Berwick in the 1950s

At the beginning of the 1950s, Berwick had quite a number of industries for a town its size.

Most of the employment created in the local area was the result of apple growing farmers who hired workers to pick, store, pack and ship apples. There was also a canning factory and an evaporator in the apple capital. A large number of workers were hired during the fall and winter of this seasonal operation.

Industries like the Berwick Bakery, the Creamery and meat packing plants hired workers throughout the year.

A big change took place in the packing and shipping of apples about 1950. The apple barrel was being replaced by wooden crates, which could be made by workers without the skills of the coopers.

For the purpose of expansion, the pool hall was purchased by the bakery and was demolished.

The people of the Berwick area were accustomed to having the Berwick Arena as a source of entertainment during the latter part of winter, but a fire in late February, 1948, completely destroyed this sports facility. By the time funds were raised and the new arena built, four full seasons were missed, making it difficult to acquire skillful players to form a competitive hockey team. The hockey teams of the 1950s - the Aces, the Bruins and the Apple Kings - played in the Kings County League and the Western Valley Leagues. In 1957, the Berwick Junior Apple Kings, with a number of good college players in their line-up, won the Nova Scotia and Maritime Junior Championship.

Unlike hockey, the Berwick baseball teams could not produce a team that could win even one Valley League Championship. In the late 1940s, the team played so badly, the local newspaper encouraged them to finish the season. When the team showed no improvement the following year, management changed to softball. The softball team went into a losing streak early in the season and decided not to continue with the 1950 season.

In the mid-1950s, a well-organized town league began operation and, when softball experts noticed the number of good players in the league, they decided to select an all-star team for the 1958 season. Losing to the Aylesford Mohawks 13-2 in the final playoff of 1958 made the all-stars realize, to be competitive, they needed to find some better players. The 1959 team featured players from Halifax and Greenwood who were able to defeat the Mohawks and win Berwick's first Valley League Championship. The all-stars lost to Cape Breton in the Nova Scotia finals in 1959, but had carried the team to its highest level ever.

Berwick, however, is more than just a sports town and, in 1950, evangelist Charles Templeton drew large crowds to the United Church Camp Meeting. Mr. Templeton later became a popular television personality. A fifth church was built in the mid-1950s by the Roman Catholics, and a new school was erected in 1958.