Rockingham is a community located within the

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

of the

Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

, in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

History

The first Europeans to settle in what was to become Rockingham were foreign Protestant farmers and innkeepers, starting in 1784. While the inns were too close to the

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

to benefit from stage coach traffic, they were conveniently located for drovers bringing their livestock to the Halifax market. Drovers lodged at the inns and kept their animals in the pastures while they arranged for their sale and slaughter. In the 1840s, William Evens and William Davey bought properties on the western shore of the basin. Evens, a butcher, built a slaughterhouse, while Davey established a large inn called the Four Mile House. When the Nova Scotia Railway was being built the two men persuaded the railway board to locate the first stop at Four Mile House. On 1 February 1855, the first ceremonial run of the Nova Scotia Railway came to Four Mile House. The village that grew up around the railway station took the name "Four Mile House". The construction of the Nova Scotia Railway in 1855 altered the character of the community. Destruction of the shoreline cut off farmers from some resources, but eventually the railway helped the village to grow and prosper. Country life was now easily accessible; wealthy families built grand summer homes and transient visitors enjoyed staying at the Wayside Inn (formerly the Five Mile House) and other tourist accommodations in Rockingham. The Four Mile House district was selected by the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul (Halifax) in the early 1870s for a convent and institution of higher learning. ''Mount Saint Vincent'' was built up the hill on a large parcel of land almost directly opposite the Nova Scotia Railway station. In 1873, the

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

, along with its women's finishing school, Mount Saint Vincent Academy and associated residence facilities opened after approximately one year of construction. In 1886, the residents of the Four Mile House district decided their community needed a name that better reflected its growing prosperity. The name Rockingham Station was inspired by the Rockingham Inn that had been located north at Prince's Lodge. This particular inn had burned down in 1833, but lived on in memory due to its links with

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Sir John Wentworth, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, and Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, a powerful English noble and friend of the Wentworths.Ingalls and Ingalls, Sweet Suburb 178-179 The

Intercolonial Railway The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canada, Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also compl ...

, which had taken over the Nova Scotia Railway, expropriated waterfront land at Rockingham Station from the Sisters of Charity during the early 1900s to widen its trackage leading to Fairview. Immediately prior to the Halifax Explosion,

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

operator Vince Coleman (train dispatcher) managed to warn an incoming passenger train to hold at Rockingham Station's passenger station (the last

station stop before Richmond terminal), ultimately saving countless lives. The new rock cut being built for the railway through south end Halifax was finished in 1918 under the newly created Canadian National Railways, with some of the blasted rock being used as infill to create the Halifax Ocean Terminals in the south end of the

, as well as infill of Bedford Basin off Rockingham Station to create what is now the Rockingham Railway Yard. In 1925, Mount St. Vincent Academy was upgraded in status to a women's junior college. The community of Rockingham Station began to experience some subdivision of land as it was located in a cheaper tax jurisdiction (the Municipality of the County of Halifax) as opposed to the adjacent city which ended at Fairview. On 5 April 1961, the village's name was formally simplified by the provincial government to just Rockingham. The creation of Bicentennial Drive, an all-weather bypass highway to Bedford, likely spurred construction of the first major subdivision developments in 1962, although much of the Rockingham area on the hillside overlooking Bedford Basin would require significant blasting to create streets and underground services. Mount St. Vincent College was upgraded to a full university, named Mount St. Vincent University, in 1966. Many homes that faced the original road, had to move or be renovated as the entrances no longer faced the street. On 1 January 1969, the community of Rockingham--as well as Prince's Lodge, Armdale, Clayton Park, Fairview, and Spryfield--were annexed into the

City of Halifax A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

. Rockingham continued to benefit from being located immediately north of the peninsular city on the Highway 102 corridor to

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

and beyond. The opening of the A. Murray MacKay Bridge in 1970 led to improved connections between Rockingham to the City of Dartmouth and particularly a new industrial park named Burnside which would become a major regional employer. A smaller industrial park named Bayers Lake was also built near Rockingham on the west side of Highway 102. New residential developments in the expanding city were subsequently built near Rockingham; such as the Clayton Park subdivision, located along the eastern slope of Geizer's Hill. During the 1970s-and-1980s, CN Rail--and later

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

--operated a form of

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

passenger service on the railway line along Bedford Basin into downtown Halifax using frequently scheduled Budd Diesel Rail Cars which were destined for exurban destinations, suburban destinations, and farther-afield destinations. Rockingham's station was closed after the 15 January 1990 budget cuts to Via Rail saw these services discontinued. The Bedford Highway was redeveloped during the mid 1990s into a major collector road from Birch Cove into the city. On 1 April 1996, Halifax County was dissolved and all of its places (cities, suburbs, towns, and villages) were turned into communities of a single-tier municipality called the ''Halifax Regional Municipality''. Subsequently, Rockingham was turned into a community within the new

. Preceding and following amalgamation, subdivision development in the western part of Rockingham continued apace, spurred in particular by the opening of Dunbrack Street and Northwest Arm Drive, however the most significant period of recent growth in Rockingham occurred between 1997-and-2003 with the Clayton Park West subdivision which was a 20-year development that filled within a quarter of the budgeted timeframe. Clayton Park West became one of the fastest-growing, densest new developments in Nova Scotian urban history. The rapid development was spurred by the conversion of the Bayers Lake Industrial Park into a ''business park'' ( Bayers Lake Business Park) model containing Halifax's first big box outlet stores, as well as new highway interchange construction between Lacewood Drive and Highway 102. Today, as the Halifax area grows at a strong pace, Rockingham continues to diversify and urbanize.

Geography

The ''Halifax Regional Municipality Urban Forest Master Plan'' of 2013 splits Rockingham into two-sections; Rockingham East--and--Rockingham West. Rockingham East has a landmass of ,> and Rockingham West has a landmass of . Rockingham's total landmass is . Rockingham is situated on the western shore of the Bedford Basin. It is located north-north-east of Clayton Park and Fairview, and south of

; specifically, Birch Cove and Prince's Lodge. Its eastern extent is formed by the shore of the Bedford Basin and its western extent is generally the top of the ridge that rises from the Bedford Basin, although this was subsequently extended westward to an area near the Birch Cove Lakes and Highway 102.

Transportation

A major thoroughfare, Highway 2 (''the Bedford Highway''), provides residents of Rockingham a route to exurban,

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

, and

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

communities further-afield to the north. Additionally, it provides residents of Rockingham to more urban communities within the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

. Public transit within Rockingham is provided by Halifax Transit, and provides several routes to the community. Halifax Transit Routes *Route 8 (''Sackville'') *Route 39 (''Flamingo'') *Route 90 (''Larry Uteck'') *Route 91 (''Hemlock Ravine'') *Route 93 (''Bedford Highway'') *Route 135 (''Flamingo Express'') *Route 196 (''Basinview Express'')

Education

All public schools within Rockingham are administered by the Halifax Regional Centre for Education. Elementary Schools *Duc d'Anville Elementary *Grosvenor-Wentworth Park Elementary *Park West School * Rockingham Elementary High Schools * Halifax West High School Junior High Schools *Clayton Park Junior High *Park West School Universities * Mount St. Vincent University

References

External links

rootsweb.com - Rockingham

nsplacenames.ca - Rockingham
{{Communities of Mainland Halifax Communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia