{{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 | established_title = | established_date = | established_title2 = Incorporated | established_date2 = August 30, 1906 | leader_title = Mayor | leader_name = Doug Glasser | leader_title1 = Governing Body <!-- for places with, say, both a mayor and a city manager --> | leader_name1 = Stewiacke Town Council | leader_title2 = MLA | leader_name2 = Larry Harrison | leader_title3 = MP | leader_name3 = Stephen Ellis (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 = (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 = 2021 | population_density_km2 = 88.4 | timezone = AST | utc_offset = −4 | timezone_DST = ADT | utc_offset_DST = −3 | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = B0N 2J0 | area_code = 902 | blank_name = Telephone Exchange | blank_info = 639, 671 | blank1_name = Median Earnings* | blank1_info = $65,500 | blank2_name = NTS Map | blank2_info = {{Canada NTS Map Sheet|11|E|3}} | blank3_name = 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|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, Canada. The town was incorporated on August 30, 1906.
== Geography == The town is located in the Stewiacke Valley, at the confluence of the Stewiacke and Shubenacadie Rivers, and is a service and support centre for local agricultural communities as well as a service exit on Highway 102.
The town is noted as being located halfway between the North Pole and the Equator (which is actually in 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 km north of the 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 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 in the area to protect New England Planters from Mi'kmaq raids.
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 CN Rail Halifax-Montreal mainline, causing Via Rail Canada's ''Ocean'' to 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 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 Category:Mi'kmaq place names