Town of Antigonish Gaelic: Am Baile Mòr |
|||
---|---|---|---|
Town | |||
View of Antigonish
|
|||
|
|||
Nickname(s): "The 'Nish", "Antigonowhere" | |||
Motto: The Heart of the Highlands | |||
Location of Antigonish in Nova Scotia | |||
Coordinates: 45°37′N 61°59′W / 45.617°N 61.983°W | |||
Country | Canada | ||
Province | Nova Scotia | ||
County | Antigonish County | ||
Founded | 1784 | ||
Incorporated | January 9, 1889 | ||
Government | |||
• Type | Town Council | ||
• Mayor | Laurie Boucher | ||
• Governing Body | Antigonish Town Council | ||
• MLA | Randy Delorey (Liberal) | ||
• MP | Sean Fraser (L) | ||
Area (2016) | |||
• Town | 5.01 km2 (1.93 sq mi) | ||
• Urban | 5.49 km2 (2.12 sq mi) | ||
Highest elevation | 34 m (112 ft) | ||
Lowest elevation | 0 m (0 ft) | ||
Population (2016) | |||
• Town | 4,364 | ||
• Density | 871.7/km2 (2,258/sq mi) | ||
• Urban | 5,002 | ||
• Urban density | 910/km2 (2,400/sq mi) | ||
Demonym(s) | Antigonisher | ||
Time zone | AST (UTC-4) | ||
• Summer (DST) | ADT (UTC-3) | ||
Canadian Postal code | B2G | ||
Area code(s) | 902 | ||
Telephone Exchanges | 318 714 735 863 867 870 872 948 968 971 | ||
Median household income, 2000 (all households) | $41,773 | ||
NTS Map | 011F12 | ||
GNBC Code | CAATB | ||
Website | townofantigonish.ca | ||
Antigonish (/æntigənɪːʃ/ or locally; /ænəgənɪːʃ/) (Scottish Gaelic: Am Baile Mòr /am balə muːr/) is a town in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The town is home to St. Francis Xavier University and the oldest continuous Highland games outside Scotland. It is approximately 160 kilometres (100 miles) northeast of Halifax, the provincial capital.
Antigonish had been the location of an annual Mi'kmaq summer coastal community prior to European settlement; although the original definition of the name has been lost as the Mi'kmaq language has undergone many revisions over the last two centuries. The first European settlement took place in 1784 when Lt. Colonel Timothy Hierlihy of the Royal Nova Scotia Volunteer Regiment received a large land grant surrounding Antigonish Harbour. Hierlihy and his party founded the Dorchester settlement, named for Sir Guy Carleton, who was Governor General of Canada and subsequently Lord Dorchester. In 1796 another settler, with the assistance of a First Nations guide, blazed a trail from Antigonish Harbour to Brown's Mountain, using the shortest route. This trail became a guide for travellers and eventually evolved into a winding Main Street. By the late 1820s, Dorchester was commonly referred to as Antigonish. In 1852, a newspaper, The Casket, began publication, however it was recently purchased by Bounty Print in 2015.
St. Francis Xavier University was established in Antigonish in 1855, having been founded in 1853 in Arichat, Cape Breton and originally called the College of East Bay after East Bay, Nova Scotia where an earlier institution had once existed (1824–1829). St.F.X. was originally a Catholic seminary and was granted full university powers in 1866 by an act of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. The town is also the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish.