Armdale is a neighbourhood of the community of Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, Canada.

History

Prior to European colonization, the

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the nort ...

inhabited these lands for thousands of years. When Europeans began colonizing the land surrounding Halifax Harbour, they built blockhouses. In 1751, there were two attacks on blockhouses surrounding Halifax. The Mi'kmaq attacked the North Blockhouse (located at the north end of Joseph Howe Drive) and killed the men on guard. They also attacked near the South Blockhouse (located at the south end of Joseph Howe Drive), at a saw-mill on a stream flowing out of

Chocolate Lake Chocolate Lake is located in the Armdale neighbourhood of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The lake is surrounded by many private homes as well as a Best Western hotel and a city beach. As one of the nearest freshwater lakes to Downtown Halifax, Chocolate L ...

into the

Northwest Arm The Northwest Arm, originally named Sandwich River, is an inlet in eastern Canada off the Atlantic Ocean in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality. Geography Part of Halifax Harbour, it measures approximately 3.5 km in length and 0. ...

. They killed two men. In 1753, when Lawrence became governor, the Mi'kmaq attacked again upon the sawmills near the South Blockhouse on the Northwest Arm, where they killed three British. The Mi'kmaq made three attempts to retrieve the bodies for their scalps.Thomas Atkins. History of Halifax City. Brook House Press. 2002 (reprinted 1895 edition). p 209 The largest employer during the 20th century in the Armdale area was

Simpson's The Robert Simpson Company Limited, commonly known as Simpson's until 1972, then as Simpsons, and in Quebec sometimes as Simpson, was a Canadian department store chain that had its earliest roots in a store opened in 1858 by Robert Simpson. ...

and later

Simpsons-Sears Sears Canada Inc. was a publicly-traded Canadian company affiliated with the American-based Sears department store chain. In operation from 1952 until January 14, 2018, and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the company began as Simpsons-Sea ...

, which operated a large warehouse for its catalogue division beside the railway line. This was later superseded by

Maritime Life Assurance Company The Maritime Life Assurance Company was a Canadian insurance company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was founded in 1922 and in 2004 it became fully integrated with Manulife Financial, with the Maritime Life brand being retired. In 2004 ...

, which was absorbed by

Manulife Financial Manulife Financial Corporation (also known as Financière Manuvie in Quebec) is a Canadian multinational insurance company and financial services provider headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company operates in Canada and Asia as "Manulife" an ...

in 2004. Armdale had its own post office, which no longer operates. Original names for the community included Armdale District, Dutch Village, and North-West Arm. In 1969, the former

city of Halifax A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

annexed Armdale, Clayton Park, Fairview, Rockingham, and

Spryfield Spryfield is community within the urban area of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. History The land now known as Spryfield was first occupied by the Miꞌkmaq people, who hunted and fished at Beaver Lake (now called Long Lake). The Miꞌkmaq would ...

. From 1969 until the creation of the Municipality of Halifax on 1 April 1996, Armdale, Clayton Park, Fairview, Rockingham, and

were grouped under the colloquial term ''Mainland Halifax''.

Armdale railway station Armdale station was a railway station in Armdale, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was operated originally by the Canadian National Railway and later by Via Rail. It was located near the Halifax Shopping Centre. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was served b ...

was once located near the Chebucto Road underpass, but it closed in 1990. Prior to and following amalgamation with the City of Halifax, Armdale developed into a residential neighborhood consisting of single family homes and small

apartment An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...

buildings. A nearby commercial district in West End Halifax centred on the

Halifax Shopping Centre Halifax Shopping Centre, located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is Atlantic Canada's largest multi-building shopping centre. The centre is operated by Toronto-based Cushman & Wakefield Asset Services Inc. The property consists of an enclosed shopping ...

has kept Armdale relatively free from retail development. On 1 April 1996, Halifax County was dissolved and all of its places (cities, suburbs, towns, and villages) were turned into communities of a single-tier municipality named ''Halifax Regional Municipality''. Subsequently, Armdale was kept as a neighbourhood--but of Community of Halifax, within the new Municipality of Halifax. Today, the name Armdale is mostly associated with a traffic circle located at the junction of Chebucto Road, Herring Cove Road, Joseph Howe Drive, Quinpool Road, and St. Margaret's Bay Road.

Geography

Armdale borders the southern part of an

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmu ...

connecting the

Halifax Peninsula The Halifax Peninsula is peninsula within the urban area of the Municipality of Halifax, Nova Scotia. History The town of Halifax was founded by the British government under the direction of the Board of Trade and Plantations under the c ...

with the larger

Chebucto Peninsula The Chebucto Peninsula is a peninsula located in central Nova Scotia, Canada, entirely within the Halifax Regional Municipality on the Atlantic coast. It is bordered by St. Margarets Bay in the west, the open Atlantic Ocean to the south, and ...

, and is at the head of the

. The neighbourhood extends shortly up the Herring Cove Road, Purcell's Cove Road, and St. Margaret's Bay Road. For a small distance, the neighbourhood borders the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

tracks that lead to downtown Halifax.

Demographics

Although a well-established neighbourhood within the community of Halifax, Armdale does not have any demographic estimates.

References

{{Coord, 44, 38, 11, N, 63, 37, 53, W, region:CA-NS_scale:100000_type:city, display=title Communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia