Corner Brook ( 2021 population: 19,333 CA 29,762) is a city located on the west coast of the island of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

in the province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, Canada. Corner Brook is the fifth largest settlement in Newfoundland and Labrador. Located on the Bay of Islands at the mouth of the Humber River, the city is the second-largest

population centre In demographics, the center of population (or population center) of a region is a geographical point that describes a centerpoint of the region's population. There are several ways of defining such a "center point", leading to different geogr ...

in the province behind St. John's, and smallest of three cities behind St. John's and

Mount Pearl Mount Pearl is the third-largest settlement and second-largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The city is located southwest of St. John's, on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. Mount Pearl is the fo ...

. As such, Corner Brook functions as a service centre for western and northern Newfoundland. It is located on the same latitude as Gaspé, Quebec, a city of similar size and landscape on the other side of the

Gulf of St. Lawrence The Gulf of St. Lawrence () is the outlet of the North American Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean. The gulf is a semi-enclosed sea, covering an area of about and containing about of water, at an average depth of . ...

. Corner Brook is the most northern city in

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...

. It is the administrative headquarters of the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nations

band government In Canada, an Indian band or band (french: bande indienne, link=no), sometimes referred to as a First Nation band (french: bande de la Première Nation, link=no) or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subjec ...

. The Mi'kmaq name for the nearby Humber River is "Maqtukwek".

History

The area was surveyed by Captain James Cook in 1767. The Captain James Cook Historic Site stands on Crow Hill overlooking the city. By the middle of the 19th century the population of Corner Brook was less than 100, and the inhabitants were engaged in fishing and lumber work. The area was originally four distinct communities, each with unique commercial activities:

Curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

, with its fishery; Corner Brook West (also known as Humber West or Westside) with its retail businesses; Corner Brook East (also known as Humbermouth and the Heights) with its

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

and industrial operations; and Townsite (known as Corner Brook) to house employees of the pulp and paper mill, laid out in 1923 by

Thomas Adams Thomas Adams may refer to: Politicians * Thomas Adams (MP), Member of Parliament for Bedford *Sir Thomas Adams, 1st Baronet (1586–1667/68), Lord Mayor of London * Thomas Adams (politician) (1730–1788), Virginia delegate to the Continental Cong ...

using Garden City principles. In 1956, these four communities were amalgamated to form the present-day City of Corner Brook. Between 1948 and 1958 about 70 people from Latvia and Germany settled in Corner Brook. They came as part of then Premier Joseph Smallwood's New Industries program. They built and worked at North Star Cement and the Atlantic Gypsum Plant. (For more history on the subject, see Latvians and Baltic Germans in Corner Brook) Corner Brook is home to the Corner Brook Pulp & Paper Mill (owned by

Kruger Inc. Kruger Inc. is a Canadian corporation which manufactures publication papers, tissue, lumber and other wood products, corrugated cartons from recycled fibres, green and renewable energy, and wines and spirits. Kruger Inc. operates facilities in Qu ...

), which is a major employer for the region. The city has the largest regional hospital in western Newfoundland. It also has a wide array of shopping and retail businesses and federal and provincial government offices. It is home to Grenfell Campus, Memorial University, as well as campuses of

Academy Canada An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

and College of the North Atlantic. Corner Brook celebrated its Come Home Year from July 19–28, 2019.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Corner Brook had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Ethnic origin

Sports

Near Corner Brook is

Marble Mountain Ski Resort Marble Mountain is a ski resort located in the town of Steady Brook, on the west coast of Newfoundland in the Long Range Mountains. The resort is located on a series of steep ridges forming part of the southern side of the Humber River valley on ...

, a downhill skiing resort, and Blow-Me-Down trails, a cross country ski area. The Corner Brook Royals currently play in the West Coast Senior Hockey League and were the winners of the 1986 National Title, the Allan Cup. The Royals play their home games at the Corner Brook Civic Centre, formerly the Canada Games Centre. The arena was built in 1997 and was one of the main venues used when the city of Corner Brook hosted the 1999 Canada Games. Corner Brook was host of the Special Olympics Provincial Winter Games in February, 2011. The city also twice hosted Raid the North Extreme, a televised 6-day multi-sport expedition race held in wilderness locations across Canada, and was a leg of the ITU World Cup Triathlon. In 2004, Corner Brook hosted the annual World Broomball Championship.

