Schmidtville was established in 1830 by Mrs. Elizabeth Schmidt, the wife of the Hessian Captain Wilhelm Schmidt. Captain Schmidt fought in the American Revolution as part of the hired mercenary force used by the British in the war. Schmidtville was one of the first formal sub-divisions outside the fortified walls of the original settlement of Halifax, Nova Scotia. This is also the first case of a woman developer in Nova Scotia. Mrs. Schmidt was left the land by her father Mr. James Pedley who was an armaments dealer for the British army in Halifax. The land left to Mrs. Schmidt included area between Morris St. to Spring Garden Rd. and from Queen St. to Dresden Row. Later in the Victorian era, Schmidtville expanded to include all the land north of Holy Cross Cemetery along Morris St., South Park St. to Queen St. and to Sackville Street. This also included the homes of the first Halifax utopian development along Wright Ave and South Park Street by Halifax millionaire George Wright who died on the Titanic. Built on the ideal of rich and poor living together and learning from each other.
Schmidtville remained a mixed use residential area until 1960 when a massive city-wide redevelopment project saw over half the neighborhood leveled to provide parking to the increasing centralized commercial area along Spring Garden Road. Throughout the districts history Schmidtville is and has been home to merchants, tradesman, all ethnic groups and immigrants. The remaining south area of Schmidtville remains intact and contributed to Halifax’s identity and heritage through its architecture and livability.
In 2008, a community lead initiative has lead to the area being turned into a Heritage Conservation District. The District should be formally completed by the end of 2018. In, 2017, Schmidtville won The Great Places in Canada contest as greatest neighbourhood in Canada for 2017. The residents of past and present are very proud of their neighbourhood and want to share this historic neighbourhood with the world.
Please checkout the heritage conversation district process for Schmidtville at https://www.shapeyourcityhalifax.ca/schmidtville
