The North Sydney Historical Museum houses the telegraph machine that received the oversea message announcing an armistice would be signed on November 11, 1918.

November 10 2020 — On November 10 1918, the Western Union Cable Office in North Sydney, Nova Scotia received a Morse coded message from Europe stating that all fighting — on land, sea and in the air — would cease the next day. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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After four harrowing years, the message trickled in via Morse code on the morning of November 10, 1918 at a telegraph office in North Sydney, N.S.

“And before anyone else in North America knew, people in the small Cape Breton town had already begun to celebrate the joyous news direct from the War Office in London: an armistice would be signed the next day.

More than 300 U.S. personnel who were in North Sydney joined off-duty military personnel in a spontaneous parade around the town as part of a celebration that lasted all day.

In the evening, bonfires were lit and the festivities continued. Bars that would normally be closed on Sunday were opened, but they had to close early when they ran out of liquor.

So effectively, by the time the rest of North America found out about the war being over, North Sydney was nursing a giant hangover.”

REFERENCES

Why a Cape Breton town knew about the end of WW I before the rest of North America — CBC

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On This Day — Western Union Cable Announces Armistice to North Americans (November 10 1918) [2020]