Stewiacke
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
| official_name = Stewiacke
| native_name =
| other_name =
| settlement_type = Town
| image_skyline = Stewiacke TownHall.jpg
| image_caption = Town of Stewiacke Public Works Building and Cenotaph
| image_flag = Stewiacke NS flag.jpg
| image_seal =
| image_shield = Stewiacke ns coat of arms.png
| nickname = Halfway between the North Pole and the Equator
| motto = Respect, Prosperity, Growth
| image_map =
| map_caption = Location of Stewiacke, Nova Scotia
| pushpin_map = Nova Scotia
| pushpin_label_position = right
| pushpin_mapsize = 275
| pushpin_map_caption = Location of Stewiacke, Nova Scotia
| coordinates = {{coord|45|8|32|N|63|20|54|W|region:CA-NS|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = Canada
| subdivision_type1 = Province
| subdivision_name1 = Nova Scotia
| subdivision_type2 = Municipality
| subdivision_name2 = Colchester County
| established_title =
| established_date =
| established_title2 = Incorporated
| established_date2 = August 30, 1906
| leader_title = Mayor
| leader_name = Doug Glasser
| leader_title1 =
Governing Body
| leader_name1 = Stewiacke Town Council
| leader_title2 = MLA
| leader_name2 = Larry Harrison
| leader_title3 = MP
| leader_name3 = Stephen Ellis (C)
| area_total_km2 = 17.62
| area_land_km2 =
| area_water_km2 =
| area_footnotes = (2021){{cite web |title=Census Profile, 2021 Census Stewiacke, Town [Census subdivision], Nova Scotia |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&SearchText=stewiacke&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1&DGUIDlist=2021A00051210002&HEADERlist=0 |publisher=Statistics Canada |date=February 9, 2022 |access-date=May 7, 2025}}
| elevation_footnotes =
| elevation_m = 100
| population_total = 1,557
| population_as_of = 2021
| population_density_km2 = 88.4
| timezone = AST
| utc_offset = −4
| timezone_DST = ADT
| utc_offset_DST = −3
| postal_code_type = Postal code
| postal_code = B0N 2J0
| area_code = 902
| blank_name = Telephone Exchange
| blank_info = 639, 671
| blank1_name = Median Earnings*
| blank1_info = $65,500
| blank2_name = NTS Map
| blank2_info = {{Canada NTS Map Sheet|11|E|3}}
| blank3_name = GNBC Code
| blank3_info = CBKOM{{Cite cgndb |id = CBKOM |name = Stewiacke}}
| website = {{URL|http://www.stewiacke.net|stewiacke.net}}
| footnotes = *Median household income, 2020
{{center|Places in Nova Scotia}}
| name =
}}
Stewiacke ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|tj|uː|i|æ|k}}) is a town located in southern Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The town was incorporated on August 30, 1906.
Geography
The town is located in the Stewiacke Valley, at the confluence of the Stewiacke and Shubenacadie Rivers, and is a service and support centre for local agricultural communities as well as a service exit on Highway 102.
The town is noted as being located halfway between the North Pole and the Equator (which is actually in Alton, Nova Scotia).{{cite web|url=http://www.burnsidenews.com/index.cfm?sid=106007&sc=397|title=The Burnside News - Burnside entrepreneur to develop Stewiacke industrial park|publisher=BurnsideNews.com|access-date=2009-04-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416031611/http://www.burnsidenews.com/index.cfm?sid=106007&sc=397|archive-date=2009-04-16|url-status=dead}} Controversy in the past over that claim stems from the fact that the Earth is not a perfect sphere and so the halfway mark lies approximately 16 km north of the 45th parallel.{{cite journal|url=http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/2000JRASC..94...48B/0000048.000.html|title=Midway from the Equator to the North Pole - Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada|publisher=Harvard.edu|bibcode=2000JRASC..94...48B|access-date=2009-04-19|last1=Bogan |first1=Larry |journal=Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada |year=2000 |volume=94 |page=48 }}
= Parks and trails =
- Dennis Park
- Stewiacke River Park
- Stewiacke Recreation Grounds
- Barking Lot - Off Leash Dog Park
- John Crawford Trail
- Stewiacke River Country Trail
- Fish Shack Trail
- Caddell Rapids Lookoff Provincial Park
History
Stewiacke was named in the language of the local Mi'kmaq First Nations and is a word meaning "flowing out in small streams" and "winding river" or "whimpering or whining as it goes".{{cite web|url=http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/nhns2/500/511.htm|title=Museum, Government of Nova Scotia - 511 Windsor Lowlands|access-date=2009-04-19|publisher=Museum.gov.ns.ca|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090522030444/http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/nhns2/500/511.htm|archive-date=2009-05-22}} During the French and Indian War, the British built Fort Ellis in the area to protect New England Planters from Mi'kmaq raids.
