The name of the Morning Herald was changed to Halifax Herald. (Also see The first issue, January 14, 1875.)

CBC affiliate in Sydney, CJCB, aired the CBC documentary The Vanishing Cape Breton Fiddler. Produced by Ron MacInnis, it informed Cape Bretoners about a complacency that had set in about how traditional music with the Cape Breton fiddle was facing a possible extinction. By June, the Cape Breton Fiddlers’ Association had been formed, and during the summer of 1972 over two hundred fiddlers were identified on Cape Breton. A Festival...

Arthur R. Richardson, carpenter, farmer, harbour pilot and politician, died in South Bar (b. 1862). He was president of the Independent Labour Party in 1918. In the July 27, 1920, provincial election, Richardson won a seat in Cape Breton County and was part of the official opposition through a period of difficult labour relations. He stepped down in 1925.

The School of Horticulture opened in Wolfville.

Daniel Cobb Harvey was born on PEI (d. 1965). An archivist and public educator, he was considered one of the most significant twentieth-century historians of the Maritime Provinces. He was the Nova Scotia provincial archivist from 1931 to 1956. He was the author of Heart of Howe (1939), The Intellectual Awakening of Nova Scotia (1933), The Age of Faith in Nova Scotia (1946) and a number of other important works...

Judge Raymond Bartlett was removed from the bench of the Nova Scotia Family Court after a provincial Judicial Council investigation into his frequent speeches which berated women in court.

The Micmac News began publishing. Developed by Roy Gould in Membertou, it was published until 1991 by the Union of Nova Scotia Indians and the Native Communications Society of Nova Scotia. The Beaton Institute at Cape Breton University has digitized the complete issues online at: BeatonInstitute.com. See their menu tab “Micmac News 1965–1991.”

The Halifax Mechanic’s Institute opened with a speech by Joseph Howe. He warned his audience that in inaugurating the institute, their first steps might be “. . . assailed by the sneer of the ignorant and the ridicule of the idle.” The first president of the institute was Dr. William Grigor, with Howe as vice-president.

The first Canadian Pacific Railway telegraph office opened in Halifax. The following year, the CPR completed a telegraph line from Truro to Halifax. The line was built along the Intercolonial Railway line.

The African (Nova Scotian) School was established in Halifax from the Protestant Gospel School (Bray School), and was soon followed by similar schools at Preston, Hammonds Plains and Beech Hill.

The Royal Acadian School opened on Argyle Street in Halifax. Established by British officer and reformer Walter Bromley (1775–1838), schooling was offered for middle-income students as well as low-income women, black students and immigrants. Bromley also gave public exposure to the poor living conditions of the Mi’kmaq, encouraging material improvement and education. The school also welcomed Protestants and Catholics. The school was controversial, but had the support of leading individuals...

Alfred Fuller, founder of Fuller Brush Company, was born in Welsford, Kings County. Fuller Brush became a successful early twentieth-century U.S. company.

The first issue of the Morning Herald, later the Halifax-Herald, was published. (Also see Morning Herald, January 2, 1892.)

Joseph Howe paid a second visit to England as an agent of the government of Nova Scotia, on behalf of the Intercolonial railway project, to negotiate with the Colonial Office for financing support. His broader effort was to appeal directly to the people of England to colonize the British North American provinces. He concluded his speech at Southampton on this day. (Also see John Howe, December 28, 1780.)

The Vietnamese Association of Nova Scotia (VietNS) was founded as a result of the first waves of Vietnamese immigrants who arrived in Nova Scotia after the fall of Saigon in 1975. More than thirty years later, the association constituted not only the original “boat people” but also extended family members and immigrants from other provinces who have chosen the Maritimes as their home. (Also see The last of United States...

A fleet of fifteen ships left Nova Scotia for Sierra Leone — with Thomas Peters, a former slave, black soldier and leader (1738–1792); Methodist ministers Boston King (the blind preacher) and Moses ‘Daddy’ Wilkson; Baptist preacher David George; and Cato Perkins and a group (1,196) of Black Loyalists. This represented over half the population of Birchtown. David George recorded, “The White people in Nova Scotia were very unwilling that we...

