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Antigonish

Town of Antigonish
Gaelic: Am Baile Mòr
Town
View of Antigonish
View of Antigonish
Official seal of Town of Antigonish
Seal
Coat of arms of Town of Antigonish
Coat of arms
Nickname(s): "The 'Nish", "Antigonowhere"
Motto: The Heart of the Highlands
Town of Antigonish is located in Nova Scotia
Town of Antigonish
Town of Antigonish
Location of Antigonish in Nova Scotia
Coordinates: 45°37′N 61°59′W / 45.617°N 61.983°W / 45.617; -61.983
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.


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