Grand Falls-Windsor is a town located in the central region of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, with a population of 13,853 at the 2021 census. The town is the largest in the central region, the sixth largest in the province, and is home to the annual Exploits Valley Salmon Festival.[3] Grand Falls-Windsor was incorporated in 1991, when the two former towns of Grand Falls and Windsor amalgamated.
In 1768, Lieutenant John Cartwright, while following the Exploits River through the Exploits Valley, named the waterfall he found "Grand Falls". The land remained undeveloped until 1905, except for the Newfoundland Railway, which ran about 4 miles (6.4km) north of Grand Falls. The railway offered development potential.
Harmsworth House, Grand Falls (bef. 1911)
In 1905, the town of Grand Falls was established as a company town using Garden City principles expounded by Ebenezer Howard.[5][6] Worried about the impending war in Europe, Alfred Harmsworth (Baron Northcliffe) began looking for an alternative source of newsprint for his family's newspaper and publishing business. During their search for a suitable location to build and operate a pulp and paper mill, Harold Harmsworth and Mayson Beeton, son of Isabella Beeton, the author of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, discovered Grand Falls. The site had great potential due to access to lumber, the possibility of hydroelectricity and a deep-water port available in nearby Botwood. On January 7, 1905, the Harmsworths and Robert Gillespie Reid, owner of the Newfoundland Railway, formed the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company, and the mill was constructed and opened on October 9, 1909. The first roll of salable newsprint was produced on December 22, 1909. Workers came from throughout the colony and the world to help develop the new area. At that time, only employees of the mill and workers from private businesses were permitted to live in Grand Falls. Other people settled north of the railway in a shack town known as Grand Falls Station, which became Windsor, named for the Canadian Royal Family.
Penstock and log carriers (bef. 1911)
The Anglo Newfoundland Development Company, owners of the town, catered to the social and athletic needs of the people living there. The Grand Falls Athletic Club was formed in 1907. Sports such as hockey, boxing, golf, soccer and baseball were played in the area. Increasing interest in music and the arts reflected in the creation of several clubs, including The Andophians, The Exploits Amateur Theatre Company, the Northcliffe Drama Club (1951) and Another Newfoundland Drama Company Inc. (A.N.D. Company Inc.) (1998). Several musical groups were formed. From 1905 to 1906, the religious needs of the residents were filled by visiting clergy. However, because of the increasing population of Grand Falls, several churches were built.
Due to its continued growth, Grand Falls Station became a vibrant town. Main Street, in what is now the former town of Windsor, featured lines of small business that catered to the needs of the residents and the town was officially incorporated on November 1, 1938. During the incorporation, Grand Falls Station changed its name to Windsor in honour of the British Royal Family, the House of Windsor.
In 1961, Price Brothers and Company Limited acquired a large amount of Anglo Newfoundland Development Company stock. An election for the first municipal government was soon held, which eventually led to the incorporation of the town of Grand Falls. In 1988, the town took the title of the World Forestry Capital briefly. Finally, in 1991, the towns of Grand Falls and Windsor voted to amalgamate, becoming the current town of Grand Falls-Windsor. The Abitibi Bowater pulp and paper mill closed in 2009.[7][8]
In 1998, the Texas Vampires scandal occurred in the town, leading to the inception of the Newfoundland Health Research Ethics Authority.
The town itself consists of the former towns of Grand Falls and Windsor. The Newfoundland and Labrador Route 1 runs through the middle of town, with exits for Main Street, Station Road, Cromer Avenue, Union Street, Grenfell Heights and New Bay Road. Main thoroughfares in the town include Lincoln Road, Cromer Avenue, Main Street, High Street, and Scott Avenue, though this list is not exhaustive.
Climate
Grand Falls-Windsor has a humid continental climate (Koppen: Dfb), its classification being similar to the remainder of Newfoundland. Due to its farther inland position than most localities the influence of the Atlantic Ocean and its moderation is less prevalent, rendering its summers the warmest on the island. Winter lows are also more extreme than in St. John's and Corner Brook, although swings are very moderate when compared to areas on similar latitudes in continental Canada.
