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Authority record
Zonta Club of Truro
Zonta Club of Truro · Corporate body · 1980 - 2017

The Zonta Club of Truro was formed in 1980, as a chapter of Zonta International, which works to advance the status of women and children worldwide. Their primary fundraising activity was an annual craft fair, in which they raised funds to provide scholarships to local graduating students and support local organizations of a similar cause.

Wilson, Rachel
Wilson, Rachel · Person · 1900 - 1995

Rachel Elizabeth Cooke was born on 20 October 1900 in Portaupique Mountain, Colchester County, Nova Scotia, to Mitchell Cooke and Margaret Ellen (Giddens) Cooke. Rachel trained to be a registered nurse at the Halifax Children's Hospital, graduating in 1925, and worked much of her life in Truro, NS. She married J. Arthur Wilson and the couple lived in Truro. Wilson was very involved all of her life in the Women's Institute of Nova Scotia, for which she served for a time as President and Treasurer. She was also very involved with the Baptist Church. She died on 9 July 1995.

Person · 1877–1941

Contractor. Frank was the son of Nathaniel Frank and Julia (McLeod) Wilson and was born in Truro, NS. His wife was Lucretia Ross and their two sons were George Willard and Earle Albert. His education was obtained in the Truro Public Schools. As president of Wilson Construction Company, he played a prominent part in rebuilding Halifax after the explosion of 1917. Some of the buildings in Truro which he built were the First United (Presbyterian) Church, Bank of Nova Scotia, the Fire Hall, the Intercolonial Railway Station and the Colchester County Court House on Church Street. He was the first President of the Maritime Amateur Hockey Association. He was a Methodist and was buried in the Robie St. Cemetery, Truro, NS.

Person · 1872-1941

Architect, Merchant
Born in London, England, E. D. Vernon and his mother and two brothers came to Canada and lived in Salmon River, Colchester County, near what is known as Vernon Bridge. He first married Ella Thomas, then Annie Dodson, and then Myra Barnes. His children were David, Jack, Russell and Dorothy.
Ernest received his general education in England where he passed his matriculation for Oxford. After locating in Truro he went to Halifax where for several years he studied architecture. He did his thesis on the gates of the Halifax Public Gardens. In early 1892, Ernest D. Vernon advertised architectural and draughting services and opened an office on Prince Street in July of that year. .
In 1911 he built the large brick store at 802 Prince Street and started a furniture business there, of which he was manager. His involvement with Vernon & Co Ltd. continued for the rest of his life, concurrently with his architectural practice. His plans of the new store for Vernon Furniture Co., several buildings of the Nova Scotia Residential Centre (then called the Maritime Home for Girls), the Central Fire Hall with Extension (1915), St. John’s Parish Hall (1916), Alice Street School (1920), Colchester County Hospital (1925), a modern residence on Victoria St. For W. H. Faltenhine (1938) as well as the residence of Frank Stanfield at 38 Dominion St., are a few examples of his work.
Ernest Vernon was a member of the St. John’s Church of England and is buried in Terrace Hill Cemetery, Truro, NS

Vernon & Company
Corporate body · 1911

As described in a Truro 1915 promotional booklet: "The Vernon Building, occupied by Vernon & Company, furniture and carpet dealers, was erected in 1911 and comprises three stories and basement 70 x 62 feet, heated by steam and lighted by electricity. The firm in addition to furniture, carpets, rugs and linoleums, handles refrigerators, baby carriages and sleighs, trunks, gramophones, and records, wall paper, curtains, draperies, mattresses and other household articles. Connected to the store is a two and one-half story warehouse utilized not only to store goods, but also for manufacturing mattresses and doing upholstering. The business has been extended throughout the Province by liberal newspaper advertising and by a large and profusely illustrated Mail Order Catalogue, issued from time to time, with cuts of all that is newest and best in the lines they handle, augmented by a free delivery system by which they prepay freight to any part of the Maritime Provinces, as a further inducement to attract trade."

Truro Residents Association
Truro Residents Association · Corporate body · [1997 - 1998]

The Truro Residents Association was founded in 1997 to oppose the development of a "big box store" in central Truro, NS. They brought issues of concern forward to town representatives regarding building developments that would affect nearby residents. They were also involved in traffic studies, community awareness projects, and promoting community togetherness.

