Please excuse the length of this one, but I made reference earlier to an interesting essay by Craig Dodge for Pier 21 Museum. I could only locate a French version of the text but I thought it added some value so I attempted a reasonable facsimile of a translation...
Remembering Pier 2: The Other Immigrant Gateway to Halifax
by Craig Dodge, Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21
Before Pier 21 became the gateway to Halifax for one million immigrants arriving on Canada's East Coast, for several years another facility filled the role of access point to the city for newcomers.
Because its history is less known than its famous successor, Pier 2 remains largely forgotten. That’s a shame, considering the contribution of this facility to the country’s growth. Nearly 2.7 million people
1 immigrated to Canada during Pier 2’s years of service, most of them crossing the Atlantic from Europe, and Halifax was more often than not their point of entry.
2 During these years, Pier 2 was there to welcome them. If its history remains little known, it must also be added that it can be difficult to trace. Often conflicting and contradictory, sometimes vanished or hidden, the history of Pier 2 continues to be a fascinating excursion into the past of the city and the country.
The history of Pier 2 is inseparable from the stories of the disasters that have marked the region over the years. Each of these tragedies is embodied in this wharf. While it’s likely that wharves existed in Halifax’s north end beyond Cornwallis Street before records were kept, it is not until 1880 that it is possible to document with certainty the historic beginnings of Pier 2. A dispatch from the February 4 edition of the Journal of Remarkable Occurrences for 1880-1881 states that "during the fourteenth and fifteenth years following the Canadian Union, the deepwater terminal of the Intercolonial Railway in Halifax, Nova Scotia, was completed by James G. Kennedy, Contractor. Work had begun in June, 1877 and the value of the contract was $174,000”.
3
This short report, in addition to providing information on the beginnings of Pier 2, is important for another reason. The term "deep-water terminal" was used to identify Pier 2 for several years. The name was considered appropriate because of the dock’s location, one mile closer to the open sea than the government railway’s other terminals, located further north. Although the depth of the water at Pier 2 does not really exceed that of other areas of the harbor, during its first years of existence the wharf was known as "Deepwater". The name describes the ideal location because of the requirements of the many ships that often came to Halifax.
The property on which Pier 2 was located belonged to and was operated by the company of Samuel Cunard, founder of the famous steamship line. The structure, including the wharf, the rails and the open warehouse, received a boost when, in the year it was completed, Halifax was officially proclaimed by Ottawa to be a "port of entry". In fact, under the Canadian Immigration Act, the city had hosted an immigration office since 1865. The local newspapers of the time reported the expansion of the wharf. A year after its construction, the Halifax Herald published a glowing assessment of recent additions to the terminal. Equipped with a new hangar measuring 546 feet long and 46 feet wide, big enough to accommodate a greater volume of coal, the newspaper proudly states: "When the work in progress is completed, Halifax will have marine transportation facilities beyond all other ports in the Dominion, and in fact, according to some, all over North America."
4
The new wharf, however, suffered its first major disaster in [1895] when a fire, suspected of being arson, ravaged the structure. When the wharf was finally rebuilt under the auspices of the Laurier government seeking to develop the port of Halifax, the work took on an even bigger dimension.
Construction began in September 1911 and was completed in early 1915. Resident Engineer A.F. Dyer and Superintendent A. A. MacDonald supervised the project. These two people later renewed their association during a future reconstruction of the wharf. The new wharf and hangar were built entirely of reinforced concrete. It was around this time that the wharf began to be called Pier 2. Everything was in place for the facility to receive both immigrants and goods.
The wharf was completed a year after the First World War erupted and suddenly found itself playing an unexpected role. “From the beginning of 1915 to the return of the Canadian soldiers of the war, the main purpose of the wharf was to accommodate the troops. Virtually all Canadians who went to fight for the Empire boarded at this dock.”
5 On the upper floor of its transit hangar, “284,455 Canadian soldiers, many American soldiers and more than 50,000 Chinese construction workers embarked at Pier 2" during the war.
6 A hospital was installed on the upper floor to treat the sick and wounded. At that time, the wharf became the heart of the city. A convoy of ships and people converged each day in Halifax’s north end. Probably the most famous ship that regularly docked there to take on thousands of passengers was "the Olympic, sister ship of the infamous Titanic. By the spring of 1919, more than 6,000 veterans disembarked from this ship at Pier 2, setting a new passenger transport record.”
7
A new disaster struck the wharf in 1917, when the entire north end of Halifax was reduced to ruins by the largest man-made explosion before the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Although the concrete shed survived better than most of the surrounding structures, the damage was so high that the wharf's capacity to receive immigrants was considerably reduced over the next 10 years. People who arrived in Halifax during this period, at their first glance at their new home, saw the desolate landscape of a ruined city. Without a doubt, this scene could "not leave the happiest impression."
8
For a while, Pier 2 continued to handle the flow of immigrants to Canada, but eventually a new wharf called Pier 21 was built to move the city's immigration traffic further south along the harbour. By 1926, the new wharf was finished, part of the port complex known as Ocean Terminal. The Department of Immigration and Settlement was in such a hurry to move its facilities to the new location that, even before the new Halifax Harbour Commission was able to take over management of the Ocean Terminal facilities, the federal immigration offices were in place and operating on the second floor of the new shed.
