The telegraph office in Little Harbour, La Poile was established by the Government of Newfoundland, 1885.
Twillingate was first visited by the London Missionary Society in 1799. By 1831, the first Methodist Congregation in Twillingate was holding secret meetings in the home of one of its members. From these meetings it can be said that Methodism began in Twillingate.
In 1841, the Methodist Church appointed Rev. William Marshall as the first regular missionary to serve what was known as the Green Bay Circuit. He was stationed at Twillingate and traveled throughout the District visiting the scattered communities. Despite its early beginnings, Twillingate's first Methodist Minister, Rev. William Marshall didn't arrive until 1842. Shortly after his arrival, Rev. Marshall oversaw the building of the congregations first church. Rev. Marshall held his last service in Twillingate on December 31, 1845 and died on January 9, 1846. From 1842-1859, the whole of Green Bay was ministered by one minister with headquarters in Twillingate. The circuit changed from Green Bay to Twillingate in 1859 and a new chapel was built there in 1860.
On February 14, 1868, Twillingate suffered a great loss when fire destroyed both the church and mission house. Within a year from the fire, the people of Twillingate had rebuilt the church and it was dedicated in June, 1869. The Methodist Church in Twillingate had a long history, which resulted in the establishment of several churches in the area. The growth of Methodism in the Twillingate Circuit was rapid, especially under the guidance of T.W. Atkinson, Levi Curtis and J.K. Curtis.
The appointments on the circuit are Twillingate North, with a new church seating 600; Twillingate South, where the parsonage is and a church seating 1000, Little Harbour, Crow Head, Bluff Head Cove and Gilliard's Cove. Twillingate became affiliated with the United Church after the union in June 1925.
In the late 1970's and 1980's three of these congregations, Twillingate South, Twillingate North and Little Harbour, made plans to replace their three church buildings with one central edifice. On May 24, 1984, the three congregations participated in a sod-turning ceremony at the site of the new church. The cornerstone was laid in 1986 and Central United Church was opened and dedicated to the glory of God on Sunday afternoon, May 31, 1987.
Monroe Export Company, Limited, a Newfoundland saltfish company, was established by Walter Stanley Monroe in 1909. The firm was based in St. John's, with a branch at Thoroughfare, Bonavista Bay.
Monroe (1871-1952), businessman and Newfoundland Prime Minister (1924-28) was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of John and Elizabeth (Moule) Monroe. Monroe emigrated to Newfoundland in 1888 to work with his uncle, Moses Monroe, in his family enterprises which included Colonial Cordage, Newfoundland Boot and Shoe Company, and St. John's Electrical Company. After his uncle's death, he established an export firm, Bishop and Monroe Company, with Robert Bishop. The partnership was dissolved in 1909 and Monroe started Monroe Export Company, Limited, which he operated until he entered politices in the 1920s.
In the 1920s, Monroe left much of the management of the family business to his son, Arthur Monroe, who expanded into frozen fish processing. A new enterprise, Fishery Products Limited (FPL), family owned and family financed, was formally incorporated in 1941; its largest investor was Monroe Export Company. In 1946 FPL purchased the assets of Monroe Export Company, and assumed its saltfish oeprations.
The first school was established at Trouty by the mid-19th century. Under the Trinity Church of England Board of Education a new school was built in 1912-13. In 1957 this school, in turn, was replaced with a new school, built close to the same site. Up to the mid-1950s the school had students in all grades up to grade 11. After 1965 there was a sharp decline in the school age population, and the highest grade taught was grade 7. High school students were bussed to a larger school in the area. The school closed in the late 1960s.
Source: St. Matthews School, Trouty fonds; Board of Education, Trinity fonds; Clarence Dewling.
St. Teresa's Parish was established in 1930 in response to a rapidly growing Catholic population on the western margin of the city of St. John's. Previous to this date, residents in this area had fallen within the broad boundaries of the Cathedral Parish and later, St. Patrick's Parish. Beginning in 1924, Rev. W. H. Kitchen, pastor of St. Patrick's, appointed one of his assistant priests, Rev. H. A. Summers, to attend to the growing Catholic community surrounding Mundy Pond by conducting weekly visits to the area. Later, in 1928, Archbishop Edward P. Roche directed Summers to take a census of the Catholic population of the Mundy Pond, Freshwater Road and Thorburn Road areas, the results of which suggested the viability of an independent parish. Two years later, Summers was appointed St. Teresa's first parish priest.
