Halifax during WWII

[someone123]

There's a new gallery up at the NS Archives: http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/eastcoastport/default.asp?Language=English

Some samples:
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/share.asp?url=/nsarm/images/EastCoastPort&path=200817652&title=J.F.%20Rogers%20%20NSARM%20%20accession%20no.%201995-370%20no.%2037%20%20%20%20%20www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/%20%20%20%20%20c%202009

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/share.asp?url=/nsarm/images/EastCoastPort&path=200905895&title=%20%20NSARM%20%20Photo%20Collection%20Places:%20Halifax:%20Street%20Scenes:%20Spring%20Garden%20Road%20%20%20%20%20www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/%20%20%20%20%20c%202009

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/share.asp?url=/nsarm/images/EastCoastPort&path=200901213&title=H.B.%20Jefferson%20%20NSARM%20%20accession%20no.%201992-304%20/%2043.1.4218%20%20%20%20%20www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/%20%20%20%20%20c%202009

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/share.asp?url=/nsarm/images/EastCoastPort&path=200905291&title=%20%20NSARM%20%20Photo%20Collection%20Places:%20Halifax%20%20%20%20%20www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/%20%20%20%20%20c%202009

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/share.asp?url=/nsarm/images/EastCoastPort&path=200902844&title=E.A.%20Bollinger%20%20NSARM%20%20accession%20no.%201975-3051941%20no.%20526-38a%20%20%20%20%20www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/%20%20%20%20%20c%202009

[Architype]

Nice, I love photos from that era.

I think WW2 had quite an impact on the Atlantic region.

[cormiermax]

The city looks very gloomy, Nice pictures :D

[Dmajackson]

Nice photos. :)

It's always wonderful to see photos of Halifax and our military past. It never ceases to amaze me how many Haligonians will answer the call to serve in times of need (I have a couple of great-uncles who served in the Navy and a lot of women help out at home).

BTW where was the Simpson store located at?

[someone123]

The Simpson store (initially I'm guessing more of a warehouse, mostly for mail order) eventually became a part of the West End Mall and a Sears outlet store. The structure is still there, but unfortunately a few years ago they renovated the exterior and today it looks very generic.

[lawsond]

The structure is still there, but unfortunately a few years ago they renovated the exterior and today it looks very generic.

That Simpson's property is gorgeous. It may have been "renovated" but hopefully someday restored.
I remember as late as the 70s the old store had beautiful wooden revolving doors.
And i agree the city was a very gloomy looking place back in the day. This apparently, is what the heritage trust wants? That flat, dreary skyline?

[hfx_chris]

They didn't just renovate the exterior. It's basically a totally new structure.

I remember visiting the outlet store when I was a kid, and this was only late-80s early 90s. Awesome building it was. I wish my memories were clearer of that place.

Can somebody who remembers the layout of the Sears clearance centre and West End Mall do up a quick diagram of how everything was linked together? I remember there were a pair of elevators and an escalator at the back of the store. The escalator, I assume that led up to the mall? And I have memories while they were working on the building of them moving the clearance centre, or part of the clearance centre to a different floor, I remember taking the elevator up. Towards the end, what were the different levels in the old Simpsons building used for?

[cormiermax]

:previous: Pictures would be cool too.

[alps]

Great photos, and really a shame the Simpson's store wasn't saved. Where was it? Where the Hudson's Bay is today? I wonder when that church (?), probably kitty corner from the architecture building, was demolished. Very interesting buildings where the "Barrington Gate" apartment building (the one with Deserres in the lower level) is today, one of them looks kinda NYC brownstone-ish. I think Deserres/Loomis was built in 1996, does anyone remember what was there immediately before? (Maybe I've identified the location of the photo incorrectly..)

:previous: I know this isn't the sort of thing you're looking for but I thought it was neat. This photo is from 1988, but this structure was around until 2001 or so, wasn't it?

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w81/Hurland/hmt902.jpg

photo from http://www.barp.ca/ (http://www.barp.ca/)

[Jstaleness]

Great photos, and really a shame the Simpson's store wasn't saved. Where was it? Where the Hudson's Bay is today? I wonder when that church (?), probably kitty corner from the architecture building, was demolished. Very interesting buildings where the "Barrington Gate" apartment building (the one with Deserres in the lower level) is today, one of them looks kinda NYC brownstone-ish. I think Deserres/Loomis was built in 1996, does anyone remember what was there immediately before? (Maybe I've identified the location of the photo incorrectly..)

:previous: I know this isn't the sort of thing you're looking for but I thought it was neat. This photo is from 1988, but this structure was around until 2001 or so, wasn't it?