Arts and culture

Grenfell Campus Arts and Science Extension August 2013

Corner Brook is home to Grenfell Campus, Memorial University where a strong arts community exists both within the school and well into the public. The campus houses the

Grenfell Art Gallery The Grenfell Art Gallery is a contemporary art museum on Grenfell Campus, Memorial University in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Established in 1988, the gallery is closely associated with the university's visual arts program, and is situated on th ...

. The Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre among other institutions thrive in promoting the arts on all levels from visual arts to theatre and well beyond. In 2015, the City's newest theatre and gallery, the

Rotary Arts Centre Rotary may refer to: General * Rotary motion Engineering and technology * Rotary dial, a rotating telephone dial * Rotary engine (disambiguation), multiple types of engines called "rotary" * Rotary latch * Rotary milking shed, a type of milking ...

opened.

Theatre Newfoundland Labrador Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

is Corner Brook's professional theatre company: founded in 1979 by the late

Maxim Mazumdar Maxim Mazumdar (27 January 1952 – 28 April 1988) was an Indo-Canadians, Indo-Canadian playwright and Theatre director, director. He is known for his one-man show, ''Oscar Remembered'', which tells the story of the Irish people, Irish ...

, it operates a year-round professional theatre company from its home base, Corner Brook. From September to May, their Sarah McDonald Youth Theatre offers classes in acting, stagecraft and music to youth aged 6 to 8 and produces a number of youth and community oriented productions in and around the city. From May to September it produces a professional repertory summer festival in Cow Head,

Gros Morne National Park Gros Morne National Park is a National Parks of Canada, Canadian national park and World Heritage Site located on the west coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, Newfoundland. At , it is the second largest national park in Atlantic Canada after To ...

and regular national and international touring of plays like ''Tempting Providence'' by

Robert Chafe Robert Chafe (born 1971)
''Waterfront Views: Contemporary Writing of Atlantic Canada''. is a

, ''With Cruel Times in Between'' by

Sarah McDonald Sarah McDonald (born 2 August 1993) is an England, English Middle-distance running, middle-distance runner specialising in the 1500 metres. Sarah was born in Newcastle upon Tyne and attended the Royal Grammar School. She represented her country ...

, based on the various works by

Al Pittman Al Pittman (April 11, 1940 – August 26, 2001) was a Canadian writer and teacher from Newfoundland. Life and work Born in St. Leonard's, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Pittman grew up in Corner Brook. He moved to Montreal in 1964 where he began w ...

and ''Our Frances'' by

Berni Stapleton Berni Stapleton is a Canadian writer residing in Newfoundland. Along with writing, Stapleton is also a performer and playwright. Her debut book, ''They Let Down Baskets'', won the 1999 Newfoundland Book Award for Best Non-Fiction. Life Stapleton ...

. Corner Brook is home to

Gros Morne Summer Music Gros may refer to: People *Gros (surname) * Gross (surname), the German variant of Gros * Le Gros, the Norman variant of Gros Other uses * Gros (coinage), a type of 13th-century silver coinage of France * Gros (grape), another name for Elbling, ...

, a classical music festival that spans July and August. The

Hangashore Folk Festival The Hangashore Folk Festival was a folk festival based in Corner Brook, Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic ...

was a

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

festival based in Corner Brook from 1980–1994. For 32 years, the

March Hare The March Hare (called Haigha in ''Through the Looking-Glass'') is a character most famous for appearing in the tea party scene in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. The main character, Alice, hypothesizes, : "Th ...

literary festival ran every March and celebrated poetry and written works by poets and writers from around Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and the world. Atlantic Canada's largest poetry festival was founded in the late 1980s by poet and playwright

, and Corner Brook author, historian Rex Brown. The last March Hare was held in 2018. Corner Brook is also home to the region's only community radio station,

Bay of Islands Radio CKVB-FM (''Bay of Islands Radio'') is a Canadian radio station. The station broadcasts a country/community radio format at 100.1 FM in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador. Since 2011, Bay of Islands Radio has maintained a full-time internet ...

(

CKVB-FM CKVB-FM (''Bay of Islands Radio'') is a Canadian radio station. The station broadcasts a country/community radio format at 100.1 FM in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador. Since 2011, Bay of Islands Radio has maintained a full-time internet ...

