Fort Needham Memorial Park

On the morning of December 6th, 1917 in the port city of Halifax, an explosion took place that obliterated half of the town in an instant.
A French munitions ship, the Mont-Blanc, crashed into a Belgian relief ship, the Imo. The Mont-Blanc was fully loaded with high explosives. The resulting explosion was the largest man made detonation until the nuclear bomb.
 
Nearly 2,000 people lost their lives instantly, and 9,000 were terribly injured. The north end of Halifax simply disappeared. The force of the explosion was so violent that a three ton anchor was found two miles away.
 
The explosion devastated the city and its families. A moving monument in the shape of a bombed home, ripped apart, stands on the hill overlooking the harbor at Fort Needham Park. The bells which form part of the memorial give some insight to the terrible tragedy which struck Halifax; they were donated by survivor Barbara Orr, who lost both parents, three brothers and two sisters that tragic morning.Read more