The Morning Journal changed to Unionist and Halifax Journal.

After 157 years of British military presence in Halifax, Canadian forces took over from the British, behind them came the Royal Canadian Regiment, the Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery, and the Royal Canadian engineers.

Allister MacGillivray was born in Glace Bay. He became a noted songwriter, now best known for his music composition Song of the Mira — “I’ll trade you ten of your cities for Marion Bridge / And the pleasure it brings” — written in the early 1970s. Also well known as a guitarist (formerly with Ryan’s Fancy), a folklorist, author and record producer. His work, considered largely Celtic in style with...

The United States enacted the National Prohibition Act — known formally as the Volstead Act — banning the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages, which lasted till December 1933. This began an elaborate system of smuggling, known as “rum-running”, carried out by entrepreneurial Nova Scotia fishermen and ship owners to supply thirsty Americans with rum from the West Indies and brandy and whisky from St. Pierre and Miquelon....

Halifax Harbour froze over.

James Boyle Uniacke (d. 1858) was born in Ireland, son of Richard John Uniacke and Martha Maria Delesdernier. He later became the first premier of Nova Scotia (1848–1854) and lead the first Responsible government in Canada, while also serving concurrently as the colony’s attorney-general. Joseph Howe, his provincial secretary, would join him in creating new democratic reforms. (A full list of Nova Scotia premiers can be reviewed at: NSLegislature.ca on...

The Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science met for the first time.

The College of Cape Breton Press (later Cape Breton University Press) began publishing operations. It closed down in 2016.

The Dominion Atlantic railway Bridge across the Avon river at Windsor was blown up following the causeway completion.

Joseph Howe hosted the notable author Charles Dickens (and his wife, Catherine) on his first visit to Canada on the RMS Britannia. At the time, he was just shy of his 30th birthday. Howe took him to the opening of the twentieth Nova Scotia Legislature. The legislature reminded Dickens of a smaller vision of the British House of Commons at Westminister. By this time, Dickens had already published The Pickwick...

Former chief of Pictou Landing, Raymond Francis died. He was known for starting the movement to resolve the environmental problems resulting from pollution in the Boat Harbour area of Pictou County. (Also see Pictou Landing Native Women’s Group, September 28, 2012.)

Harry Piers died (b. 1870). A librarian, curator, naturalist, historian, artist, editor and author, his family roots went back to the establishment of the Halifax settlement in 1749. By 1899, Piers was the deputy keeper of public records and helped complete in 1911 the cataloguing of Thomas Beamish Akins’s early historical settlement records. In 1927 he authored a biography of Nova Scotia portrait-painter Robert Field, entitled Robert Field, Portrait Painter...

George Elroy Boyd’s play Consecrated Ground ended its production run at the Eastern Front Theatre. The play depicted the consequences to a black family of the razing of Africville in the 1960s and the relocation of its 400 residents to more “progressive” public housing. It was nominated in 2000 for a Governor General’s Award in Drama and published in an anthology of contemporary African Canadian drama.

The Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History opened the travelling exhibit Remembering Black Loyalists, Black Communities for the start of African Heritage Month.

The Royal Hotel in Wolfville was badly damaged by a fire, but was later rebuilt and “furnished with all the modern conveniences of electric light, bells, hot and cold bath.” By 1927, its name was changed to the Evangeline Inn, costing four dollars for a room, or twenty-five dollars per week. By the 1940s, the inn was leased by Acadia university to serve as a men’s residence for men returning...

A public meeting was held in Halifax to promote temperance, namely the prohibition of the sale or use of alcohol.

The Victoria Rifles, one of the oldest black soldier regiments to be established in Canada, was established in the wake of the Crimean War (and on the eve of the American Civil War).

The Nova Scotia Legislative Council was opened to public and reporters. The council at this time was unelected.

Conservative James W. Johnston (1792–1873) introduced a bill in the Nova Scotia Legislature for the “Union of the Colonies.” He felt this was the best way for Nova Scotia to resist being absorbed into the United States, but he found no support for the bill. His sentiments were ahead of his time by thirteen years. He would become premier from 1857 to 1860, and 1863 to 1864.

The main building at Mount Saint Vincent University was destroyed by fire.