J. H. Hicks & Sons

J. H. Hicks & Sons of Bridgetown was a construction firm and lumber mill that built the majority of the valley's apple warehouses^[1] as well as many stations on the Dominion Atlantic. It was located of the north side of Bridgetown, served by the Halifax and South Western Railway. The company also operated an apple warehouse served by a spur from the H&SW.^[2] The company was founded by John Harry Hicks Junior in 1891, initially based near the Bridgetown wharves on the river, but later moving north to the tracks of the Halifax and South Western Railway, where Church Street changed to Hampton Mountain Road. The firm built up a large saw mill, moving from lumber to furniture and building supplies. This laid the foundation for the company to become a major building contractor in the Annapolis Valley building houses, public building and on the railway side, stations and most of the valley's apple warehouses. An important employee was Albert Marshall of Port Lorne, who was regarded as the leading builder of apple warehouses in the Annapolis Valley.^[3] Hicks had four sons. One of them, Harry Hicks, would become premier of Nova Scotia and later president of Dalhousie University.^[4] The company suffered reverses in the 1930s when the Great Depression not only cut building orders, but also wiped out the family's stock investments,^[5] but the mill continued in business into the 1960s.

Examples of apple warehouses built by Hicks include: Berwick Fruit; the Grand Pre Fruit Company Warehouse; the Currys Corner Fruit Co warehouse in Pembertons and the Lawrencetown Fruit Company Warehouse.

Stations built by Hicks include: Bridgetown Station, Middleton Station, Lawrencetown Station, the H&SW Yarmouth Station and all the stations on the North Mountain Line: Billtown, Lakeville, Woodville, Grafton, Somerset and Weston.

Gallery

The Weekly Monitor advertisement for J. H. Hicks & Sons building supplies, Nov. 1, 1899.
Note in the Engineering and Contract Record on contract to build a new apple warehouse for the Curry's Corner Fruit Company in Pembertons by J. H. Hicks & Sons, 1914.
Note in the Engineering and Contract Record on contract to build a new station in Yarmouth for the Halifax & South Western Railway by the J. H. Hicks & Sons company, November 1915.
Canadian Railway and Marine World note on contract for new Middleton Station awarded to J. H. Hicks & Sons, Oct. 1916.
Newspaper Article from The Outlook about the completion of the Middleton Station by J. H. Hicks & Sons, Jan. 8, 1917.
The Weekly Monitor advertisement for carloads of building supplies imported by J. H. Hicks & Sons to their Bridgetown construction headquarters, Sept. 12, 1917.
"Some Warehouse", The Acadian 1921 Sept 30 - New Grand Pre Fruit Co. Warehouse article about a J. H. Hicks & Sons reconstruction, Sept. 30, 1921.
Article on the new Bridgetown Station built by J. H. Hicks & Sons, the start of the Midnight trains, a new Digby Station, and Aberdeen Hotel renovations, Dec 9, 1921. See article text.
Weekly Monitor newspaper article on contract for J. H. Hicks & Sons to build a new apple warehouse for the Berwick Fruit Company, May 9, 1923.
Weekly Monitor newspaper article on the new apple warehouse for the Lawrencetown Fruit Growers Limited, being built by the J. H. Hicks & Sons, June 11, 1924.
The J. H. Hicks & Sons mill complex, photographed by Stephen Archibald, 1987.