During Summers' early visits to Mundy Pond, services were held in a small schoolhouse at the corner of Pearce and Campbell avenues. After he was appointed pastor of St. Teresa's, Summers oversaw the construction of a three-room school that also served as a temporary chapel. The first mass was celebrated there on Christmas Eve 1930. The building functioned as the parish church until a concrete-basement church was constructed on Mundy Pond Road during 1937 and 1938, (blessed and dedicated by Archbishop Roche 12 June 1938). Despite the fact that this building was designed to be altered and extended to accommodate future growth, construction on a new church and monastery, adjacent to the concrete-basement church, was begun in 1962. Finished in 1964, the first mass was celebrated in the new St. Teresa's 25 October and was later blessed and dedicated by Archbishop Patrick J. Skinner 13 December. The former church was then converted into a parish hall.
Schools formed an integral part of St. Teresa's parochial organization. As early as 1899, a Catholic school was opened at Mundy Pond in a private home. Circa 1906, Archbishop Michael F. Howley built the school, at the corner of Pearce and Campbell avenues, that was visited by Summers in his early ministrations to the area. This building was replaced by the three-room school built by Summers in 1930. Summers also built a one-room school in the Freshwater area in 1930, and an all-grades school in the Freshwater and Thorburn roads section of the parish in 1936. In 1944, the Sisters of Mercy took over the administration of the school at Mundy Pond. The three-room school built by Summers was replaced by a new eight-room school between 1948 and 1949, adjoining the Sisters' Convent. In the 1960s, the two schools on Freshwater and Thorburn roads closed and were amalgamated with St. Teresa's Parish School (several times reconstructed and enlarged) on Mundy Pond Road.
In 1956, due to a shortage of priests in the Archdiocese of St. John's, Archbishop Skinner invited members of the Redemptorist Order to assume responsibility for the direction and administration of St. Teresa's Parish. The Redemptorist congregation was officially associated with the Archdiocese of St. John's 21 October 1956 when Archbishop Skinner installed Patrick Mann, a Redemptorist priest, as the Pastor of St. Teresa's (Redemptorists at St. Teresa's were incorporated as the Newfoundland Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer in 1959). Although the parish remains in the control of a religious congregation, it is administered in the same manner as all other secular parishes within the Archdiocese of St. John's. However, a monastery is attached to St. Teresa's in which the Redemptorists live in community, and their activities can be divided into those associated with the functions of their order and the functions of the parish. When the Redemptorists are engaged in mission work and other devotional activities within the Archdiocese, they are responsible to the Superior of the Toronto Province of the Most Holy Redeemer, the eastern chapter of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer of Canada. However, as parochial administrators, they are responsible to the Archbishop of St. John's.
In October 1978, Rev. James Glavine held a week-long retreat for parishioners of St. Teresa's which initiated the establishment of the St. Teresa's Parish Council. In 1980, the Council was comprised of a Steering Committee and six open committees: the Liturgical Committee, the Education Committee, the Committee for Spiritual Renewal, the Funding Committee, the Social Committee, and the Apostolic Committee. Numerous other committees and societies have been established at St. Teresa's to share in the administration of the parish, including the Men's Committee, the Ladies' Society, the Finance Committee, the Property Committee, the Knights of Columbus, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Mission Club, and the Youth Group (this list is not exhaustive).
Although the parish boundaries have been altered over time, they still include the Mundy Pond, Thorburn and Freshwater Road areas.
Pastors who have served St. Teresa's Parish since its establishment include: Harold A. Summers (1930-1952); Randall J. Greene (1952-1956); Patrick Mann (1956-1959); John Maddigan (1959-1967); John O'Deady (1967-1969); William Wylie (1969-1975); James V. Glavine (1975-1978); Eugene O'Reilly (1978-1983); Thomas Kelly (1983-1984); Raymond Corriveau (1984-1990); Dermot Fitzpatrick (1990); Raymond Earle (1991-1993); Douglas Stamp (1993-1996); and Raymond McNally (1996- ).
The exact date of the founding of Holy Trinity Parish is somewhat uncertain. Primary and secondary sources give differing dates, including 1830, 1834, 1842, and 1845. However, 1845 seems the most likely date from which to mark the informal establishment of the parish since it was in 1845 that Rev. Edward Troy, the first resident Catholic priest, was appointed to Torbay. Prior to this appointment, Torbay and the surrounding area was served by priests travelling from St. John's (in 1830, the District of St. John's included the communities of Portugal Cove, Torbay, Pouch Cove, Topsail, and Petty Harbour). The establishment of Holy Trinity Parish in 1845 must be considered informal since Newfoundland was still a vicariate Apostolic and, as such, the ordinary hierarchy of the Catholic Church was not yet considered to be fully evolved in the colony. Since, technically, a parish is a portion of a diocese, no parishes can be said to have existed prior to the erection of Newfoundland as a diocese in 1847. However, the term "parish" was commonly used to refer to a geographic territory possessing a church and a resident priest (the term "district" was sometimes used).
