Argentia ( ) is a Canadian commercial seaport and industrial park located in the Town of Placentia,

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

. It is situated on the southwest coast of the Avalon Peninsula and defined by a triangular shaped headland which reaches northward out into

Placentia Bay Placentia Bay (french: Baie de Plaisance) is a body of water on the southeast coast of Newfoundland, Canada. It is formed by Burin Peninsula on the west and Avalon Peninsula on the east. Fishing grounds in the bay were used by native people lo ...

creating a natural harbour in length. Originally settled by the French in the 1630s that fishing settlement was called Petit Plaisance, meaning "Pleasant Little Place". The name was retained in English (Little Placentia) when the French lost control of the area following the

Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne ...

in 1713. The census of 1706 records 149 individuals in 14 habitations. The community adopted its present name (unofficially in 1895 and officially in 1901) for the presence of silver ore near Broad Cove Point on the east side of the harbour. The name "Argentia" is Latin, meaning "Land of Silver" and was chosen by Father John St. John, the parish priest at Holy Rosary Parish from September 18, 1895, to February 11, 1911. The Silver Cliff Mine operated until the early 1920s but was never profitable. Through most of the 19th century, the fishery was the lifeblood of the community; the

Newfoundland Commission of Government The Commission of Government was a non-elected body that governed the Dominion of Newfoundland from 1934 to 1949. Established following the collapse of Newfoundland's economy during the Great Depression, it was dissolved when the dominion became ...

built a herring factory at Argentia in 1936. The first church and school were established by Father Pelagius Nowlan in 1835. He was from Ireland and moved to Newfoundland as a missionary priest. In 1836, population was made up 484 people in 76 houses.

Railway comes to town

Construction started on a branch line to nearby Placentia from the Harbour Grace Railway mainline near Whitbourne (what would later become part of the

Newfoundland Railway The Newfoundland Railway operated on the island of Newfoundland from 1898 to 1988. With a total track length of , it was the longest narrow-gauge railway system in North America. Early construction ] In 1880, a committee of the Newfoundland Leg ...

) on October 14, 1886, and the of track were completed by October 1888. This line became known as the "Placentia Branch" and it served as a key route to Placentia and the nearby port and anchorage of Little Placentia where coastal ferries would run to Newfoundland outport, outports along the south coast of the island. The Newfoundland Railway chose Port aux Basques to be its western terminus in 1893 and a new ferry intended for service to North Sydney,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, was built in Scotland. In October 1897 the new vessel named the SS ''Bruce'' arrived but the docks at Port aux Basques had not been completed. As a result, from October until June, 1898 (when it reverted to Port aux Basques), the ''Bruce'' operated first from Placentia and then from Little Placentia to North Sydney.

Death of a village

Second World War

War between Britain and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

was declared on September 3, 1939, after

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's forces invaded Poland. Argentia was selected in 1940 to be the location of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Naval Station Argentia Naval Station Argentia is a former base of the United States Navy that operated from 1941 to 1994. It was established in the community of Argentia in what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland, which later became the tenth Canadian province, Ne ...

being built under the United States-British

Destroyers for Bases Agreement The destroyers-for-bases deal was an agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom on September 2, 1940, according to which 50 , , and US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the US Navy in exchange for land rights ...

(which preceded the introduction of Lend-Lease in 1941) which saw fifty obsolete US destroyers given to Britain in exchange for control of selected lands controlled by Britain in the Western Hemisphere. The Argentia site was selected due to its proximity to Europe, the relatively ice-free nature of Placentia Bay, the safe navigational access channel, the sheltered harbour with secure deepwater anchorages nearby at Fox Harbour and Ship Harbour, as well as the local topography for an airfield and the existing railway line. The base was urgently needed as part of the trans-Atlantic supply line which joined North America to Britain, in order to provide anti-submarine patrols to protect shipping from the German

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

fleet.

Lend-lease arrangement

The land beneath the village was traded to the United States for construction of the base under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement and the residents of Argentia and Marquise received the following notices: ''In exercise of the powers conferred upon me by the Defence (requisition of land) Regulations, made under the Emergency Powers Defence Act 1940, on the 28th day of December AD 1940, I do authorize all persons who shall be engaged by the

United States Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

or its agents and contractors on the construction for that government of any naval, military or air works at Argentia to do any work on any land or place any thing in, on, or over any land upon the Argentia Peninsula, insofar as it shall be necessary for any such person so to do for the carrying out of any such work of construction including any preliminary work in relation thereto.'' ''Provided, however, that this present authority shall not be valid to authorize the demolition, pulling down or destruction of any building or erection upon any such land, or the doing of any act which renders any such building or erection intangible.'' ''Signed,

Wilfrid Woods Admiral Sir Wilfrid John Wentworth Woods, (9 February 1906 – 1 January 1975) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the Submarine Service in the Mediterranean. Early life Wilfrid Woods was born on 19 February 1906 at Southsea in Hampshire ...

