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North Sydney, Nova Scotia, is situated on the north side of Sydney harbour. Since its founding in 1871, it has been a home port to the fishing fleets of the world, coal tramp streamers, warships, convoys and the Newfoundland ferries. The chief claim to fame of this small port town is that it served for 87 years as the main communication centre linking Europe and North America.
Through the years of its existence in North Sydney, Western Union employed up to 300 at rush periods, paid top dollar of the day, and, while serving as the east coast communications capital, was an intricate part of the downtown’s ancillary industries and the town’s economy, which was wounded by a depression.
It was from North Sydney that journalists filed to the world their stories of Admiral Peary’s discovery of the North Pole. The calls went forth to ships at sea and the world’s capitals that the unsinkable Titanic was no more, taking 1517 crew and passengers to their graves.
The first North American women telegraphers were employed at the North Sydney Western Union office, and indeed, one of them received word, which had been flashed from Europe to North America, of the end of hostilities of World War One.
During the Second World War, residents of Port Aux Basques and North Sydney were shocked and saddened to learn first-hand of the sinking of their beloved ferry, the Caribou, torpedoed by a Nazi submarine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, claiming 137 lives. Western Union telegraphers coordinated rescue efforts with a surface craft.
During both World Wars, the Western Union quarters were guarded by the Canadian infantry, indicating the importance of the office in North Sydney, while at the same time residents had local pride tinged with a tepid disbelief of that importance.
However, the end of World War Two, together with rapidly improving communications, led to a diminution of importance of the North Sydney office, and sadly, Western Union closed out its centre in 1962. The following is an extended snapshot of the Western Union office and North Sydney, Nova Scotia.
