Stellarton is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located in the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

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 ...

. It is adjacent and to the south of the larger town of

New Glasgow New Glasgow is a town in Pictou County, in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the banks of the East River of Pictou, which flows into Pictou Harbour, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait. The town's population was 9,075 ...

. In pioneer times the area was called Coal Mines Station, and from 1833 until 1889, it was known as Albion Mines. The town was incorporated as Stellarton in 1889 and owes its name to a specific type of

torbanite Torbanite, also known as boghead coal or channel coal, is a variety of fine-grained black oil shale. It usually occurs as lenticular masses, often associated with deposits of Permian coals. Torbanite is classified as lacustrine type oil shale ...

which came to be known as "stellarite" because of the "stars of fire" given off by its sparky flame.

History

In the 1790s, coal quickly became a key focus of the local economy. The Foord coal seam (from which the main street of Stellarton derives its name) runs through most of the town and is part of the greater Stellarton Basin/Pictou Coalfield. As part of an area recognized by geologists for its unique

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitute ...

s and thick coal seams, the Foord seam is said to be the thickest in the world with estimate of coal seams being as thick as 48 feet. In the 1820s, the mines were taken over by the General Mining Association which intensified production with new technology including the first steam engine in Nova Scotia for pumping and in 1839

Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...

, the oldest railway locomotive in Canada which carried coal to waiting ships.“The Saga Of The Samson: Canada's Oldest Locomotive” ''Pictou County Historical Society'' (1968) digitized by Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library
/ref> Samson is now preserved at the

Nova Scotia Museum of Industry The Nova Scotia Museum of Industry is a provincial museum located in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, dedicated to the story of Nova Scotia work and workers. Part of the Nova Scotia Museum system, the museum aims to explain how Nova Scotia was affected by ...

in Stellarton.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Stellarton had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Major businesses

The town is still home to coal mining operations, the

Stellarton Surface Coal Mine The Stellarton Surface Coal Mine is an open pit reclamation coal mine located in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. It is owned and operated by Pioneer Coal Limited. Operations The mine began operations in 1980 and coal is extracted using truck and shov ...

has been operated by Pioneer Coal since 1980. The Canadian grocery chain

Sobeys Sobeys Inc. is the second largest supermarket chain in Canada, with over 1,500 stores operating across Canada under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales o ...

is based out of Stellarton, and its corporate offices and grocery subsidiaries provides a fair percentage of the town's employment. Sobeys subsidiaries based in Stellarton include

Big 8 Beverages Big 8 Beverages is a soft drinks company based in the town of Stellarton, near New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Canada. Established in 1986 and owned by the Sobeys chain of supermarkets, which is also headquartered in Stellarton, the company produces ...

, TRA Cash and Carry, Eastern Sign-Print and Regional Distribution Centre. One business that did not work out was the

Clairtone Clairtone Sound Corporation Limited was a manufacturer of high-quality sound electronics and accessories based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1958 by the Hungarian-born entrepreneur and electronics engineer Peter Munk with furniture desig ...

factory, the brainchild of entrepreneurs

Peter Munk Peter Munk (November 8, 1927 – March 28, 2018) was a Hungarian-Canadian businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of a number of high-profile business ventures, including the hi-fi electronics co ...

and

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

, encouraged by local businessman and politician

Frank H. Sobey Frank H. Sobey, OC (May 24 1902 – December 15, 1985) was a Canadian businessman and art collector who was the primary builder of the Sobeys chain of supermarkets. Life and career Born in the farming community of Lyons Brook, Nova Scotia, ...

Attractions

Stellarton is home to the

, part of the

Nova Scotia Museum Nova Scotia Museum (NSM) is the corporate name for the 28 museums across Nova Scotia, Canada, and is part of the province's tourism infrastructure. The organization manages more than 200 historic buildings, living history sites, vessels, and speci ...

system. Stellarton is noted for its painted fire hydrants, each adorned with a costumed representative of a town inhabitant or profession.

Stellarton Memorial Ice Rink

The Stellarton Memorial Rink is a Rink in Stellarton that was made in 1945 to remember the soldiers that died in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

The rink is still standing today but has not been used for several years

Notable people

James Peter Robertson James Peter Robertson (26 October 1883 – 6 November 1917) was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for valour in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. D ...

- recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

* Leo McKay Jr. - novelist *

Blayre Turnbull Blayre Turnbull (born July 15, 1993) is a Canadian ice hockey player for the PWHPA. She made her debut with the Canada women's national ice hockey team at the 2014 4 Nations Cup. Career Turnbull attended Shattuck-St. Mary's, where she was a cl ...

- Olympic gold and silver medalist in Women's Hockey

Navigator

References

External links

Town of Stellarton
{{Subdivisions of Nova Scotia Communities in Pictou County Towns in Nova Scotia Mining communities in Nova Scotia