Corpus Christi Chapel, built around 1834, was the first Catholic structure in Torbay. It was consecrated 5 June 1836 by Bishop Michael A. Fleming. On 9 October 1859, Bishop John T. Mullock laid the cornerstone for a church to replace the chapel. The church was consecrated and dedicated to the Holy Trinity in October 1863. This stone structure served the parish for more than 60 years until construction began on a larger wooden church to replace it. Archbishop Edward P. Roche laid the cornerstone of this building on 8 August 1919. It was completed sometime in 1922 and served the parish until 1988, when it was closed because of structural weakness. Construction on the current church began in 1989, and on 21 June 1992, it was officially opened by Archbishop James H. MacDonald.
The activities of Holy Trinity Parish were intimately intertwined with the operations of parochial schools. The first Roman Catholic school was a one-room structure built in 1850 (prior to this, classes were held in temporary quarters as early as 1843). In 1865, the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Congregation (Presentation Sisters) established St. Michael's Convent and School at Torbay. Charged with the responsibility of educating both Catholic boys and girls, St. Michael's co-existed with the original one-room school for several years. In 1918, the North Side School was opened in Torbay, offering grades one to seven from which graduating students were fed into St. Michael's Convent to complete higher grades. In 1956, with the opening of Holy Trinity School, St. Michael's and the North Side schools were phased out and the Presentation Sisters assumed responsibility for the new unified parochial school. In the 1980s, Holy Trinity High School was built and the former all-grade school became Holy Trinity Elementary. On 31 July 1986, St. Michael's Convent was closed and the Presentation Sisters withdrew from their parish teaching responsibilities. Direct parish involvement with Holy Trinity Elementary and High schools ceased after denominational education reforms were passed by the Provincial Government in 1997. They are now secular institutions.
Holy Trinity's boundaries have evolved since its inception in 1845. Initially, the parish encompassed the nearby communities of Flatrock, Outer Cove, and Middle Cove. However, the parishes of St. Agnes-St. Michael's (Pouch Cove-Flatrock) and St. Francis of Assisi (Outer Cove) were later established to serve the needs of the Catholic populations of these communities, contracting Holy Trinity's boundaries. The parish's boundaries now encompass only the community of Torbay.
Pastors who have served Holy Trinity Parish since its establishment in 1845 include: Edward Troy (1845-1872); Patrick J. Delaney, (Administrator? 1872); John Joseph Nugent, (Administrator? 1872); Richard V. Howley, (Administrator? 1872-1873); Michael J. Clarke (1873-1911); John J. St. John (1911-1917); John T. Ashley (1918-1926); John W. Carter (1927-1930); Alfred J. Maher (1930-1934); Michael J. Kennedy (1934-1935); James J. Greene (1935-1955); James A. Miller (1955-1969); Eric R. Lawlor (1969-1977); Charles G. Greene (1977-1987); John Hanton (1987-1994); Richard Hockman, Administrator (1994-1995); John Vickers, Administrator (1994-1998); Don Layden, Administrator (1995-1998); and David Butler (1998- ).
Structurally, Holy Trinity Parish is organized along lines similar to most Roman Catholic parishes, with various committees and lay societies active in the administration of parochial affairs, including the Parish Council, the Finance Committee, the Liturgy Committee, the Parish Family Aid Group, the Catholic Women's League, the Knights of Columbus, and the Holy Name Society (this list is not exhaustive).
The St. John's Athenaeum (1861-1898), a non-denominational library and cultural centre, was established in 1861, three of St. John's literary organizations amalgamated to form the Athenaeum Library: the St. John's Library Society (established 1820), the Young Men's Literary and Scientific Institute (established before 1848) and the Mechanic's Institute (established before 1849). The new library opened on Water Street in March 1861, with a collection of 2500 volumes, 60 newspapers and a reading room open to both men and women. The library was also a cultural center, holding weekly lectures.
In 1875, the library relocated to a new building on Duckworth Street. The building held the library collection, a reading room, and an auditorium that seated one thousand. The ceiling was painted by Alexander Pindikowsky, the Polish artist who also painted the ceiling of the Colonial Building. The Athenaeum was lost in the great fire of 1892. An effort was quickly made to re-establish the collection and a new library was opened that winter with 1000 books. However, the smaller library lacked public support, and closed permanently in 1898. St. John's was without a public library until the Gosling Memorial Library opened in 1936.
