View source for Stewiacke

{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
| official_name                   = Stewiacke
| native_name                     = 
| other_name                      = 
| settlement_type                 = Town
| image_skyline                   = Stewiacke TownHall.jpg
| image_caption                   = Town of Stewiacke Public Works Building and Cenotaph
| image_flag                      = Stewiacke NS flag.jpg
| image_seal                      = 
| image_shield                    = Stewiacke ns coat of arms.png
| nickname                        = Halfway between the North Pole and the Equator{{force singular}}
| motto = {{force singular}} Respect, Prosperity, Growth
| image_map                       = 
| map_caption                     = Location of Stewiacke, Nova Scotia
| pushpin_map                     = Nova Scotia
| pushpin_label_position          = right
| pushpin_mapsize                 = 275
| pushpin_map_caption             = Location of Stewiacke, Nova Scotia
| coordinates                     = {{coord|45|8|32|N|63|20|54|W|region:CA-NS|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type                = Country
| subdivision_name                = Canada
| subdivision_type1               = Province
| subdivision_name1               = [[Nova Scotia]]
| subdivision_type2               = Municipality
| subdivision_name2               = [[Colchester County, Nova Scotia|Colchester County]]
| established_title               = 
| established_date                = 
| established_title2              = Incorporated
| established_date2               = August 30, 1906
| leader_title                    = Mayor
| leader_name                     = Doug Glasser
| leader_title1                   =
Governing&nbsp;Body <!-- for places with, say, both a mayor and a city manager -->
| leader_name1                    = Stewiacke Town Council
| leader_title2                   = MLA
| leader_name2                    = [[Larry Harrison (politician)|Larry Harrison]]
| leader_title3                   = MP
| leader_name3                    = [[Stephen Ellis (politician)|Stephen Ellis]] [[Conservative Party of Canada|(C)]]
| area_total_km2                  = 17.62<!-- ALL fields dealing with a measurements are subject to automatic unit conversion-->
| area_land_km2                   = <!--See table @ Template:Infobox settlement for details on automatic unit conversion-->
| area_water_km2                  = 
| area_footnotes                  = &nbsp;(2021)<ref name="2021csd">{{cite web |title=Census Profile, 2021 Census Stewiacke, Town [Census subdivision], Nova Scotia |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&SearchText=stewiacke&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1&DGUIDlist=2021A00051210002&HEADERlist=0 |publisher=[[Statistics Canada]] |date=February 9, 2022 |access-date=May 7, 2025}}</ref>
| elevation_footnotes             = <!--for references: use<ref> </ref>  tags-->
| elevation_m                     = 100
| population_footnotes            = <ref name="2021csd"/>
| population_total                = 1,557
| population_as_of                = [[Canada 2021 Census|2021]]
| population_density_km2          = 88.4
| timezone                        = [[Atlantic Standard Time|AST]]
| utc_offset                      = −4
| timezone_DST                    = ADT
| utc_offset_DST                  = −3
| postal_code_type                = Postal code
| postal_code                     = [[List of B Postal Codes of Canada|B]]0N 2J0
| area_code                       = [[Area code 902|902]]
| blank_name                      = [[Telephone Exchange]]
| blank_info                      = 639, 671
| blank1_name                     = Median Earnings*
| blank1_info                     = $65,500
| blank2_name                     = [[National Topographic System|NTS]] Map
| blank2_info                     = {{Canada NTS Map Sheet|11|E|3}}
| blank3_name                     = [[Geographical Names Board of Canada|GNBC]] Code
| blank3_info                     = CBKOM<ref>{{Cite cgndb |id = CBKOM |name = Stewiacke}}</ref>
| website                         = {{URL|http://www.stewiacke.net|stewiacke.net}}
| footnotes                       = *Median household income, 2020
{{center|[[List of communities in Nova Scotia|Places in Nova Scotia]]}}
| name                            = 
}}
'''Stewiacke''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|tj|uː|i|æ|k}}) is a [[town]] located in southern [[Colchester County, Nova Scotia|Colchester County]], [[Nova Scotia]], Canada. The town was incorporated on August 30, 1906.