On December 4, 2008, Abitibi Bowater released a statement concerning imminent closure of the pulp and paper mill in Grand Falls-Windsor, representing a cutback of 205 000 tons of paper. The mill produced its last roll of newsprint on February 12, 2009. The closure was effected due to exchange rate volatility, energy, and fiber pricing, as well as structural challenges in the North American newsprint industry. At the time of closure, the paper mill was the second largest employer of the town. From 2016 to 2017, the mill was demolished.
Like most other communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, Grand Falls-Windsor has suffered from out-migration. However, the town endures as the service centre for all of Central Newfoundland. Despite the mill closure, businesses continue to grow in the community. Central Health is the largest employer in the town.
The local newspaper, the Advertiser, was published twice weekly from 1936 until 2017, and has been replaced by The Central Voice. It had a readership of more than 10,000 per edition and had won numerous awards, both regionally and nationally. The paper was first published by brothers Mike and Walter Blackmore, with Mike's wife, the former Laura Cantwell, serving as the first editor.
CBNAT is the call sign for the local CBC rebroadcaster of CBNT from St. John's. Rogers TV which provides a community channel that includes a local talk show focused on community events called Exploits Central.
Sports
The town has two hockey teams, the senior team, Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts and the Grand Falls-Windsor Blades. The Cataracts won the 2017 Allan Cup, symbolic of Senior Hockey supremacy in Canada.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Grand Falls-Windsor had a population of 13,853 living in 6,122 of its 6,628 total private dwellings, a change of -2.2% from its 2016 population of 14,171. With a land area of 54.84km2 (21.17sqmi), it had a population density of 252.6/km2 (654.3/sqmi) in 2021.[19]
As of 2006, there are 6,420 (47.35%) male residents and 7,140 (52.66%) female residents with the median age of male residents at 42.4 and the median age of female residents at 42.8. The median age of the town's population is getting older, from 36.2 at the 1996 census to 40.2 in the 2001 census and to 42.6 in 2006, compared to the province as a whole at 41.7.[20][21][22]
In 2001, the majority of residents – 8,405 (63.01%) of them – were Protestant, 4,420 (33.13%) were Catholic, 10 (0.07%) were Christian Orthodox, 35 (0.26%) were Christian, 10 (0.07%) were Hindu and 285 (2.14%) residents had no religious affiliation.[21]
The 2006 unemployment rate in the town was 17.0% slightly down from 17.7% in 2001 and below the provincial average of 18.6%. In 2000, the average annual earnings of part-time working residents was $26,671, compared to the provincial average of $24,165. The average earnings of full-time workers was $38,665, again slightly above the provincial average of $37,910.
Sights
Mary March Provincial Museum
Mary March Provincial Museum in Grand Falls, 24 Catherine St., shows exhibits about the Beothuk people, geology, regional industry and natural history.[23] It is named for Demasduit's European given name. A locomotive of the Newfoundland Railway which was closed down in 1988 can be seen in front of the museum. The Salmonid Interpretation Centre at the Grand Falls is noteworthy as well[24] Also every year in summer the Salmon Festival is held; it has had performances by Aerosmith, Kiss, and The Eagles.
Harmsworth Hall
Town Hall
Harmsworth Hall was constructed by the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company in 1929. This was one of the most important companies in Newfoundland in the early part of the 20th century. It was largely responsible for the development of Grand Falls as a town with the creation of a pulp-and-paper mill. The company named the hall after one of the original owners of the mill, and for decades it served the community as a theatre, playhouse and meeting hall.
The Town of Grand Falls was incorporated in 1963, and the company gave the building to the new municipality as a town hall. Since then, the city council has renovated the interior to include offices and council chambers. The hall still operates as the offices for the Town of Grand Falls-Windsor.
The hall has a wood frame with a brick exterior and stands two storeys tall. It has roof trim moulding, copper flashing and large arched windows that overlook High Street, the main street in Grand Falls. It has concrete lintels over the doors and windows, and the centre portion of the hall features a peaked roof.
Harmsworth Hall became a Registered Heritage Structure in 1998.[25] It is one of very few heritage structures in central Newfoundland.
Bishop's Falls is a town in the north-central part of the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, with a population of 3,082 at the 2021 census.
