STORY

Orville Phemie Sniggleton was a Halifax industrialist, prominent in the manufacturing of cogs and gears, in the mid 1800’s.

Born in Caithness, Scotland in 1826, Sniggleton’s family immigrated to Canada when he was a small boy. In 1844, at the age of 18, Orville began overseeing iron production at his father’s North End Foundry, which he eventually took over after his father’s untimely murder in 1847.

Notorious for his shady dealings and his uncanny knack for ‘sniggling and wiggling’ his way out of prosecution, Orville earned the nickname “Sniggily Wiggily”, a moniker which he embraced with a sense of pride and vanity. Having an almost ravenous penchant for beer, booze and music,

Sniggleton eventually opened a number of successful taverns and brothels, laden with his unique style and quirky sense of description,
one of which was built on this very site in 1878. Orville died on December 8th, 1917 from injuries sustained in the Halifax Explosion.