St. Anthony was
visited by explorer Jacques Cartier in 1534 and
it was already established as a summer fishing
room by the French. This continued until the
1800's, when it is believed the area was
permanently settled by the Patey and Simms
families. The first census was taken in 1857,
and it showed a population of 71, due to
residents moving from the East Coast and the
migration to the French Shore.
St. Anthony
became the largest year-round community in the
area with a population of 139 in 1891. In 1900,
Dr. Wilfred Grenfell chose St. Anthony as the
site for a hospital to serve northern
Newfoundland and eventually moved the
headquarters of the International Grenfell
Association there. In 1927, a marine railway and
a dry dock were built, but St. Anthony still was
an important fishing town. In the 1930s, a salt
fish plant was constructed by A.H. Murray and
Company and in the 1940's one of the province's
first cold storage fish plants was built by Job
Brothers.
An American radar site was built there
in 1951 and by 1962, 250 American servicemen
were stationed in St. Anthony. It was
incorporated as a town in 1945. St. Anthony was
connected by road to the rest of the province.
Along with an increase in population due to the
resettlement program, the community established
itself as the major service for this area.
In the 1970s, tourism began to be an important
industry for the because of the near by
L'Anse
aux Meadows National Historic Park and its
connection with Sir Wilfred Grenfell.
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