Glace Bay is a town on the east coast of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Incorporated as a town in 1901, it is now part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality

History

The French first mined coal at this location to supply their fortress at nearby Louisbourg. They named the location Baie de Glace (literally, Ice Bay) because of the ice which filled the bay each year.

Economy

Large-scale mining commenced in 1893 under the auspices of the Dominion Coal Company. Glace Bay was incorporated as a town nine years later. At its high point the company operated eleven mines in all, but as coal mining became less important, these mines were closed until, in 1984 the last one shut down. Many residents of Glace Bay started to work at the two other coal mines in the Sydney coalfields. However, coal mining continued its decline and one of these two mines closed in 1999.

Fishing was also an important industry throughout the 20th century. However, by the 1990s fish stocks were so depleted that the fishery was closed. Some fish processing still occurs here.

High unemployment in the town has forced many residents to leave to find work elsewhere.

Present day

Glace Bay, Sydney, and five other towns were combined in 1995 to form the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

Glace Bay is home to a Miners Museum and the Glace Bay Heritage Museum .