Schmidtville Heritage District
This historic neighbourhood of Halifax has a deep military past. It was founded by Elizabeth (Pedley) Schmidt who was the daughter of James Pedley; the chief arms dealer for the British military in Halifax. James had left his daughter the land known then as Pedley's field.
Elizabeth married Captain Wilhelm Schmidt. Capt. Schmidt was a Hessian Officer serving for the British in the Royal Artillery. Captain Schmidt served in the American Revolution and in the artillery garrison of Halifax. Capt. Schmidt died in 1828 and by 1830 Elizabeth Schmidt began subdividing Pedley's Field. In 1834 a formal subdivision map was created. Marking the first formal subdivision made outside the original wall town area of Halifax. Elizabeth renamed Pedley's Field to Schmidt's Ville. Through history the name changed over to a condensed version of Schmidtville.
The neighbourhood by 1878 had grown to Queen Street to South Park Street from East to West and from North to South Spring Garden Road to the North border of Holy Cross cemetery. The area remained a mixed use district even to present day. Beginning in 1958 mass central urban renewal hit Halifax. The result was the destruction of over half of Schmidtville. In particular the entire north side of Clyde Street (formerly Rottenburg Street). Also, the large mansions facing South Park Street between Morris St. and Brenton Place were demolished to build the blockbuster Victoria Park. In total five city blocks of Schmidtville were razed in the name of urban progress.
Throughout the history of this neighbourhood it has housed many military families being next door to Bellevue House, Royal Artillery Park and Citadel Hill. Schmidtville has also been home to tradesman, politicians, immigrants and all ethnic/cultural backgrounds. Today this rich past is a source of pride for the residents of Schmidtville. In 2017, Schmidtville won the Great Places in Canada Contest as best neighbourhood in Canada; beating out 48 other city neighborhoods. Through the hard work of a ten year community lead campaign in 2018 Schmidtville became Halifax's first residential/mixed use Heritage Conservation District. Thus, preserving a unique part of Halifax's historic identity.