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Authority record
Corporate body · 1985 -

The Mainland South Community Centre Corporation was established by Chapter 43 of the Acts of 1985. Its objectives were to establish, operate and promote coordinated comprehensive health, educational, cultural, recreational and social services for the residents of Mainland South; and to establish, manage and promote a community centre at 10 Kidston Road in Mainland South (the Captain William Spry Community Centre) in order to provide these services.

There were 10 directors: 4 appointed by the province, 5 by the City (including 2 aldermen), and 1 appointed by the Spryfield Lions Club.

Mackintosh , James Crosskill
Person · 1839 – 1924

James Crosskill Mackintosh was an alderman (1878-1884) and mayor of Halifax (1884-1887)and an active bank accountant, Presbyterian, and businessman.

Mackintosh was born on 1 February 1839 in Halifax, Nova Scotia the son of John and Mary Catherine (Crosskill) Mackintosh. J. C. Mackintosh's father had emigrated from Inverness, Scotland. Although a native Nova Scotian, his mother was also of Scottish descent, and Mackintosh had a strict Presbyterian upbringing, attending St John's School and the Free Church Academy. In later life he would devote much of his spare time to religious pursuits. He became first president of the Halifax Young Men's Christian Association as well as a member of the board of management of the Presbyterian College. In addition, he was one of the founders in 1871 of Fort Massey Presbyterian Church, where he served as elder and clerk of session among other responsibilities. After leaving school at 16, Mackintosh had joined the Bank of Nova Scotia as a senior clerk and begun his apprenticeship as an accountant. Two years later, in 1857, he in fact became the bank's official accountant – the first person to hold such a title in the organization. Mackintosh remained at the bank for the next 18 years, during which time he developed a reputation for superior workmanship. He married Emma Isabel Grant on 15 April 1869. In 1873 Mackintosh left the Bank of Nova Scotia to set up his own business with Mather Byles Almon. Initially, the firm seemed to do well but the partners soon split up, Almon going into life insurance and Mackintosh continuing the brokerage and banking business under the title of J. C. Mackintosh and Company. From its head office in Halifax, the firm eventually set up branches in Fredericton, Saint John, New Glasgow, N.S., and Montreal. In 1878 he was elected to Halifax City Council, and he remained an alderman until 1884 when he was elected mayor serving until 1887. During his three annual terms as mayor he spearheaded major public works projects including a dry dock and a regular ferry service between Dartmouth and Halifax. He died in Halifax on 8 May 1924.

Longley, Charles F.
Person · [1875] - 1945

Charles F. Longley operated a shipping company, C.F. Longley and Co. in Halifax. He served in South Africa in the 1890s. He purchased land around the Northwest Arm, including Deadman's Island in 1907 and Melville Cove are land ca. 1914. He was a principal in the Melville Park Company which initated an amusement park on Deadman's Island.

Person

John E. Lloyd was involved with Halifax City Council for nineteen years. Elected as an alderman for Ward 6 in 1937, he became mayor in 1943 but left to work for the UN in 1945. In 1946 he returned to local government and served as an alderman from 1946 thru 1949 and 1952 thru 1960, becoming mayor once again from 1960 thru 1963. He then moved on to federal politics.

A fuller biography is available at HRM Archives.

Leonard A. Kitz

Leonard Arthur Kitz was the Mayor of the City of Halifax from 1955 to 1957. Born in 1916, Leonard grew up in the North end of Halifax Nova Scotia. Kitz attended Dalhousie Law School and graduated in 1938. He served as a captain with the Princess Louise Fusiliers as well as staff officer with the 12th Canadian Light Brigade during World War II. It was during the war that he met his first wife, Dr. Alice Duff Findley, with whom he had three children. After the war Kitz served as a lawyer in military tribunals in Europe, and then returned to Halifax where he opened his own law practice, which evolved into Kitz Matheson and Patterson Kitz over the years. Leonard Kitz ran for city alderman in 1948 and then mayor in 1955, becoming the first Jewish Mayor of Halifax. He served as Mayor from 1955 to 1957 when he resigned from municipal politics to run, unsuccessfully, as a Liberal for Parliament in the federal riding of Halifax. Kitz’s first wife died in 1969. He remarried in 1971 to Janet Brownlee, a renowned historian of the Halifax Explosion, whom he met in Scotland. Leonard A. Kitz passed away in 2006.

Lavers, Graham
Person · 1942-

Graham Lavers was a freelance photographer and instructor of photography in Halifax. After graduating from Montreal's School of Modern Photography in 1962, he worked as a darkroom technician in John S. Holmes' Studio in Halifax. He was a cameraman for CJCH-TV and CBC-TV in Halifax, then started Photo 67 studio with partner Florian Kuchurean. Lavers taught photography at the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design, the Halifax Vocational School Extension department and at the YWCA-Halifax.

Graham Lavers was born in Halifax in 1942. His mother, Elizabeth Lavers taught at Southdale School in Dartmouth in the 1960s. His father, George ran a public relations firm "Commercial Promotions", and was hired by the Port of Halifax Club to organize their 1949 Exhibition.

