After 10 years of trying to save the structure, the plug has been pulled on the Commercial Cable Station in Hazel Hill, Nova Scotia.



It was built in 1888 and for more than 70 years, it relayed all telegraph messages between North America and Europe, including news of the Titanic sinking.

In its hayday, the Canso station would send as many as three thousand messages a day. Operators would guarantee a message to be delivered from New York to London within one minute.

The station closed in 1962, and after half-a-century, time has taken its toll on the building.



A local group has tried to find ways to save the structure, to no avail.

“There's no end in sight. We can't seem to see the light of day. So at this point, we know the building has to come down because it's getting unsafe,” says Darren Bennett, of the Building Rehabilitation Society.

When it first opened, all the employees were from England and Scotland. Those workers even set up a small community with tennis courts and a cricket pitch.

Doug Rattray's grandfather was one of the first workers.



His father was one of the last.

“Ever since Diefenbaker and the Queen talked first with a satellite, back and forth to England. That put the end to the underwater cable,” says Rattray

The demolition itself will come with a price, money the group doesn't have right now.

They're expecting the wrecking ball to fall, sometime next year.

With files from CTV’s Dan MacIntosh