Truro Cemetery Corporation
Corporate body · 1767 to present

125 Robie Street, Truro, NS
Inscriptions on the grave stones in Truro Cemetery tell us of fascinating stories of the community’s people from the first grantees of the Truro Township in 1761 to present day. Situated on the site where the first Presbyterian Meeting House was built in 1768, the cemetery is one of the few in Nova Scotia to have been in continuous use since the settlement’s first burial soon after the grantees’ arrival. Significantly including some of the grave stones of the original settlers, the cemetery can claim those of a Nova Scotia Premier, a Father of Confederation, 13 of the town Mayors, 3 of the community’s first ministers, the first principal of the Provincial Normal College, and many other distinguished citizens and families. Among many of the names on the early stones still prominent in the community today are Archibald, Smith, Johnson, Yuill and Christie.
The old section of the cemetery is now a designated Municipal and Provincial Heritage Site. The oldest gravestones are of Jane Savage who died April 3rd, 1767, age 24 and John McKeen and wife Martha, who both died on the same day, Dec. 30th, 1767..
A valuable resource for the future, undertaken through the Archives, is a project documenting the information and photographing of every gravestone. These records, when completed, will be filed in both the Cemetery Office and on the Society’s website.
Today, a large amount of land is available in the newer section for burial plots, for either cremation or traditional burials. This land overlooks the beautiful green agricultural fields towards Onslow. A stone chapel on the cemetery grounds provides winter vault space for spring burials. The Immaculate Conception and the Zion Baptist churches each have their own burial sections and these are both maintained by the cemetery staff.
The cemetery is administered by a volunteer board of directors who meet regularly and hold annual meetings each spring for plot holders and the public.

Truro Art Society
Truro Art Society · Corporate body · 1969 - present

The Truro Art Society was established in 1969 to support artists in the Truro, NS area. It is a volunteer-run organization that sponsors exhibitions, offers workshops, and provides education to the arts community.

Town of Truro, 1875
Corporate body · 1875

Truro (Mi'kmaq: Wagobagitik) is a town in central Nova Scotia, Canada. Truro is the shire town of Colchester County and is located on the south side of the Salmon River floodplain, close to the river's mouth at the eastern end of Cobequid Bay
The area has been home to the Mi'kmaq people for several centuries. The Mi'kmaq name for the Truro area, "Wagobagitik" means "end of the water's flow". Mi'kmaq people continue to live in the area at the Millbrook and Truro reserves of the Millbrook – We’kopekwitk band.
Acadian settlers came to this area in the early 1700s. The Mi'kmaq name for the Truro area was shortened by the settlers to "Cobequid", and the bay to the west of the town is still named Cobequid Bay. By 1727, the settlers had established a small village near the present downtown site of Truro known as "Vil Bois Brule" (Village in the burnt wood). Many Acadians in this region left in the Acadian Exodus which preceded the Expulsion of the Acadians in 1755. In 1761, the British settled the area with Presbyterians of predominantly Ulster Scottish origin who came from Ireland via New England. They named the new settlement after the city of Truro in Cornwall, United Kingdom.
Originally a small farming community, the construction of the Nova Scotia Railway between Halifax, and Pictou in 1858 caused the municipality to experience a fast rate of growth which increased even more when the railway connected to central Canada in 1872 and became the Intercolonial Railway. The Intercolonial, which later became the Canadian National Railway built a large roundhouse and rail yard in Truro. Further rail links to Cape Breton and to the Annapolis Valley through the Dominion Atlantic Railway in 1905 increased the town's importance as a transportation hub for Nova Scotia. The railway also attracted industries such as the Truro Woolen Mills in 1870 (which later became Stanfield's) and provincial institutions like the provincial Normal School (later the Nova Scotia Teachers College) and the Nova Scotia Agricultural College. The town officially incorporated in 1875. The history of the town and surrounding county is preserved at the Colchester Historical Museum (c.1900-1901), which is designated under the provincial Heritage Property Act.

Stanfield, Frank, 1872-1931
Person · 1872-1931

Manufacturer, Lieutenant Governor. Born in Truro, Nova Scotia, Frank was the son of Charles and Lydia (Dawson) Stanfield. His father came from Prince Edward Island from Yorkshire, England in 1855, then to Truro in 1866. Frank Stanfield was an Anglican who married in 1901 to Sarah Thomas and had five children: Robert, Charles, Frank, Gordon and Kathryn. He was an executive in the Stanfield Mills in Truro. From 1911 to 1920 and from 1925 to 1928, Frank Stanfield represented Colchester County in the Nova Scotia Legislature as a Conservative. In 1930 he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Province. He died in 1931, while still in office. His home at 38 Dominion Street was designed by well known architect E. D. Vernon of Truro.