{"id":566,"date":"2009-10-23T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2009-10-23T15:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingatlantic.ca\/?p=566"},"modified":"2013-01-21T04:46:02","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T08:46:02","slug":"whats-in-a-name-gottingen-to-novalea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2009\/10\/23\/whats-in-a-name-gottingen-to-novalea\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s in a Name: Gottingen to Novalea"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Spaces and faces are much the same – both have names that, when used properly, can get you places.\u00a0 Knowing someone\u2019s name is really half the battle in getting to know them, it gives you a little insight into their character, gets you thinking about what their parents are all about and most importantly allows you to get their attention from far away.<\/p>\n

In much the same way, knowing the name of a street is the first step in getting to understand the city you live in.\u00a0 Once you know the name of a street you can call a cab to it, write a letter to it but most importantly you can start musing about who gave it that name and why.<\/p>\n

Every Tuesday this past summer I would walk a herd of 4-6 year olds from the George Dixon Centre to the Needham Recreation Centre to go swimming.\u00a0 On this walk I was always puzzled that after the intersection at Young Street<\/a>, the name of Gottingen Street changed to Novalea Drive.\u00a0 I found this to be a bit bizarre as there is no perceptible change in the road, direction or otherwise.\u00a0 Upon further investigation I have found that these street names share a complex past.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Gottingen is a town in the Lower Saxony region<\/a> of Germany.\u00a0 It was from this region that many Nova Scotians immigrated around 1750, arriving in the northern suburbs of Halifax.\u00a0 Over time the majority of the German-Haligonian population relocated to Lunenberg County<\/a> and in 1764 the remaining Halifax contingent petitioned the city to have their thinning German community solidified with a street name.<\/p>\n

The street that was named Gottingen in 1764 was a small country road that wound its way up to Fort Needham<\/a>.\u00a0 With time and further development the early 1900\u2019s saw this small road became a bustling commercial centre at the southern end with residential sprawl to the north. But the Halifax Explosion of 1917 shifted reality on Gottingen.\u00a0 The northern part of the street was essentially destroyed while the southern portion was spared.\u00a0 The rebuilding efforts of the northern section by Thomas Adams led to the creation of the modest, semi-attractive Hydrostone district<\/a> appealing to the middle and upper classes that emerged after WWII.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the improvements being heralded in the northern Hydrostone area, the southern end of Gottingen was in deep decline.\u00a0 A victim of suburbanization and \u201curban renewal\u201d the population of southern Gottingen street dropped from 13,070 in 1961 to 7584 in 1971 \u2013 mostly tenants, with a 58% employment rate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was from this \u2018deteriorated\u2019 southern portion of Gottingen that I marched with my small friends every week.\u00a0 Most of these friends of mine live in Uniacke Square<\/a>, the infamous housing project built in 1966 which is home to the realities of racialized poverty. Many of the single parent families living on social assistance in the Square are themselves, or are related to, former residents of Africville<\/a> who after their forced relocation in the 1960\u2019s experienced a lack of social supports and opportunities leading to increased levels of poverty and violence.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the late 1970\u2019s the contrast between life north and south of Young Street on Gottingen was stark and the Hydrostonites were not feeling comfortable. They didn\u2019t like that their street name and \u201ctheir\u201d street name was the same.\u00a0 They wanted to dissociate themselves from the need that lived down the street, so they changed their street.<\/p>\n

The residents of the Hydrostone area petitioned the city and won a new name, Novalea;\u00a0 A pretty, fresh sort of name bringing to mind a new meadow drenched in morning dew, free from the history of relocation ripening across the intersection.<\/p>\n

Both of these street names were brought into existence by communities that were seeking acknowledgment of their respective realities.\u00a0 As the original German residents watched the numbers of their community dwindle they sought recognition for their history and the place their history had in Halifax.\u00a0 Though anyone walking in \u201cDutch Town\u201d (as it was previously called) would have known by the food in the shops and the words on the streets this was a German part of town, it was only when the name was given that the true history of this people was made explicit.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the difference between the Northern and Southern portions of Gottingen Street was perceived long before the introduction of Novalea Drive, yet the implementation of this name solidified the difference.<\/p>\n

photos by Hugh Pouliot<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spaces and faces are much the same – both have names that, when used properly, can get you places.\u00a0 Knowing someone\u2019s name is really half the battle in getting to know them, it gives you a little insight into their character, gets you thinking about what their parents are all about and most importantly allowsContinue reading “What\u2019s in a Name: Gottingen to Novalea”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8025,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[343,5867],"tags":[661,669,663,662,658,351,336,589,666,665,667,668,660,659,664],"class_list":["post-566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-curiosities","category-history","tag-africville","tag-food-2","tag-fort-needham","tag-george-dixon-centre","tag-germany","tag-halifax","tag-historical","tag-hugh-pouliot","tag-hydrostone","tag-lunenberg-county","tag-needham","tag-needham-recreation-centre","tag-nova-scotians","tag-thomas-adams","tag-uniacke-square"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat\u2019s in a Name: Gottingen to Novalea - 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