Antigonish had been the location of an annual Mi'kmaq summer coastal community prior to European settlement.[3] The original definition of the name has been lost as the Mi'kmaq language has undergone many revisions over the last two centuries. The first European settlement took place in 1784 when Lt. Colonel Timothy Hierlihy of the Royal Nova Scotia Volunteer Regiment received a large land grant surrounding Antigonish Harbour.[4] Hierlihy and his party founded the Dorchester settlement, named for Sir Guy Carleton, who was Governor General of Canada and subsequently Lord Dorchester. Shortly after, Sgt Nathan Pushee of the Duke of Cumberland's Regiment settled at Chedabucto (present-day Guysborough), eventually establishing present-day Amherst, Nova Scotia.[5] In 1796 another settler named Zephaniah Williams (of which Williams Point just outside of town was named after), with the assistance of a First Nations guide, blazed a trail from Antigonish Harbour to Brown's Mountain, using the shortest route. This trail became a guide for travellers and eventually evolved into a winding Main Street. By the late 1820s, Dorchester was commonly referred to as Antigonish. In 1852, a newspaper, The Casket, began publication. It was recently purchased by Bounty Print in 2015.[6]
The first hospital in Antigonish opened on June 10, 1906.
Antigonish is notable for having a social movement named for it, the Antigonish Movement, launched from St. Francis Xavier University in the 1920s by local priests and educators including Moses Coady and Jimmy Tompkins.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Antigonish had a population of 4,656 living in 2,205 of its 2,675 total private dwellings, a change of 6.7% from its 2016 population of 4,364. With a land area of 4.98 km2 (1.92 sq mi), it had a population density of 934.9/km2 (2,421.5/sq mi) in 2021.[14]
Antigonish is a service centre for the surrounding region that includes Antigonish and Guysborough Counties and many local businesses are based in the service sector. There are no major industrial operations located in the town or county. The workforce is primarily white collar with the largest employers being St. Martha's Regional Hospital and St. Francis Xavier University. Until 2011, Antigonish accommodated Canada Post's National Philatelic Centre, which provided mail-order services for worldwide collectors of Canadian stamps.
Highway 104 Twinning
In 2005, the provincial government approved the twinning of Highway 104 from Addington Forks Road easterly 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) to Taylor's Road.[15] In 2017, the provincial government announced that a further 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Sutherlands River to Antigonish would be twinned, thus creating an uninterrupted four-lane highway network from Halifax to Antigonish. The finished twinned highway was opened in July 2023.[16]
2004–07 retail building boom
The Antigonish area experienced great deal of economic growth and retail development between 2004 and 2007 when the retail landscape of the town and county changed significantly. Much of the growth took place in the Post Road area, just outside town.
Other areas also saw growth. A multi-unit retail annex was constructed at the local shopping mall in the spring of 2006. This complex houses a new sporting goods store, and other businesses and services. The mall area also saw the construction of restaurants which opened in late 2006 and in February 2007.
St. Francis Xavier University is located in Antigonish. Established in 1853, St. Francis Xavier has 4,267 full-time students and 500 part-time students. It was named as the best primarily undergraduate university in Canada by Maclean's magazine for five consecutive years (2002–2006). St. Francis Xavier is also well known for the X-Ring and the Coady International Institute.
The annual Antigonish Highland Games have been held since 1863. The first games were held to raise funds for the construction of St. Ninian's Cathedral.
Year-round, the town has access to professional and community theatre through the Bauer Theatre on the StFX Campus. It is home to Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre and Theatre Antigonish.
Antigonish experiences a humid continental climate (KöppenDfb), with warm, humid summers and cold, snowy winters. The highest temperature ever recorded in Antigonish was 37.8 °C (100 °F) on 12 August 1944.[18] The coldest temperature ever recorded was −35.6 °C (−32 °F) on 19 January 1925.[19]
^Extreme high and low temperatures were recorded at Antigonish from December 1880 to December 1947 and again from July 1979 to December 1982, at Clydesdale from September 1990 to March 1995 and at Antigonish Harbour from January 1997 to present.