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w81/Hurland/hmt902.jpg

photo from http://www.barp.ca/ (http://www.barp.ca/)

Wow! Bus number 902. I'm pretty sure that one has survived the years. The 902 bus always caught my eye just because of our area code I guess. It must have been new then I'm thinking. Maybe they could bring that paint job back!

[cormiermax]

Wow great picture! that bus looks awesome.

[someone123]

Great photos, and really a shame the Simpson's store wasn't saved. Where was it? Where the Hudson's Bay is today? I wonder when that church (?), probably kitty corner from the architecture building, was demolished. Very interesting buildings where the "Barrington Gate" apartment building (the one with Deserres in the lower level) is today, one of them looks kinda NYC brownstone-ish. I think Deserres/Loomis was built in 1996, does anyone remember what was there immediately before? (Maybe I've identified the location of the photo incorrectly..)

I don't remember first hand what was there before Barrington Gate, but I have heard that there was some kind of infirmary or hospital building that burned down - maybe the one with the dormers in that photo.

I've seen the four storey one in a few photos but I don't know what it was or when it came down. The buildings behind it near Blowers were old wooden houses from the 1700s (I think the one on the corner belonged to Malachy Salter, the guy who they named Salter Street after, but I could be mistaken). Again, I don't know if those buildings survived into the 90s and burned down or if they were gone long before that.

I have a lot of memories of the Sears outlet mall because that's a place where I was actually dragged as a kid. West End Mall was also busy back in the early-mid 90s (Bayers Rd too), had ugly 70s style brown tile, and was full of old people smoking. Thinking back, I don't really miss those days. :)

I remember the escalators toward the back of the Sears but I don't remember how it connected to the mall exactly.

[hfx_chris]

Wow! Bus number 902. I'm pretty sure that one has survived the years. The 902 bus always caught my eye just because of our area code I guess. It must have been new then I'm thinking. Maybe they could bring that paint job back!
As far as I know, 902 is still in active service, after 23 years on the road.

[terrynorthend]

I don't remember first hand what was there before Barrington Gate, but I have heard that there was some kind of infirmary or hospital building that burned down - maybe the one with the dormers in that photo.

I've seen the four storey one in a few photos but I don't know what it was or when it came down. The buildings behind it near Blowers were old wooden houses from the 1700s (I think the one on the corner belonged to Malachy Salter, the guy who they named Salter Street after, but I could be mistaken). Again, I don't know if those buildings survived into the 90s and burned down or if they were gone long before that.

I have a lot of memories of the Sears outlet mall because that's a place where I was actually dragged as a kid. West End Mall was also busy back in the early-mid 90s (Bayers Rd too), had ugly 70s style brown tile, and was full of old people smoking. Thinking back, I don't really miss those days. :)

I remember the escalators toward the back of the Sears but I don't remember how it connected to the mall exactly.

Sears connected to the rest of the West End Mall on that main level, towards the end closest Chebucto Road. The Escalator was further back in that corner, and went down to a landing area with a travel agency and a hairsalon (sears branded), maybe a photostudio too. Then another escalator (and stairs) took you the rest of the way down to the Bargain Basement. It was kinda neat, it always reminded me of going down into a subway station.

The building on Barrington was the original Halifax Infirmary opened by the Sisters of Charity in 1886. It moved to Queen Street in 1933. I remember in the 80's it was called Hell's Hotel, and frequented by street kids and others as a hangout/home. I was in there one night with a group of friends... guided in by a girl i knew who had lived in there from time to time. Friggin' scary place.. pitch black, holes in the floors, open elevator shaft. It burned down in the early 90's, probably from kids lighting a fire to keep warm.

[ZET]

I don't remember first hand what was there before Barrington Gate, but I have heard that there was some kind of infirmary or hospital building that burned down - maybe the one with the dormers in that photo.

I've seen the four storey one in a few photos but I don't know what it was or when it came down. The buildings behind it near Blowers were old wooden houses from the 1700s (I think the one on the corner belonged to Malachy Salter, the guy who they named Salter Street after, but I could be mistaken). Again, I don't know if those buildings survived into the 90s and burned down or if they were gone long before that.

I have a lot of memories of the Sears outlet mall because that's a place where I was actually dragged as a kid. West End Mall was also busy back in the early-mid 90s (Bayers Rd too), had ugly 70s style brown tile, and was full of old people smoking. Thinking back, I don't really miss those days. :)

I remember the escalators toward the back of the Sears but I don't remember how it connected to the mall exactly.

http://www.novascotialive.com/index.php?topic=1010.0
scroll down
Interesting discussion, which included Hfx_chris, about the simpsons/sears store, pretty much the way i remember it. the passenger train also stopped in behind the store, zet

[hfx_chris]

I vaguely remember that discussion...

