Clarenville's History

CLARENVILLE’S HISTORY (1822 onward)

The Origins of Our Town 

From Clarenceville to Clarenville: A Town that Got Its Name by Mail 

Clarenville: The Origins of a Municipality

A Short History of Shoal Harbour

A Short History of Clarenville

Key Building Blocks in Clarenville's Economy

Lumber and Logging: Family-Owned Steam-Powered Sawmills

A History of Log Driving and Hydraulic Management on the Shoal Harbour River and Pond Watershed

The Railway Connection: Shaping Clarenville's Destiny

The Northern Bight Railway Quarry 

Shipbuilding in Clarenville: The Splinter Fleet 

Industrialization In Clarenville: Newfoundland Hardwoods

A Snapshot of Downtown Clarenville Businesses

Aviation Infrastructure and Logistics in Clarenville

The TAT-1 Telephone Cable

Location, Location, Location: Clarenville as a Strategic Service Hub

The Rise of a Regional Hub: Clarenville's Modern History

WHAT'S IN A NAME?  How Clarenville's busiest street got its name.

Building the Trans Canada Highway: A Truck in the Water and a Piece of the Past

The Clarenville Area Consumer's Coop

Some of the People Who Helped Make Us

William Epps Cormack and Joseph Selvester (Selvester Joe)

Scholar John Tilley - Clarenville's Founder

Edgar Stanley's Visionary Enterprise: Electrifying Clarenville: 

General Italo Balbo - A Quick Visit, A Lasting Impact

The Mercer Family - Mercer's Marine

Dorothy "Blackie" Drover: Clarenville's (Almost) First Female Mayor

The Clarenville Day Dory Races: Max Grandy and the Clarenville Dories 

Elizabeth Swan - Community Builder

Fred Best - Clarenville's Mayor 1981-2013

Geneva Cholock: A Legacy in Focus

Events In History

The Forest Fires of 1961

The Mill's Mill & Mills Siding

The 1967 Bare Mountain Star 

The 1994 NL Winter Games

Hurricane Igor 2010

The 2014 NL Winter Games

Clarenville Ghost Stories

The Random Island UFO 

Tragedy in the Train Yard

The Frozen Embrace of the Bar Light

Links to our History

Elements of Clarenville’s Statistical Profile and History 

Clarenville Historical Slideshow

Clarenville's Waterfront History Display 

Clarenville Fun Facts

Sources

Bibliographical Links to Clarenville’s History

Paul Tilley's Clarenville Town Video Playlist 

Historic Photos of Clarenville 

Photos of Historic Clarenville

CLARENVILLE’S HISTORICAL TIMELINE

Chronology of Key Events in Clarenville's History

• 1822 - William Cormack's Cross-Island Trek 

• 1846 - Scholar John Tilley's Summer Home

• 1848 - First Permanent Settlement

• 1891 - Clarenville Named by Newfoundland Prime Minister Sir William Vallance Whiteway 

• 1891 - The Newfoundland Railway Arrives  

• 1911 - The Bonavista Branch Line - Clarenville Hub

• 1900-1950 - Steam Sawmills  

• 1914-1918 - World War 1 

• 1933 Balbo Armada arrives in Clarenville

• 1933 - Electrification

• 1937 - Clarenville Colas Plant

• 1939-45 - WW2

• 1942 - Clarenville’s Shipyard

• 1943-1947 - The Splinter Fleet

• 1948 - Newfoundland Hardwoods

• 1951 - Municipal Governance (Clarenville)

• 1951 -  Royal Canadian Legion - Branch 27

• 1952 - Hefferton Causeway 

• 1956 - TAT1 Clarenville Telecommunications Hub

• 1957 - Mercer’s Marine

• 1961 - Forest Fire

• 1961 - Clarenville Hockey Players Involved in Plane Crash in St. Pierre 

• 1961 - Clarenville’s Volunteer Fire Department Formed

• 1962 - Public Library

• 1963 - Shoal Harbour Causeway

• 1964/65 - Trans Canada Highway

• 1964/65 - Clarenville’s District Vocational

• 1965 - Clarenville Holiday Inn 

• 1967 - Bare Mountain (Centennial) Star

• 1968 - Clarenville Coop

• 1970 - The Clarenville Shopping Centre (the Lower Mall)

• 1970-73 Come by Chance Refinery Project

• 1971/72 - The Clarenville Area Recreation Association

• 1973 - Municipal Governance (Shoal Harbour)

• 1973 - Clarenville Nordic Ski Club 

• 1974 - Manitoba Drive

• 1986 - Come by Chance Refinery Closure

• 1976 - Clarenville High School

• 1978 - UFO sighting over Random Island

• 1979 - Tilley’s Road Softball Field - Elizabeth Swan Park

• 1981 - Manitoba Drive named

• 1981 - Random Square Mall

• 1982 - Clarenville Correctional Facility 

• 1983 - Boonie's Medals of Bravery

• 1983 - Balbo Elementary

• 1984 - Clarenville’s New Library

• 1986 - G.B. Cross Hospital 

• 1987 - Come by Chance Refinery Reopens

• 1988 - Railway Closure

• 1988-1989 - White Hills Ski Resort Opens

• 1989/90 - The Hibernia Project begins 

• 1991 - The Rotary Trail

• 1994 - Together as One - Amalgamation

• 1994 - NL Winter Games

• 1995 - New Shoal Harbour Bridge

• 1997 - Government Services Centre

• 1999 - Clarenville.net - The Clarenville Town Webpage is Born 

• 2000 - The Star is Reborn

• 2000 - Save White Hills

• 2001 - The Clarenville Rotary Marina

• 2001 - The 50th Anniversary of Clarenville

• 2003 - Clarenville Heritage Society formed

• 2003 -  First Seniors Focused Development 

• 2004 - Shoal Harbour Drive

• 2004 - Targa

• 2006 - New Walmart 

• 2006 - New Shoal Harbour River Water Treatment Plant

• 2006 - IEEE Recognize TAT 1

• 2006 - Arts Under the Stars

• 2006 - Locomotive 900 Relocated to Clarenville

• 2009 The New Clarenville Events Centre

• 2009 - Clarenville wins Tidy Towns

• 2009 - Dr. Albert O’Mahony Centre Opens

• 2009, 2010 & 2018 The Clarenville Caribous Capture the Herder Trophy

• 2010 - Hurricane Igor

• 2010/11 - Hebron Project begins

• 2012 - Kraft Celebration Tour 

• 2013 - Crest Bus/Age Friendly

• 2014 - Clarenville Hosts 2014 NL Winter Games

• 2015 - Clarenville Hosts the Allan Cup

• 2016 - Boonie's Shave for ALS

• 2019 - Re-Opening of Elizabeth Swan Park

• 2020 - New Clarenville Fire Hall

• 2022 - New Clarenville Town Hall 

• 2022 - 70 years and counting: Clarenville

• 2023 - White Hills: Mackenzie Top Peaks Challenge Winner 

• 2023 - The Shoal Harbour Causeway Bridge Replaced

• 2023 - The new Shoal Harbour War Memorial opened

• 2026 - The Town’s 75th

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