St. Anthony
Fishing Point Lighthouse at St. Anthony
St. Anthony was already a fishing harbour frequented by French cod fishing fleets by the time Jacques Cartier stopped there in1534 during his exploration of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He gave the harbour the name St. Anthony Haven. Its location was within easy reach of good fishing grounds in the Strait of Belle Isle and nearby Grey Islands. It was not long before it became one of the most important French fishing stations on the French Shore.
St. Anthony’s settlement history mirrors other French Shore harbours. After 1713 the French Shore Treaty denied settlement rights to French fishermen while English fishermen were excluded from the fishing grounds. These treaty regulations meant there was little settlement until the early 1800s.
Population pressure in southern Newfoundland and French absence from the region during the Napoleonic Wars were several catalysts for a slow influx of settlers. When the French fishing fleet returned after the war, they hired English-speaking caretakers or guardians to watch over their gear and buildings during the off-season. The families of these caretakers became the first settlers of many area harbours, including St. Anthony.
St. Anthony went through a big change with the arrival in 1899 of Dr. Wilfred Grenfell and his medical mission. In 1901, as part of the Royal National Mission of the Deep Sea Fishermen, a British medical charity, Grenfell built a hospital and winter headquarters in St. Anthony . In 1912 he founded the International Grenfell Association (IGA) and he built a New England-style house where he lived with his family. Over time, the Grenfell Mission, as it was often called, built a number of hospital buildings in St. Anthony, including an orphanage, craft industrial, boathouses and wharves, barns, offices and dormitories. As host to the IGA headquarters, St. Anthony grew to be the largest town in the Strait of Belle Isle area. Fishing families from the small isolated outports of Ireland Bight and Lock’s Cove resettled to St. Anthony in the 1960s.
After World War II, the shadow of the Cold War appeared in the region with the building of a joint US-Canada aircraft control and warning station, a section of what was called the Pine Tree Line. Today St. Anthony continues to be the major service centre in northern Newfoundland.
St. Anthony Photos : ( Click each for full size )
St. Antony harbour in 1968.
St. Anthony : Dr. Wilfred Grenfell and His Mission
Dr. Wilfred Grenfell’s headquarters in St. Anthony became somewhat of an economic development laboratory where he spearheaded several economic strategies to make life in the surrounding outports more self-sufficient and less dependent on the fishing merchants of St. John’s and Britain. Grenfell started local industries in farming, lumber and crafts. He also attempted to transplant a domestic reindeer herd in hopes of making fresh meat more easily available and an added source of income for local people. He began the Co-op movement in the area to counteract what he considered unfair treatment of fishermen in a truck system run by outside mercantile companies. The craft industry made the Grenfell Mission well known throughout Canada, Britain and the US. The decorative hooked mats with small stitches illustrating the culture and nature of the region are highly valued today.
In 1981, after years of dedicated work by doctors, nurses and other health providers from many countries, the area’s healthcare system was transferred to the Canadian government and became known as the Grenfell Regional Health Services. Today there remains a not-for-profit International Grenfell Association that provides educational grants to local communities, purchases needed equipment for the hospitals, and sponsors other charitable activities in support of the local population in the region. It retains a craft outlet whose products continue the early traditions of rug hooking, carving, and knitting. Grenfell Historic Properties works to keep the story of the Grenfell Mission alive with public access to the Grenfell House as well as an interpretation centre with a museum and craft shop.
See also: www.heritage.nf.ca, www.grenfell-properties.com, www.town.stanthony.nf.ca
Photos : ( Click each for full size )
Glassed-in porch at Grenfell House overlooking the hospital
A hooked mat from the Grenfell Industrial.
Dr. Grenfell attends patient while on board a schooner