== Geography ==
The town is located in the [[Stewiacke Valley]], at the confluence of the [[Stewiacke River|Stewiacke]] and [[Shubenacadie River]]s, and is a service and support centre for local agricultural communities as well as a service exit on [[Nova Scotia Highway 102|Highway 102]].

The town is noted as being located halfway between the [[North Pole]] and the [[Equator]] (which is actually in [[Fort Ellis (Nova Scotia)|Alton, Nova Scotia]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.burnsidenews.com/index.cfm?sid=106007&sc=397|title=The Burnside News - Burnside entrepreneur to develop Stewiacke industrial park|publisher=BurnsideNews.com|access-date=2009-04-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416031611/http://www.burnsidenews.com/index.cfm?sid=106007&sc=397|archive-date=2009-04-16|url-status=dead}}</ref> Controversy in the past over that claim stems from the fact that the Earth is not a perfect sphere and so the halfway mark lies approximately 16&nbsp;km north of the [[45th parallel north|45th parallel]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/2000JRASC..94...48B/0000048.000.html|title=Midway from the Equator to the North Pole - Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada|publisher=Harvard.edu|bibcode=2000JRASC..94...48B|access-date=2009-04-19|last1=Bogan |first1=Larry |journal=Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada |year=2000 |volume=94 |page=48 }}</ref>

=== Parks and trails ===
* Dennis Park
* Stewiacke River Park
* Stewiacke Recreation Grounds
* Barking Lot - Off Leash Dog Park
* John Crawford Trail
* Stewiacke River Country Trail
* Fish Shack Trail
* Caddell Rapids Lookoff Provincial Park

==History==
Stewiacke was named in the language of the local [[Mi'kmaq language|Mi'kmaq]] [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] and is a word meaning "flowing out in small streams" and "winding river" or "whimpering or whining as it goes".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/nhns2/500/511.htm|title=Museum, Government of Nova Scotia - 511 Windsor Lowlands|access-date=2009-04-19|publisher=Museum.gov.ns.ca|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090522030444/http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/nhns2/500/511.htm|archive-date=2009-05-22}}</ref> During the [[French and Indian War]], the British built [[Fort Ellis (Nova Scotia)|Fort Ellis]] in the area to protect New England Planters from Mi'kmaq raids.

[[File:SimplifiedPealeMastodon.jpg|thumb|left|Drawing of a mastodon skeleton by Rembrandt Peale]]
In the late 1990s, a tourism attraction named Mastodon Ridge opened near the town's highway exit, based on a local discovery of a [[mastodon]] skeleton. The Mastodon Ridge Complex features a craft store, toy store, a mini golf and [[interpretive centre]] which displays several of the mastodon's bones.

Stewiacke is home to a bar, a pharmacy, a grocery store, a pizzeria, numerous fast food restaurants, two gas stations, a hardware store, an 18-hole golf course and a newly built elementary school that consolidates 2 former local schools.

Stewiacke is also home to a volunteer fire brigade that was the first department in North America to use specialized foam as a fire suppression agent, alongside other achievements involving the implementation of certain fire apparatus.

The town's most notorious event occurred on April 12, 2001, when a local teenager, at home on a school in-service day, tampered with a railway switch on the [[Canadian National Railway|CN Rail]] [[Halifax Regional Municipality|Halifax]]-[[Montreal]] mainline, causing [[Via Rail Canada]]'s ''[[Ocean (passenger train)|Ocean]]'' to [[2001 Stewiacke Via derailment|derail]] several minutes later when it passed through the centre of the community.<ref name="cbc1">{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/youth-sentenced-to-six-months-for-derailing-train-1.349228|title=Youth sentenced to six months for derailing train|access-date=2020-01-04|publisher=CBC.ca | date=2002-11-06}}</ref>  Several buildings and rail cars were destroyed and many people were injured, including some severely, although no fatalities resulted.<ref name="cbc1" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/teen-faces-victims-of-n-s-train-wreck-1.348279|title=Teen faces victims of N.S. train wreck|access-date=2020-01-04|publisher=CBC.ca | date=2002-08-30}}</ref>

On June 30, 2021, Stewiacke was hit by an EF1 tornado.