File:SimplifiedPealeMastodon.jpg
In the late 1990s, a tourism attraction named Mastodon Ridge opened near the town's highway exit, based on a local discovery of a mastodon skeleton. The Mastodon Ridge Complex features a craft store, toy store, a mini golf and interpretive centre which displays several of the mastodon's bones.
Stewiacke is home to a bar, a pharmacy, a grocery store, a pizzeria, numerous fast food restaurants, two gas stations, a hardware store, an 18-hole golf course and a newly built elementary school that consolidates 2 former local schools.
Stewiacke is also home to a volunteer fire brigade that was the first department in North America to use specialized foam as a fire suppression agent, alongside other achievements involving the implementation of certain fire apparatus.
The town's most notorious event occurred on April 12, 2001, when a local teenager, at home on a school in-service day, tampered with a railway switch on the CN Rail Halifax-Montreal mainline, causing Via Rail Canada's Ocean to derail several minutes later when it passed through the centre of the community.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/youth-sentenced-to-six-months-for-derailing-train-1.349228|title=Youth sentenced to six months for derailing train|access-date=2020-01-04|publisher=CBC.ca | date=2002-11-06}} Several buildings and rail cars were destroyed and many people were injured, including some severely, although no fatalities resulted.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/teen-faces-victims-of-n-s-train-wreck-1.348279|title=Teen faces victims of N.S. train wreck|access-date=2020-01-04|publisher=CBC.ca | date=2002-08-30}}
On June 30, 2021, Stewiacke was hit by an EF1 tornado.
In 2023, the Boston Christmas Tree came from Stewiacke.{{cite news | url = https://www.wcvb.com/article/christmas-tree-boston-nova-scotia-selected-2023/45735854 | title = Christmas tree, annual gift for Boston from Nova Scotia, selected | publisher = WCVB | date = November 3, 2023 | accessdate = November 4, 2023 }}
{{clear}}
Demographics
{{Stack|{{Historical populations
|1956|1024
|1961|1042
|1981|1201
|1986|1265
|1991|1306
|1996|1405
|2001|1388
|2006|1421
|2011|1438
|2016|1373
|2021|1557
| footnote = [http://www66.statcan.gc.ca/eng/acyb_c1966-eng.aspx?opt=/eng/1966/196602190191_p.%20191.pdf Census 1956-1961]
[http://www.gov.ns.ca/finance/publish/CENSUS/Census%201.pdf I:\ecstats\Agency\BRIAN\census2 NS Department of Finance] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005011332/http://www.gov.ns.ca/finance/publish/CENSUS/Census%201.pdf |date=2013-10-05 }}[http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD&Code1=1210002&Geo2=CD&Code2=1210&Data=Count&SearchText=Stewiacke&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=&TABID=1 Statistics Canada], 2011
}}}}
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Stewiacke had a population of {{nts|1557}} living in {{nts|713}} of its {{nts|739}} total private dwellings, a change of {{percentage|{{#expr:1557-1373}}|1373|1}} from its 2016 population of {{nts|1373}}. With a land area of {{convert|17.62|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, it had a population density of {{Pop density|1557|17.62|km2|sqmi|prec=1}} in 2021.{{cite web | url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810000203&geocode=A000212 | title=Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions (municipalities), Nova Scotia | publisher=Statistics Canada | date=February 9, 2022 | accessdate=March 12, 2022}}
Notable residents
- Hanson Dowell (1906–2000), president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly{{cite news|title=Dowell, Hanson T. (The Honourable, QC) — 94|date=September 25, 2000|newspaper=The Chronicle Herald|location=Halifax, Nova Scotia|page=37|url=http://www.sportnovascotia.ca/DesktopModules/HoFDirectory_Details/ShowImage.ashx?id=2994|access-date=December 7, 2020|archive-date=October 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004013344/http://www.sportnovascotia.ca/DesktopModules/HoFDirectory_Details/ShowImage.ashx?id=2994|url-status=dead}}
See also
[[References]]
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://www.stewiacke.net Town of Stewiacke]
{{Geographic location
| Centre = Stewiacke, Nova Scotia
| N =
| NE = Alton, Nova Scotia
Truro, Nova Scotia
Via {{jct|state=NS|Trunk|2}} Or {{jct|state=NS|Hwy|102}}
| E = West St. Andrews, Nova Scotia
Musquodoboit Valley
Via Kitchener St./Stewiacke Rd.
| SE =
| S =
| SW = Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia
Enfield, Nova Scotia
Via {{jct|state=NS|Trunk|2}} Or {{jct|state=NS|Hwy|102}}
| W =
| NW =
}}
{{NSColchester}}
{{Subdivisions of Nova Scotia}}
{{Authority control}}