sisters of Charity
Many religious communities have the term Sisters of Charity as part of their name. The rule of Saint Vincent for the Daughters of Charity has been adopted and adapted by at least sixty founders of religious orders around the world in the subsequent centuries....
in the early 1870s for a convent and institution of higher learning. "Mount St. Vincent" was built up the hill on a large parcel of land almost directly opposite the NSR station. The convent, along with its women's finishing school, Mount St. Vincent Academy and associated residence facilities opened in 1873 following approximately one year of construction.
The Intercolonial Railway (ICR), which had taken over the NSR, expropriated waterfront land at Rockingham Station from the Sisters of Charity during the early 1900s to widen its trackage leading to Fairview. Immediately prior to the Halifax Explosion
Halifax Explosion
The Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in "The Narrows"...
, telegraph operator Vince Coleman
Vince Coleman
Vincent Maurice Coleman is an American former Major League Baseball player, best known for his years with the St. Louis Cardinals. Primarily a left fielder, Coleman played from to and set a number of stolen base records. He was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed.-Biography:Coleman attended...
managed to warn an incoming passenger train to hold at Rockingham Station's passenger station (the last ICR station stop before Richmond terminal), ultimately saving countless lives. The new rock cut being built for the railway through south end Halifax was finished in 1918 under the newly-created Canadian National Railways (CNR), with some of the blasted rock being used as infill to create the Halifax Ocean Terminals in the south end of the city, as well as infill of Bedford Basin off Rockingham Station to create what are now the Rockingham railway yards.
In 1925, Mount St. Vincent Academy was upgraded in status to a women's junior college. The community of Rockingham Station began to experience some subdivision of land as it was located in a cheaper tax jurisdiction (the Municipality of the County of Halifax) as opposed to the adjacent city which ended at Fairview. On April 5, 1961, the village's name was formally simplified to just Rockingham.
The creation of Bicentennial Drive
Nova Scotia Highway 102
Highway 102 is a north-south freeway in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia that runs from Halifax to Truro. It is the busiest highway in Atlantic Canada....
, an all-weather bypass highway to Bedford, likely spurred construction of the first major subdivision developments in 1962, although much of the Rockingham area on the hillside overlooking Bedford Basin would require significant blasting to create streets and underground services. Mount St. Vincent College was upgraded to a full university, named Mount St. Vincent University, in 1966.
On January 1, 1969, the community of Rockingham, along with many other surrounding areas of the Municipality of Halifax County
Halifax County, Nova Scotia
Halifax County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.The Municipality of the County of Halifax was the municipal government of Halifax County, apart from the separately incorporated towns and cities therein...
were amalgamated into the City of Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
.
Rockingham continued to benefit from being located immediately north of the peninsular city on the Highway 102 corridor to Bedford and beyond. The opening of the A. Murray MacKay Bridge
A. Murray MacKay Bridge
The A. Murray MacKay Bridge locally known as "the new bridge" is the second suspension bridge linking the Halifax Peninsula with Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and opened on July 10, 1970....
in 1970 led to improved connections between Rockingham and western Halifax to the City of Dartmouth
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dartmouth founded in 1750, is a community and planning area of the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. Located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour, Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of Lakes after the large number of lakes located in the city.On April 1, 1996, the provincial...
and particularly a new industrial park
Industrial park
An industrial park is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development...
named Burnside, which would become a major regional employer. A smaller industrial park named Bayers Lake was also built near Rockingham on the west side of Highway 102. New residential developments in the expanding city were subsequently built in Rockingham such as the Clayton Park
Clayton Park, Nova Scotia
Clayton Park is a Canadian suburban development in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality inside the city of Halifax.-Original development:...
subdivision, located along the eastern slope of Geizer's Hill on the Rockingham-Fairview boundary.
During the 1970s-1980s, CN Rail and later Via Rail
VIA Rail
Via Rail Canada is an independent crown corporation offering intercity passenger rail services in Canada. It is headquartered near Montreal Central Station at 3 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec....
operated a form of commuter rail passenger service on the railway line along Bedford Basin into downtown Halifax using frequently scheduled RDCs which were destined for Yarmouth
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
Yarmouth is a town and fishing port located on the Gulf of Maine in rural southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the shire town of Yarmouth County. The town is located in the heart of the world's largest lobster fishing grounds and has Canada's highest lobster catch.- History :The townsite may...
, Moncton and Sydney
Sydney, Nova Scotia
Sydney is a Canadian urban community in the province of Nova Scotia. It is situated on the east coast of Cape Breton Island and is administratively part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality....
. Rockingham's station was closed after the January 15, 1990 budget cuts to Via Rail saw these services discontinued. The Bedford Highway was redeveloped during the early 1990s into a major collector road from Birch Cove into the city.
On April 1, 1996, the City of Halifax was merged into the Halifax Regional Municipality. Preceding and following amalgamation, subdivision development in the western part of Rockingham continued apace, spurred in particular by the opening of Dunbrack Street and Northwest Arm Drive, however the most significant period of recent growth in Rockingham occurred between 1997-2003 with the Clayton Park West subdivision which was a 20-year development that filled within a quarter of the budgeted timeframe. Clayton Park West became one of the fastest-growing, densest new developments in Nova Scotian urban history. The rapid development was spurred by the conversion of the Bayers Lake Industrial Park into a "business park" model containing Halifax's first big box outlet stores, as well as new highway interchange construction between Lacewood Drive and Highway 102.
Today, the focus of Rockingham has moved from the former suburban centre located on the Bedford Highway, slightly north of Mount St. Vincent University and the CN station, to the new development at Clayton Park West which now extends to the northern extents of Rockingham at the Kearney Lake Road.
Education
- Mount St. Vincent University (post-secondary)
- Halifax West High SchoolHalifax West High SchoolHalifax West High School is a Canadian public high school located in the Clayton Park neighbourhood in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia...
(10-12) - Clayton Park Junior High (7-9)
- Park West (k-9)
- Duc d'Anville Elementary (k-6)
- Grosvenor-Wentworth Park Elementary (k-6)
- Rockingham Elementary (k-6)