100.1, or BOIR). The station was previously only available online. However, the station received its broadcast licence from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on October 6, 2016, and commenced FM broadcasting on November 5, 2017. The radio station is located on Brook Street, in the city's downtown district.

Municipal government

The Corner Brook City Council has six

city councillor A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...

s, in addition to a Mayor. The highest voting winning councillor becomes Deputy Mayor. The current mayor of the city is Jim Parsons. The deputy mayor is Linda Chaisson. Municipal elections in Corner Brook are held every four years, on the last Tuesday in September. In the 2021 municipal elections held on September 28, 2021, Jim Parsons was re-elected Mayor.

Transportation

Route 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered ...

, the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...

, passes the south side of the city on a high ridge before descending to the east, into the Humber Valley. The city is accessed by air services at Deer Lake Regional Airport, northeast. Corner Brook Transit is a privately operated local bus service. The city is also served by four taxi cab companies.

Climate

Corner Brook has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

( Dfb) typical of most of Newfoundland. It is warmer in summer than St. John's due to less maritime exposure, whereas winters are colder than in the provincial capital. In terms of its overall climate, it is quite maritime, especially taking into account how the climate is in mainland Canada on similar latitudes. Precipitation is heavy year-round, but highest in December and January and lowest in April and May, with relatively more dry, stable conditions extending into July many years. The Corner Brook area lies in an especially heavy snow belt because of cold Arctic air masses from mainland Canada, coming from the west or northwest, crossing the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and picking up moisture, resulting in "sea-effect" snow (similar to "lake effect" snow in US locations like Muskegon and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan). The "sea effect" snow comes in addition to the heavy snow that can accompany mid-latitude storms, called "nor'easters," that approach the area from the U.S. Northeastern and New England states. Such storms can bring high winds and heavy precipitation, with possibly-changing precipitation types in a single storm. The combination of intense winter storms and "sea effect" snow make December and January the wettest months on average in Corner Brook. In December and January combined, average snowfall reaches nearly .

Notable people

Irma Gerd Irma Gerd is the stage name of Jason Wells,

, Drag Queen who competed on Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 *

Ian Arthur Ian J. Arthur (born December 20, 1984) is a Canadian politician, first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2018 provincial election. He represents the riding of Kingston and the Islands as a member of the Ontario New Democrat ...

, politician * Keith Brown,

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

player *

Brian Byrne Brian Byrne (born January 13, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. He was the second vocalist for the band I Mother Earth. Biography Brian joined his first band in Corner Brook in 1988, a hair-metal band called Pandemonium. The band als ...

, former lead singer of rock band

I Mother Earth I Mother Earth, or IME, is a Canadians, Canadian rock band. The band formed in 1990 and reached its peak in popularity in the mid-to-late 1990s. After an eight-year hiatus, the band reunited in 2012. Between 1996 and 2016, I Mother Earth was among ...

* Frank Coleman, businessman *

Allison Crowe Allison Louise Crowe (born November 16, 1981) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, whose home is Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador. History Crowe began performing professionally in 1 ...

, musician *

Donald B. Dingwell Donald Bruce Dingwell (born 1958) is a Canadian geoscientist who is the director of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Ordinarius for Mineralogy and Petrology of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He is also currentl ...

, scientist *

Gary Graham Gary Graham (born June 6, 1950) is an American actor, musician, and author. He may be best known for his starring role as Detective Matthew Sikes in the television series ''Alien Nation'' (1989–1990) and five subsequent ''Alien Nation'' televi ...

, music teacher, Order of NL recipient * Doug Grant, National Hockey League

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

* Bruce Grobbelaar, former professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

goalkeeper * Susan Kent, actress * Jason King, National Hockey League player * Joe Lundrigan, National Hockey League player * Adriana Maggs, actress, director, and writer *

Trent McClellan Trent McClellan (born 1972) is a Canadian stand-up comedian."Born t ...

, comedian *

Dick Nolan Rick Nolan is a Minnesota politician. Richard Nolan may also refer to *Dick Nolan (American football) (1932–2007), American football player, father of Mike Nolan, former head coach of San Francisco 49ers *Dick Nolan (musician) (1939–2005), Cana ...