On June 5, 1985, a large concrete bell tower was dedicated in Fort Needham Memorial Park, in memory of the 2,000 dead and 9,000 injured in the explosion of December 6, 1917, and to those who rebuilt the cities, bigger and better than before. It was the largest man-made non-nuclear explosion ever to occur. The explosion devastated the northern ends of both Halifax and Dartmouth.
Over the years several books have been written on the disaster. This, one of the more recent ones, is the third book on the explosion to be written by Janet Kitz. In its third edition, it was published by
. It details not only the devastation following the explosion, but the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the city.
Probably the best viewpoint from which to view the Halifax Harbour, the center of the explosion, and the devastated areas of the city is here at Fort Needham Memorial Park, located on a hill overlooking north Halifax and the harbour.
Below is a bit of the story of the Great Halifax Explosion and the following reconstruction, from a plaque at the site.
In the photo at the bottom, looking across the MacDonald Bridge, almost everything in view was destroyed by the 1917 explosion.
The Great Halifax Explosion
0n the morning of December 6, 1917, two ships, the Norwegian Imo and the French Mont-Blanc, which carried a full cargo of munitions bound for the war in France, collided. Sparks ignited the barrels of benzol on its deck. The fire quickly spread to the munitions, causing a spectacular cloud of smoke with flashes of flame. The burning ship remained afloat for nearly twenty minutes, drifting ever closer to the busy docks and to Richmond. This gave time for people, seemingly unaware of danger, to gather, some on Fort Needham, to watch the exciting spectacle. Seconds before 9.05 a.m., touching Pier 6, Mont-Blanc exploded, its thick steel shattering into fragments that flew over a radius of more than three miles.
A thick, oily fog covered the area. Wooden houses were smashed, factories destroyed. Fire spread quickly, adding to the toll of death and injuries. Final figures, in this - the largest pre-atomic man-made explosion, listed over two thousand killed, many thousands injured, nine thousand left homeless. The area of complete devastation lay around Fort Needham like an apron. S.S. Imo was beached against the Dartmouth shore.
Crews cleared up the wreckage of all that remained of the once thriving district of Richmond.
Construction of the rows of streets and the stores between Novalea Drive (formerly Gottingen Street), where it borders Fort Needham, and Isleville Street began in September 1918. They were built of blocks of a type of cement, called hydrostone. The material gave the district its name, The Hydrostone. The design was by British planner Thomas Adams, known for garden cities. Houses, originally for those who had been left homeless, and stores, were rented by the Halifax Relief Commission for over fifty years before being sold.
The Commission gave the funds to create the Fort Needham Memorial Park, with playing fields and picnic areas, in memory of those who lost their lives in the explosion.
Four churches were demolished in the blast. Presbyterians and Methodists later decided to share one new building. It became the United Memorial Church. In its tower was hung a carillon of bells, given by Barbara Orr, in memory of her mother, father, two sisters and three brothers, all of whom were killed. The family home and printing works were wrecked.
The weight and vibration proved too much for the tower, and the bells were removed. In 1985 the new tower was dedicated. Designed by Keith Graham, it represents the jagged ruins, and, with its upward thrust, hope for the future. As she had done in 1921, Barbara once more played the carillon, this time on a keyboard inside the tower, not with the great levers as before. The Memorial Bell Tower overlooks Richmond Street, which leads to the site of the former Pier 6, where the burning ship blew up, and also the reconstructed area that was once Richmond, destroyed in the Halifax Explosion of December 6, 1917.