In 2023, the [[Boston Christmas Tree]] came from Stewiacke.<ref name=Gourley>{{cite news | url = https://www.wcvb.com/article/christmas-tree-boston-nova-scotia-selected-2023/45735854 | title = Christmas tree, annual gift for Boston from Nova Scotia, selected | publisher = [[WCVB]] | date = November 3, 2023 | accessdate = November 4, 2023 }}</ref>
{{clear}}

== Demographics ==
{{Stack|{{Historical populations
|1956|1024
|1961|1042
|1981|1201
|1986|1265
|1991|1306
|1996|1405
|2001|1388
|2006|1421
|2011|1438
|2016|1373
|2021|1557
| footnote = <ref>[http://www66.statcan.gc.ca/eng/acyb_c1966-eng.aspx?opt=/eng/1966/196602190191_p.%20191.pdf Census 1956-1961]</ref>
<ref>[http://www.gov.ns.ca/finance/publish/CENSUS/Census%201.pdf I:\ecstats\Agency\BRIAN\census2 NS Department of Finance] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005011332/http://www.gov.ns.ca/finance/publish/CENSUS/Census%201.pdf |date=2013-10-05 }}</ref><ref>[http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD&Code1=1210002&Geo2=CD&Code2=1210&Data=Count&SearchText=Stewiacke&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=&TABID=1 Statistics Canada], 2011</ref>
}}}}

In the [[2021 Canadian census|2021 Census of Population]] conducted by [[Statistics Canada]], Stewiacke had a population of {{nts|1557}} living in {{nts|713}} of its {{nts|739}} total private dwellings, a change of {{percentage|{{#expr:1557-1373}}|1373|1}} from its 2016 population of {{nts|1373}}. With a land area of {{convert|17.62|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, it had a population density of {{Pop density|1557|17.62|km2|sqmi|prec=1}} in 2021.<ref name=2021census>{{cite web | url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810000203&geocode=A000212 | title=Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions (municipalities), Nova Scotia | publisher=[[Statistics Canada]] | date=February 9, 2022 | accessdate=March 12, 2022}}</ref>

==Notable residents==
* [[Hanson Dowell]] (1906–2000), president of the [[Canadian Amateur Hockey Association]] and member of the [[Nova Scotia House of Assembly]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Dowell, Hanson T. (The Honourable, QC) — 94|date=September 25, 2000|newspaper=[[The Chronicle Herald]]|location=Halifax, Nova Scotia|page=37|url=http://www.sportnovascotia.ca/DesktopModules/HoFDirectory_Details/ShowImage.ashx?id=2994|access-date=December 7, 2020|archive-date=October 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004013344/http://www.sportnovascotia.ca/DesktopModules/HoFDirectory_Details/ShowImage.ashx?id=2994|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of municipalities in Nova Scotia]]

==[[References]]==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.stewiacke.net Town of Stewiacke]

{{Geographic location
| Centre = Stewiacke, Nova Scotia
| N      = 
| NE     = [[Alton, Nova Scotia]]<br/>[[Truro, Nova Scotia]]<br/>Via {{jct|state=NS|Trunk|2}} Or {{jct|state=NS|Hwy|102}}
| E      = [[West St. Andrews, Nova Scotia]]<br/>[[Musquodoboit Valley]]<br/>Via Kitchener St./Stewiacke Rd.
| SE     = 
| S      = 
| SW     = [[Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia]]<br/>[[Enfield, Nova Scotia]]<br/>Via {{jct|state=NS|Trunk|2}} Or {{jct|state=NS|Hwy|102}}
| W      = 
| NW     = 
}}

{{NSColchester}}
{{Subdivisions of Nova Scotia}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Communities in Colchester County]]
[[Category:Towns in Nova Scotia]]