History

In its day the Italianate tower was the toast of the town; an unusual

request by a rich resident.

Most of the commuters who beat their way through Halifax's

Armdale Roundabout twice every day barely notice it anymore.

But in the days before the First World War, the incongruous

Italianate tower overlooking the Northwest Arm was the toast of

the town. "The Dingle," as most Haligonians call it, was the

result of a gift from a great Canadian, who once called the

village of Armdale home.

In the second half of the 19th century, Halifax's richest citizens - with names

like Thornvale, Emscote, Belmont, Maplewood, Studley and Bloomingdale -

built great estates along the Northwest Arm. It was a pastoral retreat

overlooking the water; a short coach ride from the industrial congestion of the

city's core. Into this milieu came Sir Sandford Fleming.

Fleming immigrated to Canada from Scotland as a teenager, and wasted no

time forging a name for himself here. At the age of 24 he designed Canada's

first postage stamp, creating a new Canadian icon in the process  -he placed

the image of a beaver on the stamp, which represented the industrious nature

of the Canadian people as well as the fur trade that had created the country.

Standard Time, the idea of dividing the world into 24 time zones, was another

creation of Fleming's fertile mind, a concept he devised after arriving 12 hours

early for a train while on vacation in Ireland.

But Fleming's greatest achievement was a series of railways that helped bring

the new nation of Canada together. A surveyor and engineer by trade,

Fleming served as chief engineer and surveyor both of the Intercolonial

Railway between Halifax and Quebec, and the Canadian Pacific Railway. He

later became a member of the board of the Canadian Pacific Company,

making himself a rich man in the process.

Fleming lived in Halifax for much of the last 40 years of his life. In 1874 he

bought a home on the Armdale side of the Northwest Arm. The estate was

called Dingle before Fleming owned it, a name that he continued to use. No

one is certain about the origin of the name - Fleming himself believed it came

from the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. A more likely explanation is that it was

named after Richard Dingle, who briefly operated a flour mill near the property

in the early 1820s.

By the turn of the century much of the land along the Northwest Arm was

being turned into private boating and social clubs. The Bloomingdale property

became the Waegwoltic Club; The Jubilee Boat Club, the Saraguay Club and

St. Mary's Aquatic Club were all created. Fleming, who had kept his estate

open to the public, feared that soon there would be no place left for the

common man, who couldn't afford a club membership to enjoy a picnic or

launch a canoe along the Arm.

In 1908, seven years before his death, he gave 95 acres of his estate to the

city to be used as a municipal park  -with one proviso: the city had to build an

ornate stone tower on it as a memorial to the 150th anniversary of

representative government in Nova Scotia. The province is said to have been

the first colony in the British Empire outside the United Kingdom to have such

a form of government.

Halifax nearly balked at the expensive request, but in the end the Halifax

branch of the Canadian Club raised much of the money privately. Andrew

Cobb, of Dumaresq & Cobb, was hired to design the tower. One of Nova

Scotia's greatest architects, Cobb designed buildings at Dalhousie and Acadia

universities, and dozens of churches and homes.

The tower that Cobb created  -formally referred to as the Fleming Tower or

the Memorial Tower - is 30 feet (9.1 metres) wide at the base and stands 112

feet (34 metres) from the ground to its copper-roofed peak. The architecture is

Palladian, a popular style originating in Renaissance Venice that was used in

many 18th and 19th century public buildings, including the White House. The

tower's base and upper part are constructed from large blocks of local granite;

the lower section is native ironstone, quarried near the mouth of the Northwest

Arm.

The bronze lions that guard the tower were donated in 1913 by the Royal

Colonial Institute of London, patterned after the lions in Trafalgar Square.

The grand opening of Fleming Tower, in August 1912, was an auspicious

event - three days of festivities culminated in a huge dedication ceremony.

Prince Arthur, the governor general of Canada was the guest of honour.

Fleming was there too, to see his last great idea brought to life.

Country in the City

The land that Sir Sandford Fleming bequeathed to Halifax features a number

of natural habitats. Explore a mixed growth forest, a cattail marsh, a saltwater

cove, a beaver pond and a heath barren - all within the borders of the city.

West of Fleming Tower a trail climbs steeply to a high headland offering a

spectacular view of the Northwest Arm and the west end of the city. There's a

sandy beach here, too. And on the other side of the tower, behind a grassy

picnic area, a boat launch still allows the public to launch their sailboats,

motorboats and canoes, enjoying a leisurely jaunt on the Northwest Arm.

Among the short hiking trails is the Crossland Ice Trail, which connects to a

popular local lake known as Frog Pond. The Ice Trail's name refers to the

days before refrigeration, when blocks of ice were cut from the pond and slid

down long sluiceways to the Arm, to be loaded onto boats. The old railway

builder would be proud. 

Article by: Tom Mason who provided permission to use it for this website.