Halifax remained unique within the British colonies. No other town had been founded by the imperial government and no other place so obviously bore the imprint of bureaucracy. Halifax's founders wanted a community which displayed rational design and possessed a disciplined and hierarchical social order. Thus the streets were laid out in a strict rectangular grid and government funds were used to establish the key institutions of settled society, such as churches.
St. Paul's, shown here as it exists today, stood in the centre of the original townsite. An imposing structure, modeled on Marylebone church in London, it was built of local brick and New England timber. During the 1750s Sunday morning services were conducted by the clergy of the official Anglican church. In the afternoon Protestant dissenters met here for separate services. All Halifax residents, regardless of faith, were obliged by law to attend divine services at least once every three months. Attendance at St. Paul's in the early days subjected one to considerable physical discomfort since the building was unheated. To ward off winter chill, "worshippers brought with them foot warmers, consisting of iron boxes filled with burning charcoal, or wooden boxes containing heated bricks; others took their dogs to church to serve a similar purpose."
