One of Canada's First Planned Communities

Army drills in front of the Crown Hotel. Designed by W.C. Harris, architect, this was meant to be the working man's hotel. It was less luxurious but still far above most hotels of the day. In 1916 the 185th Battalion was stationed at Broughton. The town had been deserted, but had fine quarters for the military: officers and the hospital were in the Broughton Arms; the non-commisioned officers at The Crown Hotel; and the enlisted men in the forty-three cottages that had been built for miners. Novascotia.ca (Public Domain)

Broughton, situated about twelve miles from Sydney, was one of the first "planned" towns in Canada. This coloured plan of the town that was to be built was reproduced and displayed in many Sydney offices at the time. Also featured on the plan were drawings of the Office Building, Assistant Manager's House, Broughton Arms, Railroad Station, Car Haul and Bank Head. It was signed "M.G. Hennigar, Civil Engineer, Sydney, NS, 20 April 1905" and published by South Publishing Company, New York. Novascotia.ca (Public Domain)

Col. Mayhew, an Englishman, was the President of the Cape Breton Coal, Iron and Railway Company and of the Canada Land & Development Corporation on whose land the town of Broughton was built. He was extensively involved and invested in the development of the town. Shown here are his five sons: Horace, jr., John, Geoffrey, Arthur and Cecil. His eldest son, Horace, jr., (seated next to his father) was the only one to come out to Cape Breton with his father, spending the winter of 1906 at Broughton. His untimely death on 12 August 1906, coincided with the decline in Broughton's success. Novascotia.ca (Public Domain)

Designed by W.C. Harris, architect, The Broughton Arms was a palatial hotel, the best east of Montreal, and boasted all the modern conveniences. Harris' distinctive architecture of rounded towers and verandahs, marked it as an upper-class hotel. Novascotia.ca (Public Domain)

August 1897. Boring the Tracey Seam at Broughton. (L to R): Archie MacDonald, William MacDonald, Alex MacLean Sr., John James MacDonald, Murdock MacLean, William R. MacDonald and Hugh MacDonald. Novascotia.ca (Public Domain)

Don Antle (Atlas Obscura User)

A handful of crumbling foundations in the forest are all that remain of an ambitious attempt at community planning.

Deep in the backwoods of Cape Breton Island lay the substantial foundations of one of Canada’s first planned communities, the ambitious mining town of Broughton.

An undeveloped coal seam in the Loon Lake area attracted the attention of British mining engineer Thomas Lancaster, who partnered with businessman Col. Horace Mayhew to form the Cape Breton Coal, Iron & Railway Company as the 20th century dawned. Not content with a simple mining venture, the pair set out to carve a thriving metropolis from the forest, hiring architect William Harris to create a town fit for 10,000 to 12,000 souls.

Lancaster and Mayhew raised millions from British investors, most of which was spent laying out the streets and constructing several impressive public buildings. The jewel of Broughton’s crown was indisputably the Broughton Arms Hotel, a luxurious lakeside resort and at the time Canada’s finest hotel east of Montreal. The Arms had the very first revolving door ever installed in North America.

But difficulties with transporting the coal to port ended Lancaster’s and Mayhew’s dream for Broughton; the Cape Breton Coal, Iron & Railroad Company went bankrupt in 1907 and the pair left for England shortly thereafter.

With the First World War in full swing, the Canadian Army took over the abandoned town, establishing a training camp and headquarters for the 185th Cape Breton Highlanders. Twelve hundred soldiers were billeted in the former hotels and houses of Broughton; when hostilities ceased, the army moved out, leaving Broughton abandoned.

Today, the forest has reclaimed Broughton. The remains of the manager’s house, the general offices, and the immense concrete foundations of the Broughton Arms lay amid the woods, in mute testimony to the lofty ambitions of Lancaster and Mayhew.