The St. Paul’s Church Grounds Engine House (1817-1837)
• On September 19, 1817, the U.E.C.’s secretary informed the Board of Firewards that "agreeable to the resolve of the 9th December last", "he had imported an engine with suitable apparatus amounting to £289.11.04." However, Captain Patterson of the Union Engine Company stated that "there was no suitable building to accommodate the engine," when it was resolved by the Firewards that "a suitable building be immediately erected on the street above St. Paul's Church," on Argyle Street (Halifax Firewards meeting minutes 1804-1835).
• At the December 9, 1817 meeting of the Firewards, held at the Exchange Coffee House (which later on became the police station and Court House), it was reported that the Captain of the Union Engine Company, William Patterson, indicated that the current number of engine men was not sufficient to accomplish their duties properly. The Firewards requested twenty more men from the Court of Quarter Sessions. At the same meeting, a communication from the Clerk of the Peace was read, informing the Firewards that the Court of Quarter Sessions had given them sanction to erect a building capable of housing two fire engines, on the ground above St. Paul’s church, and that the Court would assess the town to pay for it. £120 was allocated to the project (Halifax Firewards meeting minutes 1804-1835). Below is a drawing made two years later and showing the structure next to St. Paul’s church, behind the trees, to the right.
The engine house, behind the trees, to the right of St. Paul’s Church (Nova Scotia Archives 1819).