Then again, I vaguely remember yesterday too, so :P

[Nilan8888]

Can somebody who remembers the layout of the Sears clearance centre and West End Mall do up a quick diagram of how everything was linked together? I remember there were a pair of elevators and an escalator at the back of the store. The escalator, I assume that led up to the mall? And I have memories while they were working on the building of them moving the clearance centre, or part of the clearance centre to a different floor, I remember taking the elevator up. Towards the end, what were the different levels in the old Simpsons building used for?

I grew up not far from this area, had an aunt that worked in the clearance center and used to walk thorugh it every day to get to school since I attended St. Agnes Jr. High the year after my old Jr. High, Major Stevens, shut down in 1990.

The structure was essentially the Bay - formerly Simpsons -- store on the end having several lower levels dedicated to parking and the top two floors for the store itself. the entrance facing Mumford Drive was straight to the first level of the store, so you really mostly saw these parking levels when approaching from the Rotary (my usual direction of approach).

Connecting this building and Sears was the West End Mall, an extremely small mall comparatively... I can't remember how much is still there... which used to compete with Halifax Shopping Center on the other side of Mumford road. It used to be a viable competetion until HSC got a makeover in the late 80s which just blew West-End out of the water. On the lower level of West End Mall, I think, was the area functioning as the Sears warehouse which might still be there. This bottom level was most likely connected to the clearance center, but probably by employee entrance.

The entrance to the clearance center was a short walk up from the corner if approaching from Chebucto, though you had to walk past the back end of Simpsons plus the Mall, which except for the one back entrance from Simpsons, you had to walk the entire length: I don't think you were able to access the mall itself from this side, though there were plenty of entrances via Mumford.

THe Clearance center had a widely accessable entrance from the back that connected up to the first level of Sears. Actually, it was TWO sets of escalators: you went up one, and arrived at a small landing with a few shops... I think there was a travel agency, maybe a keysmith or shoe repairer there... then it led to a second ecalator that led up to the first floor of Sears (with a drinking fountain right at the top to use). Sears was of course connected to the Mall (although to reach this entrance you had to turn left, then right -- the front entance was also visible from there), and you could go straight out to the parking lot from there.

This structure essentially existed in this way until about 2001/2002. But by the mid-90s it hd seen better days. As said, Halifax Shopping Center had won the little competition they had, and soon bought them out. The front of Sears looks great in the photo above, but by the time I was in High School it was looking pretty grey and grimy. I think the recent changes have overall been for the better: although I DO object to them removing that escalator which had made everything easier for everyone.

[hfx_chris]

Ok, after reading over what's been said on this page, and on the older discussion ZET linked to.. I think I finally figured it out. And I apologize for continuing to derail this thread :)

Simpsons opened up first, and was by itself, a free-standing building. Halifax Shopping Centre opened up across the street with Eatons as its big tenant. At some point the West End Mall was built essentially between the Simpsons building and Mumford Road, and the new mall also featured a new Simpsons-Sears store (later renamed to just Sears, approximately where Winners/Sobeys is today). At some point (I believe kp mentioned ~1983 in the other discussion), Simpsons moved to a new location at the Chebucto Road side of West End Mall, which as Nilan888 mentioned has that awesome parkade under it. However, that wouldn't have been for very long, as Hudsons Bay Company purchased Simpsons around this point, and the new Simpsons store along Chebucto Road would have been renamed to The Bay shortly after.
It is at this point I assume Sears took over the old Simpsons building and expanded into it, specifically the bargain basement with the escalators directly into the Sears store. This makes sense, since I believe the two stores basically backed onto each other.
And finally in 1999 Sears Canada purchased Eatons, and the Sears store in West End Mall moved across the street to the former Eatons location in HSC. And of course shortly afterward, West End Mall saw the major renovations which have turned it into what we see today, and if I'm not mistaken, the Sobeys moved across the street from HSC, correct? I assume it was located at the Bayers Road side of the mall, where that large sporting goods store is today.
So. How's that sound?

One final thing I request confirmation on, and I'll stop beating this dead horse. I assume the Sears store was a multi-level building, as all department stores are - were the ground floor doors located where the Wal-Mart entrance is today?

[Dmajackson]

^Well thats a confusing history then again the nature of business's selling out never is simple.