, Commissioner for Public Utilities'' ''"The Defence (requisition of land) Regulations made under the Emergency Powers Defence Act 1940 on the 28th day of December, A.D., 1940.'' ''I have to notify you that the lands and buildings lately belonging to and occupied by you at Argentia, for which said lands and buildings payment has been awarded, are required for occupation by the Government of Newfoundland not later than ________. Take notice, therefore, that the said premises must be completely vacated by you and peaceably yielded up to the Government of Newfoundland, its servants, agents, on or before the date mentioned.'' ''Signed: WW Woods, Commissioner for Public Utilities"''

Relocation

Most people relocated to the nearby villages of Freshwater or Placentia. However what little had been paid as compensation (usually no more than a few thousand dollars for homeowners in Argentia) proved inadequate for building equivalent new homes due to severe wartime shortages of labour and materials. Those buried in the three local graveyards were exhumed and reburied in a new cemetery constructed by the US forces at the insistence of the local parish priest, Father A. J. Dee, who had also raised objections to the wartime delays in finding new housing for Argentia's living residents who were being forced to leave the village. The abandoned homes were ultimately burned or levelled by bulldozers. The US flag was raised in Argentia on February 13, 1941.

Timeline

* 1503 : Portuguese Visit Placentia Bay * 1630 : French settled Plaisance (Placentia), Petite Plaisance (Argentia), and Pointe Verte (Point Verde) * 1831 : Father Pelagius Nowlan established Holy Rosary Parish and became first parish priest * 1835 : Bishop

Michael Anthony Fleming Michael Anthony Fleming, O.S.F. ( – July 14, 1850) was an Irish-born Friar Minor who served as the Roman Catholic Church bishop of the Diocese of St. John's, Newfoundland. He was principally responsible for changing a small mission wi ...

visits the parish * 1871 : Father Pelagius Nowlan died in Little Placentia * 1871 : Father Robert Brennan became parish priest * 1895 : Father St. John becomes parish priest * 1895 : Name of Little Placentia unofficially changed to Argentia * 1901 : Little Placentia's name officially changed to Argentia * 1911 : Father John Ashley became parish priest * 1911 : Population of Great Placentia is 1,315 * 1918 : Father Thomas Devereaux became parish priest for several months * 1918 : Father J.D. Savin became parish priest * 1921 : Population of Argentia was 392 (not including Marquise, Pond Head, Point Mall, Argentia Crossing, Long Hill, etc.) * 1921 : Population of Marquise was 262 * 1921 : Population of Long Hill was 3 * 1921 : Population of Point Mall was 59 * 1922 : Father Adrian Joyce Dee became parish priest and held position until 1951 * 1941 :

US Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

occupied Argentia * 1941 : US flag formally raised * July 15, 1941 : Naval Operating Base commissioned * August 10, 1941 : Atlantic Charter meeting between President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

and Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

was held aboard US and British vessels at anchor within Ship Harbour * August 28, 1941 : Naval Air Station commissioned * 1942 : USS ''Pollux'' and USS ''Truxtun'' were lost when wrecked near

St. Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roma ...

and

Lawn A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. ...

on their way to Argentia * 1942 : US Army Base, Fort McAndrew, established at Argentia * Summer of 1942 : US Army Air Units arrive at base in Argentia and assisted in anti-submarine patrols * February 1943 : The first Bachelor Officer Quarters building at the Naval Air Station burns to the ground in disastrous million dollar fire * 1944 :

United States Atlantic Fleet United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

Task Force 22 used Argentia extensively in anti-submarine operations * 1944 : Captured German weather ship, the '' Externstein'', was brought into Argentia by Commodore Rose * May 6, 1945 : European War ends * 1945 : Rear Admiral Edward H. Smith relieved as Commander, Task Force 24, by Rear Admiral E. G. Rose * 1945 : Two German submarines captured in Europe stop at Argentia en route to the United States. U-Boats, sailed on the surface by prize crews, put in for fuel, repairs, provisions, and stores * 1956 : Comedian

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...

is stationed at Argentia * 1994 : US Base officially closed * 1999 : Bachelor Officer Quarters Implosion

Naval Station Argentia

Throughout 1940–1941 the US Navy constructed an airfield and navy base and built an extension to the Newfoundland Railway to service their facilities, owing to the condition of local roads. The navy base construction in particular was a priority with Navy Operating Base Argentia being officially commissioned on July 15, 1941.