Laleune, Mike
Person

Mike Laleune was a director of the Paramount Theatre Society and was active in promoting the development of new theatres in the Halifax area for many years. Laleune earned a bachelor of Music from the University of Western Ontario and had been involved with numerous arts and theatre associations, such as the Nova Centre for the Performing Arts; Congrès Mondial Acadien 2004; Grou Tyme Acadien Festival; Atlantic Theatre Festival; Nova Scotia Kitchen Party; Nacel Inc.; East Coast Arts Productions; Symphony Nova Scotia; Ontario Arts Council; the Toronto Symphony Orchestra; and the Canadian Artists and Producers Professional Relations Tribunal.

Keshen Goodman family
Family

On her death in 1992, Marion Keshen bequeathed her estate to the Halifax Regional Library to construct the Keshen-Goodman Library. The family had earlier, in 1962, donated funds to build an auditorium for the Dalhousie Arts Centre - the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. This philanthropy was based on the wealth accumulated by the Moses Cohn and Louis Keshen families. Louis ran a small business in Halifax, then invested in bonds and in Halifax real estate.

Louis and Fannie (Kitz) Keshen immigrated to Halifax from Poland, via the United States ca. 1904. Fannie's sister Rebecca and her husband Moses Cohn joined them in 1906; both families lived on Brunswick Street. While first living in the U.S., the Keshen had spent summers on St. Margaret's Bay, and later had a cottage near Chester. The Keshens had four children; Helen, who married lawyer Samuel Brody Goodman; Dr. Saul Keshen, physician; Louise; and Marion, born in 1913. After Fannie's death in 1935, Louis and youngest daughter Marion, along with Helen and her husband moved to 80 Oakland Rd., where Marion lived until her death in 1992. Helen died in childbirth in 1936. Louise returned to Halifax, after a failed marriage to Joe? in Cincinnati, Ohio, to help Marion keep house for their father and brother-in-law.Marion and Louise volunteered with the Canadian Red Cross Corps, serving in the Overseas Detachment during World War II. Marion also volunteered with the Izaak Waton Children' Hospital Auxiliary. The family were all active members of the Brightwood Golf Club in Dartmouth.

Rebecca Cohn died in 1942, instructing that her estate be held for twenty years before being distributed to charities. Marion, Louise and Sam Goodman were the trustees who made the important $500,000 gift to Dalhousie for the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, as well as gifts to St. Mary's University, the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides of Nova Scotia. Having never married, Marion was the last of the Keshen Goodman family, and so on her death in 1992, her $2.75 million estate was bequeathed to the Halifax Regional Library to be used for a new library named after the Keshen Goodman family. Marion had been an avid library patron at the Spring Garden Road Memorial Library, and her close friend and neighbour Margaret Martin was a librarian there, so many expected the funds to go to a new central library. By 2000 the bequest had grown to $5.8 million, sufficient to build a new library to replace the old Thomas Raddall Library in Clayton Park. Public concern about the loss of the old library's name was appeased by the naming of Thomas Raddall Drive, and the Thomas Raddall Room within the Keshen Goodman Library.

Corporate body · 1933 -

The Junior League of Halifax, Inc. was incorporated in 1933. It is a member of the Association of Junior Leagues International and is an organization comprised of women who are dedicated to improving their communities through volunteer efforts. Community needs are identified and programs are developed to address those needs.

Many of the projects undertaken by the Junior League of Halifax are focused on children, senior citizens, the disabled, and women. These projects included radio broadcasts, public education publications, establishing lending libraries (Victoria General, Halifax Children's), and promoting safety projects (Buckle Up Baby, civil defence during the Cold War) and local cultural endeavours (Black Heritage Trail, theatre and the symphony). To support their activities the Junior League were active fundraisers and relied on initiatives such as the Bargain Box, the annual Follies show, and the Homes for the Holidays tours to raise money.

Some organizations that have partnered with Junior League of Halifax are Kids Help Phone, the Home of Guardian Angels, Dalhousie University Public Health Clinic, the Red Cross, Victoria General Hospital.

Joseph Howe Festival Society

The Joseph Howe Festival was a public festival held in Halifax N.S. from 1973-1985. In 1986 organizers attempted to continue the festival under the name of “Halifax Harbourfest", but this was cancelled due to lack of funding. The festival was organized by the Joseph Howe Festival Society and was usually held in early Fall. According to the bylaws of the society, their duties were to promote, administer, and execute an annual Joseph Howe Festival, honour and familiarize the community with this great Canadian who won freedom of the press and responsible government in Canada, promote community spirit, entertainment and education, as well as promote an interest in tourism to Nova Scotia outside of peak tourism months. Membership to the society was unlimited. For many years an Oratorical contest was held at local High Schools to determine who would attend festival events as “Young Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Howe". The Festival Society also produced commemmorative coins known as "Joseph Howe Trade Dollars" for several years. For a limited period of time these coins were worth the equivalent of one dollar in Halifax and were sold by various retailers within the city. Other Festival events over the years included costume promenades, Whaler Races, horse races, dances, Beerfest, casino nights, bingo nights, children’s festivals, bike races, road races, art shows and galleries, craft and farmers markets, oratorical contests, and town criers.