However, not too many people were interested in this before the Canso Causeway was opened in 1955. But when the causeway opened, suddenly many other things started to happen, too.

The first thing that happened was new highways were built on the island. With the new highways, it was easier to get to the forests on Cape Breton Island. Soon, a large pulp and paper company from Sweden chose the deep water port as the site of its new pulp mill. Port Hawkesbury has never been the same since!

Within the next seven years, another company built a dock to ship gypsum from nearby parts of Cape Breton Island. And another company built a huge terminal to store and ship oil. A few years later a power generating station, a paper mill, a larger pulp mill and an oil refinery were built in the area. The nearby community of Point Tupper disappeared and became an industrial park. Suddenly, there were thousands of jobs in the Port Hawkesbury area.

People from Richmond County, Antigonish County, Guysborough County and Inverness County could work in the Port Hawkesbury area and still live at home. Port Hawkesbury became more than a small town of 4,000 people. It became a business and shopping centre for 30,000 people from four counties.

Port Hawkesbury is still growing. The chance of oil and gas coming from under the ocean near Cape Breton Island has brought even more companies to the town. Port Hawkesbury has one of the lowest rates of unemployment in Cape Breton. It also has one of the highest average household incomes. Port Hawkesbury is a place to watch!