9 In 1928, Pier 21 officially began its long career as Canada's most famous entry point.
Although the Pier 2’s role as an immigration facility eventually ended, its story continued in a more familiar role. During the First World War, the upper floor served as a temporary shelter for thousands of new immigrants. After it was no longer needed for this purpose, it gradually fell into disrepair. However, in the late 1920s, as the demand for trade with the Great Lakes region increased, the wharf was rebuilt again. Developed as a 1.5 million cubic feet storage facility for food and goods, the wharf was assured of a bright future in Halifax's marine economy. But another tragedy would challenge the wharf’s survival, following a familiar scenario.
In September 1933 "the most spectacular and difficult fire to control Halifax has seen since the Holocaust of [1917]"
10 occurred on the upper deck of the wharf. The result was a financial loss of more than half a million dollars, a potentially fatal blow to Halifax's vibrant transportation industry. However, a determined and concerted effort by business and government overcame contractual disputes and bad winter weather and restored normal operations at Pier 2. The wharf, according to Harbour Commissioner J.L. Hetherington, was raised to a level "never before reached".
11 A ramp was built to provide vehicles with access to the upper floor, electric escalators were installed between floors, and improved plumbing and heating systems were added. But the glory years of this old wharf in Halifax's north end, where so many immigrants once came to Canada, would not last.
There would be no other calamity, but inevitably its time drew to a close. Today, the transit shed has long since disappeared and the old rails are unusable, but the wharf still occupies the position it had in the winter of 1880. Today, the Canadian Navy has taken over the location and few signs of its important past remain, but Pier 2’s vibrant history is still worth recalling.
Some facts about Pier 2
A short chronology
February 4, 1880- Beginning of the "Deep Water Terminal"
January 6, 1885- Construction of a coal shed for the Intercolonial Railway
May 20, 1895- A fire possibly of criminal origin caused serious damage
September 1911- Start of construction of Pier 2 facilities
Aug. 1914 to Nov. 1918- Serves embarkation point for Canadian troops departing overseas
Winter 1915- Completion of construction of Pier 2 facilities
6 December 1917- Most of Pier 2 is destroyed by Halifax Explosion
March 1928- Immigration offices officially transferred to Pier 21
September 1933- Fire causes half a million dollars in damage and destroys warehouse upstairs
October 1934- Wharf resumes commercial role "better than before"
September 1939- Canada enters the Second World War and the navy requisitioned Pier 2 facilities
The location of Pier 2
Throughout its history, Pier 2 has been located in the north end of Halifax, near the shore at the end of Cornwallis Street.
The dimensions of Pier 2
The Halifax Herald of September 1, 1882 gives the dimensions of the original storage shed at 546 feet long by 46 feet wide. It was 16 feet tall and had a flat roof. The October 1933 "The Port and Province" newspaper describes the transit shed of Pier 2 during the post-1911 period as having 1.5 million cubic feet of storage space on the upper floor. The dock footprint is described as 700 feet long and 235 feet wide. The transit hangar is described as 688 feet long and 200 feet wide. It is reported that the cost of the structure is approximately $1.2 million. (It should be noted that the Halifax Harbour Commission, in its 1928 annual report, mentions slightly different statistics, 700 feet long by 225 feet wide with a warehouse 694 feet by 202 feet.)
Footnotes
1 This value is based on information provided by Statistics Canada. It includes the number of immigrants between the years 1911 and 1928 inclusively. These statistics could be increased to 5.5 million people back to 1880, the year the predecessor of Pier 2, the deep-water Terminal, was inaugurated. SOURCE: 1852 to 1976, Department of Manpower and Immigration, Immigration Statistics 1976, Table 2, p. 4, Ottawa, 1977; for 1977, Employment and Immigration Canada, Immigration 1977, Quarterly Statistics, Fourth Quarter, Table 2, p. 7
2 The Pier 21 Story: Halifax 1924-1971, (Halifax: Employment and Immigration, 1978), p .2. Available from the Pier 21 Documentation Center.
3 "Dominion Annual Register for 1880-81", Journal of Remarkable Occurrences, v.237. Available from the Archives and Records Management of Nova Scotia.
4 "Additions to the Wharf and Deep Water Terminus", Halifax Herald, September 1, 1882, p. 2. Available from the Archives and Records Management of Nova Scotia.
5 H. Hyatt, Port Authority's Vigorous Action Averts Business Disaster, Port and Province, (October 1933), pp. 7, 26-7. Available from the Archives and Records Management of Nova Scotia.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 The Pier 21 Story, 4.
9 "Report for the Year 193", Halifax Harbor Commissions Annual Reports, 1928-35, p. 12. Available from the Archives and Records Management of Nova Scotia.
10 Port and Province, 6.
11. Chas S. Bennett, "Fires Destruction of the Historic Pier Turned to Advantage", Port and Province, (February 1934), p. 4. Available from the Archives and Records Management of Nova Scotia
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