Badger is a town in north-central Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada on the Exploits River. It supplied pulp and paper for the mills in Grand Falls for many years and was famous for its large spring log drives. The town is located in the interior of the island, twenty miles west of Grand Falls in Division No. 6. Badger was incorporated as a Town on September 30, 1963.
Corner Brook is a city located on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Corner Brook is the fifth largest settlement in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Stephenville is a town in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland.
Iroquois Falls is a town in Northern Ontario, Canada, with a population of 4,537 at the 2016 census.
The Newfoundland Railway was a narrow-gauge railway that operated on the island of Newfoundland from 1898 to 1988. With a total track length of 906 miles (1,458 km), it was the longest 3 ft 6 in narrow-gauge system in North America.
Botwood is a town in north-central Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada in Census Division 6. It is located on the west shore of the Bay of Exploits on a natural deep water harbour used by cargo ships and seaplanes throughout the town's history. Botwood was the North American terminus for the first transatlantic commercial flights.
Twillingate is a town of 2,121 people located on the Twillingate Islands ("Toulinquet") in Notre Dame Bay, off the north eastern shore of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The town is about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of Lewisporte and Gander.
Marystown is a town in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, with a population of around 5,000. Situated 306 km from the province's capital, St. John's, it is on the Burin Peninsula. Until the early 1990s, its economy was largely based on shipbuilding, and it is due in part to this that the town experienced a population increase of 295% in just over a decade. The town was also dependent on the fish plant for employment.
Grand Bank or 'Grand Banc' as the first French settlers pronounced it, is a small rural town in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, with a population of 2,580. It is located on the southern tip or "toe" of the Burin Peninsula, 360 km from the province's capital of St. John's.
Newfoundland Power Inc. is an electric utility owned by Fortis Inc. which is the primary retailer of electric power in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The company was formed by the Royal Securities Corporation of Montreal in 1924 as the Newfoundland Light & Power Company.
Dalhousie is a former town located in Northern New Brunswick. On January 1, 2023, Dalhousie merged with the village of Charlo and all or part of five local service districts (LSDs) to form the new town of Heron Bay, named Baie-des-Hérons in French. Heron Bay is New Brunswick's northernmost point of land.
Port Hope Simpson is a town located on the southeastern Labrador coast, 215 km (134 mi) from the Quebec/Southern Labrador border in Canada. In 1944 it was named after John Hope Simpson as a company town.
Springdale is a town in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, which had a population of 2,965 people in 2021, up from 2,764 in the Canada 2006 Census. The community is located on the Northwestern shores of Hall's Bay in Central Newfoundland, near the mouth of Indian River.
Nova Central School District was a school district headquartered in Gander in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The district had 66 schools located in 50 different communities, and served about 13,000 students, including a significant rural population. The District was formed by the merger of the Lewisporte-Gander and Baie Verte-Central-Connaigre school boards in 2004. The largest school in the district was Gander Academy. The district was replaced by the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District upon provincial amalgamation in 2013.
The Exploits Valley is a valley in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in the central part of the island of Newfoundland.
Albert Edwin Reed (1846–1920) was the founder of Reed Elsevier, formerly Reed International, one the United Kingdom's largest professional publishing businesses. Reed was also a Weslian preacher. His twin sons Albert Ralph Reed —Sir Albert Ralph Reed—and Edward Percy Reed, born in 1884, inherited A.E. Reed and Co in 1920 when their father died.
Sop's Arm is a local service district and designated place in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The community was formed in the 1930s and 1940s by families moving from surrounding communities, including Jackson's Arm. In the 1950s and 1960s families from nearby Sop's Island moved to Sop's Arm, towing their houses across the channel of water.
The Grand Falls Andcos were a senior ice hockey team based in Grand Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador in the Newfoundland Senior Hockey League that won six Herder Memorial championships in seven years as all-Newfoundland champions. With the support of the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company, owners of the town's pulp and paper mill and the builder of a new state-of-the-art stadium in 1947, the team that later became known as the Andcos built a strong roster with imported players and dominated Newfoundland senior hockey during the 1950s.
CHEV-FM is a community radio station that operates at 94.5 MHz in Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The station is branded as Valley Radio.
References
↑ "Town Council". Grand Falls-Windsor. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Route 1 (TCH) 
