Fairview, Nova Scotia


Fairview is a former community and current neighbourhood within the urban core of Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Geography

Fairview is named after Fairview Cove, which forms the extreme southern end of Bedford Basin at the northern edge of the isthmus connecting the Halifax Peninsula with the larger Chebucto Peninsula.
As such, Fairview sits astride and is bisected by several major transportation corridors:
Fairview was established at the junction of several railway lines operated by various companies in the 19th century. Fairview Station was in a former German settlement of Dutch Village.
The Dutch Village was one of the original homes of the Foreign Protestants, who arrived in Halifax in the 1750s. First known as the Westerwald, it was called the Dutch Village by non-German locals. Some of the passengers of the Foreign Protestant ships settled temporarily in the Dutch Village while they waited for a more permanent settlement in Lunenburg County.
A section of the original, old Dutch Village Road, which had been an exit to Highway 102, was renamed "Westerwald Street" in November 2002 in honour of the old settlement. Dutch Village Road now forms the main commercial street at the foot of Fairview's slope, the corner of Westerwald Street, Bayers Road to the basin end of Joseph Howe Drive.
In a series of corporate mergers following World War I, railway lines in the Fairview area came under control of Canadian National Railways. CNR established its new locomotive servicing shops and roundhouse for the Halifax area in the community, which was named Fairview Station on March 1, 1921.
Until the 1950s, the majority of Fairview's residents were employed by the railway. Most of the current suburban street network in the area was established in the early 20th century, forming a regular grid pattern up the eastern slope of Geizers Hill, facing toward Halifax and the Bedford Basin.
The community name was shortened to Fairview on January 19, 1956.
In the early 1960s all of the homes on School Avenue's southern side were appropriated by the province and demolished to make way for the construction of the Bicentennial Highway. School Avenue itself is still owned by the Province of Nova Scotia and is the only civic street in the area not under municipal authority.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Fairview developed into a major shopping destination after Halifax's first suburban shopping mall, the Bayers Road Shopping Centre, was constructed. The 1969 amalgamation of unincorporated Halifax County communities such as Fairview, Rockingham, and Spryfield saw the village become part of the City of Halifax. Fairview also became home to one of Halifax's first suburban high schools in 1958 when Halifax West Municipal High School. Under HRM, Fairview was jurisdictionally placed in Mainland Halifax.

Community

Sport facilities are located near the centre of the neighbourhood in W.D. Piercey Park.
Royal Canadian Legion is on Hillcrest Street.
The food bank had operated out of Saint John's basement, but In September 2005 the food bank was forced to close. It has since found a new location at the Salvation Army on 50 Gesner Street.
The Fairview Freemason's Hall is at 165 Coronation Avenue. home of the Oldest Masonic Lodge in the British Commonwealth outside England itself. ST. Andrew's Lodge No.1 established in 1750 AD.
The Fairview United Family Resource Centre is a community registered charity located at 6 Titus Street. It is open 5 days a week. Before 2015 the centre was located within the Fairview United Church located at 3524 Dutch Village Road. The website is www.ffcns.ca for a list of programs and services.
The West End Ecumenical Food Bank is located at the Salvation Army on 50 Gesner Street. It is open on Tuesdays.
St Lawrence Roman Catholic Church was demolished in November 2010 after the parish was relocated to the new St Benedict's Roman Catholic Church on Radcliffe Drive in adjacent Clayton Park.

Places of worship

Public school education in Fairview is governed by the Halifax Regional School Board. Fairview lies within District 7.

Current schools

Well-known natives of Fairview include:
Fairview is also the home to