Grand Falls Windsor | ||
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City | ||
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Motto: "E Silva Surrexi" (Latin) "'I arose out of the forest" |
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Location of Grand Falls-Windsor in Newfoundland | ||
Coordinates: 48°56′13″N 55°38′42″W / 48.93694°N 55.64500°W | ||
Country | Canada | |
Province | Newfoundland and Labrador | |
Census division | Division No. 6 | |
Incorporated | January 1, 1991 | |
Government | ||
• Mayor | Barry Manuel (since 2015) | |
• MHA |
Al Hawkins (L) Jerry Dean (L) |
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• MP | Scott Simms (L) | |
Area | ||
• Land | 54.67 km2 (21.11 sq mi) | |
Elevation | 48 m (157 ft) | |
Population (2016) | ||
• Total | 14,171 | |
• Density | 259.2/km2 (671.6/sq mi) | |
Time zone | Newfoundland Standard Time Zone (UTC−03:30) | |
• Summer (DST) | Newfoundland Daylight (UTC−02:30) | |
Canadian Postal code | A2A | |
Area code(s) | 709 | |
Highways | Route 1 | |
Website | Town of Grand Falls-Windsor |
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 14,171 at the 2016 census. The town is the largest in the central region, the third largest in the province, and is home to the annual Exploits Valley Salmon Festival. Grand Falls-Windsor was incorporated in 1991 when the two former towns of Grand Falls and Windsor amalgamated.
The town is known as "Qapskuk" in the Mi'kmaq language.
In 1768, Lieutenant John Cartwright, while following the Exploits River through the Exploits Valley, named the waterfall he found "Grand Falls"; however, it took until 1905 before the town of Grand Falls was established. 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 not produced until 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 English Royal Family.