Timeline of the Times
Explore these significant dates in Wolfville's history, as well as some in Acadia's storied past:
1828 • Baptists contribute money to purchase 65 acres in Upper Horton and establish an academy of learning
1829 • Upper Horton’s name is officially changed to Wolfville as recognition of the importance of the DeWolfe family in the area
1838 • Queen’s College, later Acadia College, is established. The first class enters in 1839 and graduates in 1843
1858 • Dollars and cents become official currency in Nova Scotia, replacing Spanish dollars and gold sovereigns
1860 • A ladies’ seminary comes to Wolfville. Seminary House is built in 1879
1867 • Canada is born
1869 • The railway arrives. The inner harbour is cut off to ships by a railway trestle and gradually becomes filled in
1874 • The Acadia Athenaeum is established
1884 • The College grounds become lit by powerful oil lamps. In 1892 electric lights come to the town
1885 • J.F. Herbin moves to Wolfville and opens his jewellery business
1888 • The first telephones are installed
1890 • The Volunteer Fire Department is organized
1893 • Wolfville is incorporated as a Town
1895 • Street names are changed, leading to a century of confusion for historians
1898 • The first sewer is installed from Main Street to discharge into the harbour
1911 • Wolfville buys a steam roller and becomes the first town in the province to pave its main street
• H.R.H the Duke of Connaught, Governor General of Canada and grandson of the Duke of Kent, visits Wolfville with his wife and daughter, the Princess Patricia
• The Wolfville Opera House, later the Orpheum Theatre, now the Acadia Theatre, opens
1912 • The old red sandstone post office is constructed
1925 • The present University Hall is built
• Wolfville thespians found the first Little Theatre Guild in the Maritimes. Local theatre is succeeded by the Acadia Summer Theatre (1961), Theatre Arts Festival International (1971) and the Atlantic Theatre Festival (1995)
1949 • Wolfville Town Hall is opened; it houses the fire department and public works as well
1954 • The town receives its first television program broadcast from Saint John
1971 • The old post office is demolished in an act of state vandalism
1975 • Seniors' housing is constructed on Sherwood Drive; Tideways is built a few years later
1976 • Her Majesty the Queen, great-great-great granddaughter of the Duke of Kent, visits Wolfville
1993 • Wolfville celebrates its centenary
1999 • Because of the introduction of mobile technology into its curriculum as part of the Acadia Advantage initiative, Acadia University is named a laureate of Washington’s Smithsonian Institution and a part of the permanent research collection of the National Museum of American History. It is the only Canadian university selected for inclusion in the Education and Academia category of the Computerworld Smithsonian Award.
2002 • Irving family donates the K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre and Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens to Acadia University
2006 • Acadia sets up its own YouTube channel, and by 2013 has nearly 300,000 video views
2011 • Acadia and the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq sign a memorandum of understanding that commits the two organizations to work together to improve Aboriginal student participation in post-secondary education and open Aboriginal communities to academic research
2013 • The Class of 2013 donates funds to install new LED lighting on campus
Much of this information is from Wolfville Historical Society Randall House Museum Web site.