Kilbride Mission, the predecessor body to Corpus Christi Parish, was founded circa 1863 by Bishop John T. Mullock. A stone church, dedicated to St. Bride, was built in what is now Kilbride Cemetery on Bay Bulls Road; Bishop Mullock celebrated the first mass in the new church on 1 February 1863. St. Bride's was destroyed by fire in 1892; however, mass continued to be celebrated in a school building located near the Kilbride Cemetery. The Kilbride Mission was administered from the Cathedral Parish between 1863 and 1872 and later from St. Patrick's Parish between 1872 and 1917. In 1917, Archbishop Roche elevated Corpus Christi to the status of an independent parish.
Corpus Christi initially was without a church of its own. The Parish made a financial contribution towards the expenses of the Chapel at Littledale, part of the Sisters of Mercy St. Bride's Convent complex, and used the facility as a parish church until the construction of the present-day structure located at 260 Waterford Bridge Road, St. John's (dedicated on 19 August 1923 to Corpus Christi).
Under the denominational education system, Corpus Christi Parish maintained close connections with the Catholic schools operating within its boundaries. These included St. Joseph's Elementary School, St. Augustine's Elementary School, and St. Bride's Academy. In 1975, St. Joseph's was closed and replaced by Beaconsfield Elementary.
Societies and associations active within the parish have included the Holy Name Society, the Ladies' Association (formerly St. Anne's Society), the Altar Guild, the Legion of Mary, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Catholic Women's League, and the Knights of Columbus (this list is not exhaustive).
When Corpus Christi Church was dedicated in 1917, it was situated in Kilbride, an unincorporated agricultural and residential community near St. John's. Today, Kilbride forms part of the City of St. John's and the parish boundaries have been altered several times in response to changing demographic trends in the city. On 1 January 1986, Archbishop Alphonsus L. Penney issued a decree of dismemberment, dividing Corpus Christi to create the new Parish of St. Matthew's in the Cowan Heights area. The boundaries of Corpus Christi also have been altered to assist in maintaining the viability of St. Patrick's Parish.
Pastors who have served Corpus Christi Parish since its establishment include: James Coady (1917-1920); John J. Rawlins (1920-1957); John W. McGettigan (1957-1969); Dermot O'Keefe (1969-1985); Francis Slattery (1985-1989); Kevin Molloy (1989-2000); Wayne Dohey (2000-2001); and Kenneth Walsh (2001- ).
The Corpus Christi Parish Pastoral Council, comprised of elected members and representatives of parish societies and associations, assists the pastor in making decisions affecting the life of the parish and, therefore, is at the centre of parish operations.
During the years 1875-1876, the Methodist Church sent Rev. James Pincock to the Pilley's Island Circuit to minister to the people of Pilley's Island, Robert's Arm, Port Anson, Head's Harbour, Miles Cove and Wellman's Cove. Pilley's Island first appeared on the station sheet in 1892 in connection with Little Bay Islands. This station was served by two ministers with one stationed at Pilley's Island. The first church at Pilley's Island was built in about 1896. Roberts Arm's first church was built during 1875-1876.
By 1911, the circuit name was Little Bay Islands, Long Island and Pilley's Island being served by three ministers. In 1913, Long Island and Pilley's Island were separated from Little Bay Islands and there was a minister in each of these communities. The communities were together again for a time in 1914, and by 1916, all three were separated and Pilley's Island appeared as head of a mission until 1930 ministered by J.A. Spencer. By 1931, Pilley's Island had preaching places in the following nearby communities: Head's Harbour, Mile's Cove, Roberts Arm, Wellman's Cove, and Port Anson.
Pilley's Island became affiliated with the United Church on June 10, 1925, having been a Methodist Congregation prior to that time. The pastoral charge at the time of the union included Triton, Robert's Arm, Card's Harbour, Brighton and Sunday Cove Island with a total membership of 148 families. The organizational structure of the pastoral charge is based on the Session, Stewards, Official Board model.
Pilley's Island was a thriving copper mining and fishing community but when the mine closed, and shifts of the population occurred with people moving around for employment, the spirit went out of the community and the church was almost destroyed.
From 1972-1979, Pilley's Island pastoral charge had a stationed minister, Rev. R. Kraglund, who was instrumental in fostering interest in the church. During 1978, stewardship of the pastoral charge increased by 34% over 1977 and considerable donations were made to the building fund in Pilley's Island and South Brook. The old church at Pilley's Island was renovated and a new church at South Brook was nearing completion in 1979. By 1989, Pilley's Island pastoral charge was responsible for Beaumont, Lushes Bight, Pilley's Island, Roberts Arm and South Brook.
Today the pastoral charge is made up of congregations in Beaumont, Roberts Arm and South Brook and the name has changed from Pilley's Island Pastoral Charge to the Green Bay South Pastoral Charge.