Supported
About This File
Thisis a bat of the Halifax Explosion Memorial Bell Tower in the City's Fort Needham Park.
Ninety-one years ago today, on December 6, 1917, disaster struck Halifax in the form of the largest man-made explosion before the invention of nuclear weapons. The Explosion occurred when two ships, the Mont Blanc and Imo, collided in Halifax Harbour. The Mont Blanc was fully loaded with munitions and caught fire. The ship's crew fled and the stricken vessel drifted right into the Halifax waterfront around Pier 6. Almost nobody knew what the Mont Blanc was carrying so no one thought to take cover or flee. The eventual explosion devastated Halifax. Everything within a 2 km radius was flattened and roughly 12,000 other homes were badly damaged. Toppled woodstoves ignited the ruins and fires burned out of control since the city's fire department was virtually wiped out in the blast (firefighters were on Pier 6 trying to extingish the blaze at the time of the Explosion). Approximately, 2,000 people died and 9,000 others were injured. Relief efforts were hampered by a blizzard that struck the very next day. The first major shipment of outside aid to reach Halifax came from Boston, something that Haligonians and Nova Scotians have never forgot. This is why every year, Boston’s official Christmas Tree is carefully picked from the wilds of Nova Scotia and is provided to the city free of charge by the provincial government.
The long-term impact of the Explosion on Halifax was major. The disaster wiped out the city’s already struggling industrial base. Most of the industry was never rebuilt. The devastated North End rose anew as the Hydrostones, Canada’s first public housing project. Halifax became a centre for research into blindness due to the large number of people whose vision was damaged by flying glass. American military planners carefully studied Halifax and a similar incident in Port Chicago, CA, in preparation for the atomic bomb attacks on Japan. The Explosion is remembered by Haligonians every year at the Memorial Bell Tower in Fort Needham Park. To this day, the North face of the clock tower on Halifax City Hall is frozen in time at 9:05.
Included in this upload are two lots, a plain 1x3 plaza and a 1x4 park lot that is compatible with the BSC Park set. See the readme for complete details.
-
4
-
1
Recommended Comments
Sign In or register to comment...
To comment in reply, you must be a community member
Sign In
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In NowCreate an Account
Sign up to join our friendly community. It's easy!
Register a New Account