THE GREAT EXPLOSION OF DECEMBER 6, 1917
By Devonna Edwards, Columnist
On that day Halifax’s Richmond area was blown to smithereens after two ships, The Imo and The Mont Blanc collided at the narrows of Halifax Harbour, approximately where the Halifax Shipyards and the three Nova Scotia Power Towers in Dartmouth are located today. As a result of the Explosion nearly 2,000 people died that day and 9,000 were injured. The collision caused the worst man-made disaster at that time.
On that eventful day nine-year-old Annie Perry Campbell left her home on 93 Kenny Street heading to her fourth-grade class at Richmond School, which was located just behind her home. Annie’s mother Isabella died in 1908 while giving birth to Annie and her twin sister Jean; her two other siblings were John and Doris. Annie and her siblings along with her father Robert all lived with their grandmother, Isabel.
Annie, along with her sisters Jean and Doris noticed a ship burning in the harbour and stopped to watch the fiery scene, when suddenly the French ship ‘Mont Blanc’ with its cargo of twenty-six hundred tons of picric acid, guncotton, and T.N.T exploded. Annie, the beautiful blond-haired child died instantly, and her frozen body was found two days after the Explosion, buried in the snow. At first, she was listed as an unidentified victim, but when identified she was buried next to her mother five days after the Explosion. She was buried quickly and without any ceremony at Fairview Lawn Cemetery on Windsor Street. Her three siblings somehow survived that day. Annie was one of four hundred and eighty-two children under the age of fourteen that died on that horrible day.
The First Richmond School is also called Roome Street School
Annie was one of two children that were killed while being in or about the Richmond School, the other child was Merle Huggins, whose father was the principal of the school. Another eighty-two children from the school were not there but were killed in their homes or on the street while watching the fire.
Richmond School was in a straight line from the point at which the MontBlanc blew up and the two-story wooden structure was completely destroyed. Three hundred students would have been in class on December 6, but the hour for assembling had been changed for the winter, from nine to half past nine. The school had not opened yet and a few students had gathered in the school yard at the time of the Explosion. The janitor of the school was killed in the school yard, but two teachers inside the building escaped injury. A carpenter, G.H. Libby was at work in the school’s basement and was injured but survived.
As a result of the complete destruction of Richmond School, the Halifax Board of School Commissioners asked the federal government for temporary use of three North Gottingen Street buildings, which were occupied by the Veterans Guard, for the purpose of temporary classrooms for Richmond pupils.
The Second Richmond School was built on Devonshire Avenue, corner of Kenny Street in 1921. In the lobby of the second Richmond School is a Memorial Tablet listing all the Richmond School pupils who lost their lives in the Halifax Explosion of 1917.
At the bottom of the Memorial Tablet is written: “To You from Falling Hands We Throw the Torch Be Yours to Hold It High”.
Since 1985 the building and grounds were leased to the Supreme Court Family Division. Today the Halifax Family Court still occupies the building of the former Richmond School. The Memorial Tablet from the Richmond School can still be seen in this building.
Ghostly Haunting
The Richmond area in the North End is especially haunted with the spirits of young children who died in the Halifax Explosion. The Halifax Family Court (former Richmond School) on Devonshire Avenue has had many chilling ghostly encounters over the years. When the building was a school, staff said that they had seen the ghost of Annie and her classmates running down the halls or standing at the top of the staircase. They have also heard voices singing Christmas carols, almost like they were practicing for their concert. The ghostly children also like to play tricks, such as turning lights on and off , or opening and closing doors. Mostly the activity happens at night or on the weekends when it is quiet.
The Spirit of Annie Campbell. Annie’s spirit is often seen inside and outside the school courthouse building on Devonshire Avenue.
One teacher walked in the door of the second Richmond School and saw Anne sitting there, the teacher ran out of the school and would not return. On another occasion, workmen who were repairing the school’s roof had their equipment thrown around and dropped off the roof. Painters grumbled about their paint cans always disappearing. Annie’s ghost is often seen near the side steps of the Court House, close to where her grandmother had a lovely rose bush, possibly the site she died. Jim Simpson who was an animal biologist in Western Canada and later an associate researcher at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, had a keen interest in the Halifax Explosion and held walking tours of the Richmond district. He was haunted by the ghost of Annie Campbell which he seen quite often. He also experienced sheets being thrown off the bed and mysterious shoulder taps, but was reluctant to tell people because he said, that they would think him “crazy.” He said that he is a scientist who never had this happen to him in his whole life. There was no stone and no service for her at her burial site. Jim Simpson felt she should have a proper burial service and tombstone. He arranged a service to honour Annie at her grave in Fairview Lawn Cemetery, with Rev. Sandra Cox of the United Memorial Church leading the ceremony and Jim saying a few words in her honour. He also organized the laying of a gravestone for her, and he even got her white flowers for her grave, because he said that she always wore white.
He was hoping that with this special service she would finally be at peace, but her spirit still lingers on.
Special Notice: Regarding the March article on the Halifax Fishermen Rowing Crew, we have found their Philadelphia Medal. With the help of Amber Laurie, it was located in the archives at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on Water Street