[alps]

Interesting re: Barrington Gate, someone123, thanks.

Yes Chris, the Sobey's occupied the space where Sportcheck/Coast Mountain is today - the parkade entrance to those stores was originally all set up with parcel pick-up lanes (maybe it still is).

Perhaps a clue as to the location of the Sears building: you can still see a remnant of the white Sears facade in the photo I posted, at the side of the Winners.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w81/Hurland/98a5b821.jpg

This is a weird conversation :d

[Nilan8888]

You forgot the part about where the Nazis invaded West End Mall, thus making this relevant to WWII.

[spaustin]

And finally in 1999 Sears Canada purchased Eatons, and the Sears store in West End Mall moved across the street to the former Eatons location in HSC. And of course shortly afterward, West End Mall saw the major renovations which have turned it into what we see today, and if I'm not mistaken, the Sobeys moved across the street from HSC, correct? I assume it was located at the Bayers Road side of the mall, where that large sporting goods store is today.
So. How's that sound?

One final thing I request confirmation on, and I'll stop beating this dead horse. I assume the Sears store was a multi-level building, as all department stores are - were the ground floor doors located where the Wal-Mart entrance is today?

If memory serves, you're correct and the Sobeys moved across the street from HSC. It use to be where that second entrance and parkade is in the middle of Bayers where the land dips down. The Sobeys was in where the giant outdoors store is now (Coast Mountain?) and parcel pick up was in underneath out of the elements. I could be wrong, but I thought Walmart was built new and the Sears multi-level backed out onto the back of the West End Mall? (vague memory from 1st year university) I say that because I remember them building the new Sobeys and WalMart and thinking it was really dumb that they didn't build an indoor connection to the Bay and the rest of the West End Mall.

[terrynorthend]

If memory serves, you're correct and the Sobeys moved across the street from HSC. It use to be where that second entrance and parkade is in the middle of Bayers where the land dips down. The Sobeys was in where the giant outdoors store is now (Coast Mountain?) and parcel pick up was in underneath out of the elements. I could be wrong, but I thought Walmart was built new and the Sears multi-level backed out onto the back of the West End Mall? (vague memory from 1st year university) I say that because I remember them building the new Sobeys and WalMart and thinking it was really dumb that they didn't build an indoor connection to the Bay and the rest of the West End Mall.

Yes. The Walmart and Sobeys (basically one on top of the other) is new build. Sears was quite long, the store front pictured in the shot with bus 902. Inside Sears there was an entrance to the WEM, with about 20-30 stores down a straight hallway. The Bay anchored the far end. (And still does) The little Mall area with the lottery booth by Access NS was there then, it opened into a little food court just before The Bay. The Bay was two floors, Sears was basically one big floorplate, with a smaller bargain basement. The elevator/ escalator to the bargain basement was down in the back corner of Sears, beyond the Mall entrance. As I said before, it was a two tiered escalator, which had a short landing (maybe 50 feet long) inbetween with a couple of Sears service centres along either side. (travel agent, photo studio, hair salon) The bottom escalator/and stairs emptied into the bargain basement, which had street access in behind the West End Mall. Those doors are still there, in fact the bargain basement is still there, but with no internal access. The mumford bus terminal was right there in front of the doors to Sears. Eatons was across in HSC. Sears moved over there after Eatons went bankrupt, and closed up. I think it sat vacant for a bit inbetween though.

I'm a little hazy on when the Bay came about. I remember they didn't have stores around here when I was a kid, and there was a lot of excitement about them coming east. I believe it was built on that end of the Mall with the multi story parking garage below it in the early 80's. Prior to that the old Simpsons-Sears building seen in the photos posted above in this thread occupied that spot. It was probably attached to the mall at one point, and I believe it housed the Atlantic catalogue operations at one time. Its a shame its gone, I always loved the look of the building even as a kid. It would have made a fantastic loft conversion space if it had survived until now.

[worldlyhaligonian]

I think there is something like "the bargin basement" still in operation there, albeit not the crazy spot I remember while growing up in the west end... with a rediculous amount of old inventory being sold as a random assortment for a good price.

[hfx_chris]

Correct worldly, the Sears Clearance Centre stands in the same location that the old Sears bargain basement used to occupy.

Terry, you might want to double check part of that. The old Simpsons building was at the rear facing the train tracks, not where The Bay is today - and the Simpsons-Sears building was on the side facing Mumford where the Sobeys/Winners is today.

Maybe we should branch off into a dedicated West End Mall, or shopping centre thread :P

[cormiermax]

I second that motion:P