History of Halifax City

by Thomas B. Akins

Mr. James Stewart, afterwards Solicitor-General, was this year elected without opposition for the county.

On the 25th September a tremendous hurricane visited Halifax and continued through part of the night. Nearly all the wharves in the town were swept away, and most of the shipping in the harbor damaged. The tide rose to an unprecedented height, overflowed Water Street and did much damage to property. The water came up to the old market house where the city brick building now stands. The market wharf and King's wharf were partially destroyed, and the market slip or public landing swept away. The loss of property in the town, including the shipping, was estimated at above £100,000.

Among the names of persons engaged in business in the town this year we find, James Kidston, Wholesale and Retail Dealer, Matthew Richardson, at the foot of Prince Street, James Moody and James Tidmarsh just entered into co-partnership; Forman & Grassie, Fraser, Thom & Co., Shipping Merchants, Lyon & Butler, Shopkeepers, near the market house; Thomas Moody, Dry Goods, etc., corner of Marchington's wharf; James Leaver, opposite the Dartmouth Mill Flour Store, in Water Street; John McMasters, Benjamin Etter, Watchmaker and Hardware Store at the corner of George and Barrington Streets, lower side of Grand Parade (Crosskill's corner); Phoebe Moody, Dry Goods, opposite the Parade, in Barrington Street. In the following year the names of Jonathan and John Tremain, Samuel Hart, Tremain & Boggs and William Annand appear.

The members of Assembly for the county were: Michael Wallace, Jonathan Sterns, Lawrence Hartshorne and Charles Morris. Mr. Sterns was replaced by James Stewart.[59] William Cochran and J. G. Pyke were still members for the town. Mr. Benning Wentworth was Provincial Secretary. The Hon. Richard Bulkeley, the senior councillor, was Grand Master of the Masons.

The papers of the day are filled with long advertisements about the Government Lottery.

1799. The chief event which occupied the attention of the good people of Halifax during the autumn of this year was the arrival and movements of His Royal Highness Prince Edward, who had now been created Duke of Kent. Having received the appointment of commander-in-chief of the troops in British North America on 6th September, he arrived in H. M. Ship Arethusa, Capt. Wooley, forty-three days from England. The Prince landed in state. A procession of boats was formed from the frigate to the King's Wharf under a royal salute from the ships, and on reaching the wharf, by a salute from the Citadel. A double line of soldiers, including the militia, lined the street from the King's Wharf to Government House, through which the procession passed. The Governor and Council, Admiral Vandiput, General Ogilvie, the officers of the staff and public departments and a number of the principal citizens, attended. On his arrival at Government House the bells of St. Paul's and the old Mather Meeting House rang out a merry peal, and a large number of the inhabitants crowded around to bid him welcome again to Halifax. In the evening, bonfires were lit on the Grand Parade in honor of his arrival. The Duke soon after removed to his villa on the Basin, six miles from town. This beautiful little retreat had been erected by Prince Edward on the land of the Governor, Sir John Wentworth. The grounds were laid out and improved at considerable expense under his direction. The Rotunda, or music room, on the opposite side of the road, next the water, surrounded by the rich foliage of the beech groves, and surmounted by a large gilded ball, flashing in the sunlight, presented a beautiful and picturesque appearance on the approach to the Lodge. The villa was built altogether of wood, consisting of a centre of two stories containing the hall and staircase, with a flat roof. There were two wings containing the Duke's apartments. In the rear was a narrow wooden building with pointed gothic windows, resembling a chapel, containing the kitchen and offices, which extended some distance southward beyond the main building. The grouping of the beech and birch trees in the lawn and around the house was well arranged. They were the original forest trees, selected and permitted to stand in clearing away the space for the buildings. The rooms were not spacious, and the ceilings low, which appears to have been the fashion of building in Halifax at the time. The woods around were very beautiful. They were traversed by walks, and in several places by a carriage road with vistas and resting places where little wooden seats and several imitation Chinese temples were erected. Several of these small summer houses were in existence in 1828, and probably later, and portions of them could be seen through the openings in the trees on passing the main road. The Duke erected a range of low buildings on the edge of the Basin, a little to the north of the Rotunda, which were occupied by two companies of his regiment, and contained the guard room and a mess room for the officers. This building was afterwards known as the Rockingham Inn, a favourite resort in summer, when tea and ginger beer were to be had under the piazza which ran along the edge of the water. This hotel acquired the name of the "Rockingham," having been for a long time after the Prince's departure the place of meeting of the Rockingham Club. This club was established either while the Duke was resident here, or very soon after his leaving for Canada. It was composed of Governor Wentworth, the members of His Majesty's Council, the Admiral of the station, several of the principal military officers, and a number of the leading citizens of Halifax. Dr. Stanser, rector of St. Paul's, was one of its members; also the Hon. Andrew Belcher, both of whom had villas on the Basin, the former at Sherwood, afterwards the property of the late Mr. Thos. Kenny, and the latter at Birch Cove, now in the occupation of the family of the late Peter Donaldson.

The Rockingham Club was partly literary and partly social. The members dined together at the hotel, which was styled the Rockingham House, in compliment to Sir John Wentworth, the head of whose family, the Marquis of Rockingham, was about that time in, or at the head of the British Ministry. The large room which extended along the south wing of the building, east and west, with the end to the water, was hung with the portraits of many of the members of the club painted by Field, a portrait painter of considerable talent who, at that time and for several years after, resided in Halifax, and from whose brush the portraits of many of the then principal citizens and their ladies still remain.[60]

In 1799 the prices of provisions in Halifax markets were as follows: Beef, by the quarter, from 4d. to 5d. per pound, pork, 6d., mutton, 7d. to 8d., veal, 8d. to 9d., fowls, from 3s. to 4s., oats, 2s. 6d. and 3s., butter, 1s. 3d. and 1s. 6d.

In 1798 the number of illegitimate children in the Halifax Poor House was fourteen, in 1799, seventeen, and in 1800, fifteen. The total cost of the establishment during the three years was £570 16s. 1d. Fines received at Halifax, 1798, £60; 1799 and 1800, £82 10s. Fresh Water Bridge was renewed and completed in 1798.

In 1799 the Legislature made some amendments to the Act for the erection of public buildings. The Commissioners appointed by the Governor and Council were authorized to purchase land for the site of a new Government House. The old House to be appropriated to the House of Assembly and Courts of Law. The Commissioners were Messrs. Wallace, Cochran, Hartshorne, and John Beckwith. The House of Assembly voted £10,500 for the building, etc. The old Government House having been found unfit for the accommodation of the Legislature, was sold and the block of buildings known as Cochran's, before mentioned, was leased this year for £300 per annum for the accommodation of the Law Courts, the Legislature, and the public offices connected with the Provincial Government. Commissioners were also appointed to build a new market house for the butchers and for a vegetable market. This was the wooden building which was removed during the administration of Governor LeMarchant, to make way for the present brick structure. A clerk of the market was appointed. There being then no convenient accommodation for the vegetable market, the country people were permitted to sell in the streets and the square in front of the market house.