Three years ago, this piece outlining the shameful history of HRM inaction and obfuscation on the Memorial Library lot was written by historian Leo Deveau and appeared in the Chronicle-Herald:
LEO DEVEAU: Plan for old Memorial Library buried in belly of Halifax bureaucracy | SaltWire
Leo J. Deveau
It’s now been over three years since the Halifax Military Heritage Preservation Society (HMHPS) hosted a community gathering on May 23, 2019, on the status and future of the old Halifax Memorial Library building and grounds in downtown Halifax.
The director of the HMHPS saw the gathering as part of our society’s educational and community outreach mission to share concerns and ideas for repurposing the vacant building, while respecting the surrounding memorial space and burial grounds. Though HRM councillors were invited, only one attended, but he didn’t even represent the area.
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Many of the over 100 citizens who gathered were surprised to learn that a large number of burials had taken place (4,500) in the grounds around the old library site. Many of the interred had originated from the Poor Work House (see location #4 on the map below), which had opened its doors just west of the site in 1760 for Halifax’s poor and destitute citizens. Subsequently, there were burials of prison inmates, along with the victims of epidemics and disease that took place in the settlement up to the 1850s.
Later, it was reported that anthropologist and archaeologist Jonathan Fowler had determined that the old Memorial Library grounds were in essence an extension of the Old Burial Grounds on Barrington Street that later expanded across to the parking lot west of St. Mary’s Basilica (underneath which lie over 2,400 remains) and going further west up to the Memorial Library grounds.
The whole area in fact is essentially a mortuary district — some have termed it the “Halifax necropolis,” where it’s estimated that over 20,000 Haligonians lie in peace — a peace, especially in the old Memorial Library grounds, that may soon be disrupted.
By 1882, the burial grounds had long ended being used for a cemetery. It was subsequently turned into Grafton Park by the province as a public space, and it, in turn, offered it to the city as a permanent lease with the caveat that it remain a public property.
However, in post-Second World War Halifax, with the lack of a city library, a special alteration to the 1882 Grafton Park grant was allowed in 1947 for the construction of a public library and cenotaph memorial to those Haligonians who served in the Great War, the Second World War, and later Korea. Construction began in 1949 and by Nov. 12, 1951, the then-new Memorial Library opened. Though it wasn’t officially reported, it was known during its construction that many graves on the site were reported uncovered.
Though HRM council has known for many years that a new library was going to be built (it later opened on Dec. 13, 2013), no effort was made to garner public input or ideas on the repurposing of the old Memorial Library building after it was closed in August 2014.
Earlier in 2011, through the efforts of many concerned citizens, the Memorial Library building itself had achieved a heritage assessment score (59) needed to declare it a heritage property. Yet HRM council failed to take up the motion within six months, denying the building heritage status. However, later, the matter was resolved and the building and site now has a heritage designation.
But lo and behold, in November 2018, a curious HRM staff report appeared — a proposed P3 development plan from Dalhousie University to repurpose the old Memorial Library site. It had been declassified and reported in local media, complete with architectural renderings. It was clear that the intention all along was to repurpose the old Memorial Library building and grounds for institutional purposes. Yet, there had been no public meetings, nor calls for public input, to consider how such a public site could be, or should, be repurposed for such an institutional interest.
Since HRM seemed reluctant to organize a public meeting on the old Memorial Library building and grounds, the directors of HMHPS organized a community event in 2019, hosted at the Royal Artillery Park officers’ mess, to share concerns and share ideas.
A report was later submitted to HRM. There was no acknowledgement or response from HRM to even discuss the concerns or ideas from such a community-based effort. It seemed like the city had a plan for the future use for the site — and it didn’t include any public input.
The HMHPS public gathering shared a number of exciting ideas on repurposing the building and site as a public space — from a performing-arts space, to an Indigenous art gallery, or even a virtual archives-museum site for the city. All were worthy of consideration. One attendee commented: “The city seems quite capable of tearing down statues, but has no sense of how to create a place to tell its deep and diverse history to residents and visitors alike.”
There was a strong consensus expressed by attendees that regardless of what exact plans might come to fruition, the old Memorial Library and grounds should be preserved as public land, respect should be given to those buried in the grounds, and if at all possible, that the building should be saved to respect its architectural features as one of the only remaining examples of neo-classical architecture in Halifax.
In 2020, HRM commissioned a Halifax Memorial Library Archaeological Resource Impact Assessment (ARIA) of the site by the Cultural Resource Management Group (CRM), based in Bedford. The CRM assessment was a non-invasive remote-sensing process deemed necessary prior to any proposed ground disturbances taking place. It was accepted by the Nova Scotia Special Places Program of the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage, yet it has not yet been made public by HRM.
Now with the redevelopment plan coming to fruition and Spring Garden Road upgrades beginning, residents continue to wonder how much longer should they be expected to wait.
Leo J. Deveau is an author, speaker and commentator on public and military history in Nova Scotia.
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