Port Wallace is an urban locality in 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. It is located on the northeastern edge of the community of Dartmouth and lies midway between

Lake Micmac Lake Micmac is a freshwater lake located in the Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. Located entirely within the community of Dartmouth, Lake Micmac is also known as 'Second Lake' for its position in the Shubenacadie Canal syste ...

and Lake Charles. Its main street is Route 318, with portions being named Waverley Road and Braemar Drive.

Shubie Park Shubie Park is a urban park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia maintained by the Halifax Regional Municipality. Heavily forested, Shubie Park is roughly linear in shape as it is bounded on the north and west by Highway 118 expressway and on the south ...

is a local municipal park which preserves part of the historic

Shubenacadie Canal The Shubenacadie Canal is a canal in central Nova Scotia, Canada. It links Halifax Harbour with the Bay of Fundy by way of the Shubenacadie River and Shubenacadie Grand Lake. Begun in 1826, it was not completed until 1861 and was closed in 1871. ...

between the two lakes.

History

Port Wallace was established in 1861 and is named after the Honourable Michael Wallace, a colonial administrator and former President of the Shubenacadie Canal Company. The canal's eventual completion in 1861 resulted in the present-day community being named after Wallace, who died in 1831 at the time of the canal company's bankruptcy. His legacy continues today with an elementary school in the community being named after him. After Wallace's death, the name of the community was erroneously changed from Port Wallace to Port Wallis, after Admiral

Provo Wallis Provo or Provos may refer to: In geography In the United States * Provo, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Provo, South Dakota, an unincorporated community * Provo Township, Fall River County, South Dakota * Provo, Utah, a city ** Provo P ...

. The new name was officially approved on 3 December 1953, only to be returned to the present Port Wallace on 18 February 1963. Port Wallace was home to a

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 northe ...

village, located on the banks of Lake Micmac, close to the eventual location of the canal. Some of the most significant canal work took place around Port Wallace, and many of the canal workers resided in the camp here. The first church established in Port Wallace was St. Andrew's Anglican Church in 1935. The following year, a church building was constructed on Locks Road, where it remains to this day. As the population increased in the late 1940s, the

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...

began services led by student ministers, first in the community centre on Waverley Road in February 1950, followed by the schoolhouse in June of the same year. Eventually, the congregation bought the schoolhouse and it was converted into a proper church.

References

Communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia 1861 establishments in Nova Scotia Dartmouth, Nova Scotia {{HalifaxNS-geo-stub