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In 1947, the City of Halifax was preparing to celebrate the bicentenary of the founding of Halifax in 1749. As a symbolic gift to the city, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) arranged to have a huge Douglas fir tree cut from the forests of British Columbia and delivered across Canada to its eastern seaport, for the city's official flag-pole outside City Hall.
The 128 foot log was transported on three railway flat-cars to St. John, New Brunswick, then by barge across the Bay of Fundy to Digby, Nova Scotia. It took 30 men, on July 2, 1947, to load it back on flat-cars for the final-leg to Halifax.
CPR photographers captured the colossal effort to deliver the pole. Graham McBride, the son of a CPR worker donated the following photos to HRM Archives (click on each image for larger view):
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Arrival by barge in Digby - July 2.
CR 6-027.1 |
And into the Bay of Fundy!
CR 6-027.2 |
Then up the beach to the waiting flat-cars.
CR 6-027.3 |
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Crew of 30 loads the log onto 3 flat-cars.
CR 6-027.5 |
Heave-ho to Halifax!
CR 6-027.6 |
Arrival at Halifax Shipyards - August 2.
CR 6-027.7 |
Erected
The log was rigged as a flagpole, then transported up Barrington Street to be hoisted into position in the Grand Parade in September 1947. Hundreds of people gathered to watch the early morning operation. For 38 tense minutes the pole "wavers like a drunken sailor" before Halifax Shipyards' crew fix it to its base. To view newspaper coverage of the erection of the flagpole click here.
J.A.D. McCurdy was one of the many photographers who documented the ceremony when the CPR officially presented the flagpole to Mayor J.E. Ahern. His photographs are available at Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management (ask to see 2007-058,vol. 3#205-219).
Halifax's flagpole was purported to be the tallest in the Commonwealth, until Kew, England claimed that title; however it was the tallest in Canada, at least until it was next brought to the ground...
Repaired
By 1975, City staff had noted rot in the flagpole and Council debated whether to replace it with an aluminum pole. History and aesthetics prevailed over economics as Council opted to repair the CPR gift. Repair costs escalated when the pole broke in three as it was lowered to the ground. As far as is known, no photographs were taken of that dramatic event! (See HRM Archives, City Clerk's Office Flagpole repairs file 102-5-1.33)
Flagpole Continues as Municipal Symbol
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The flagpole in the Grand Parade continues to serve the Municipality as a central symbol.
The image on left is from an official 1979 event.
Do you remember the raising of our tall flagpole, in 1947? Were you there when it split in 3 in 1975? Write and tell us your memories of the flagpole at archives@halifax.ca . |
2009-012 Halifax Tourism photograph G-1-F-79, 1979 |
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HRM Archives thanks its colleagues at Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, Spring Garden Road Reference Library and the Vancouver Public Library for assistance with the research for this exhibit. And a special thank-you to Graham McBride, who donated the CPR photographs.
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