Atlantic Charter

The reason for the rush was made clear on August 7, 1941, when the heavy cruiser USS ''Augusta'' (CA-31) carrying U.S. President

arrived at an anchorage outside Argentia near Ship Harbour. Roosevelt inspected the base construction progress and did some fishing from ''Augusta'' over the next two days. ''Augusta'' was joined by the British warship HMS ''Prince of Wales'' carrying British Prime Minister

on August 9, 1941. While in the Ship Harbour anchorage from August 9–12, the chiefs of staff of Britain and the US met to discuss the war strategies and logistics once the US joined the war. The two leaders and their aides also negotiated the wording of a press release that they called a "joint statement". Though not drafted as a legal agreement requiring signatures, Roosevelt and Churchill did sign their own draft markups of the joint statement which was issued as a press release on August 14, 1941, in Washington, D.C., and was issued simultaneously in London, England. Several days later the '' Daily Herald'', a London newspaper, would characterize the contents of that press release as the Atlantic Charter. statement. On August 28, 1941, Naval Station Argentia was officially commissioned by the US Navy. Argentia would prove to be an important base in the US war effort; by 1943 with the U.S. fully involved in the Second World War, Argentia saw upwards of 10,000 US personnel passing through on the way to the

European Theatre The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...

. An adjoining

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

base was established as Fort McAndrew to provide anti-aircraft artillery protection for the navy base and naval air station. In 1946 Fort McAndrew became part of the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

and was renamed McAndrew Air Force Base in 1948.

Cold War

With VE in 1945, Argentia saw a drop in personnel but by the start of the Cold War in 1947–1948, personnel numbers rose to 7,000. By the end of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

in 1953, Argentia saw a total of 8,500 personnel posted in the area. In 1955 McAndrew AFB was deactivated and turned over to the US Navy as the US Air Force moved its personnel to more remote and northern locations along the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador to build radar stations which would become part of the

Pinetree Line The Pinetree Line was a series of radar stations located across the northern United States and southern Canada at about the 50th parallel north, along with a number of other stations located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Run by North Ame ...

and DEW Line systems. In the 1960s

became a key "node" in the US Navy's

SOSUS The Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) was a submarine detection system based on passive sonar developed by the United States Navy to track Soviet Navy, Soviet submarines. The system's true nature was classified with the name and acronym SOSUS them ...

underwater

hydrophone A hydrophone ( grc, ὕδωρ + φωνή, , water + sound) is a microphone designed to be used underwater for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones are based on a piezoelectric transducer that generates an electric potenti ...

system. As such, the base was the target for several

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

attempts by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. By 1969 the total US Navy and

Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...

contingents had dropped to 3,000 and to 1,000 by 1971.

Closure and abandonment

As facilities and structures closed, assets were transferred to the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

under the terms of the U.S.-Britain lend-lease program; Newfoundland having become a Canadian province in 1949. In 1973 Naval Air Station Argentia was closed and by 1975 the entire north side of the base was out of US hands. In 1994 Naval Operating Base Argentia, was officially decommissioned and the site was transferred to the Government of Canada. From 1994 to 2007, the Government of Canada carried out a $106 million environmental remediation program at Argentia which included the removal of many building structures, and the clean up, removal or safe containment of various hazardous materials on the land and in the water about the site. Concurrently, by 2001, the site was turned over to a private, not-for-profit organization to manage and lead the redevelopment of Argentia. With the military base now closed, Argentia has no permanent residents and is zoned as an industrial area in support of its redevelopment as a seaport and industrial park for the Town of Placentia.

Redevelopment

Argentia became part of Town of Placentia in 1993, along with Freshwater, Dunville, Jerseyside and townside Placentia. By the end of 2001, Government of Canada had negotiated land transfer agreements to return the lands which formerly comprised the US Naval Base to local ownership and control. ''Port of Argentia'', is the port and property authority for the industrial area and is utilizing these former naval base properties to lead the redevelopment of the site to revitalize the local economy and quality of life in the region. In June 2002,

Inco Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale. Vale's nickel mining and ...

announced an agreement with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador on a three phase plan to develop the Voisey's Bay nickel deposit. The $1 billion initial phase of the Voisey's Bay agreement provided for mine and mill infrastructure development at Voisey's Bay, and a research and development program in hydrometallurgical processing which would include a demonstration plant to be built at Argentia. the demonstration plant at Argentia was constructed and operated from 2004 to 2007. The demonstration plant was an initial step toward the ultimate development of a commercial hydrometallurgical processing facility, the Long Harbour Nickel Processing Plant, to be constructed and operated in Long Harbour.Inco announcement
/ref> In October, 2013,

Husky Energy Husky Energy Inc. is a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It operates in Western and Atlantic Canada, the United States and the Asia Pacific region, with upstream and downstream business segm ...

and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador announced an agreement to amend the White Rose Development.

White Rose The White Rose (german: Weiße Rose, ) was a Nonviolence, non-violent, intellectual German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students (and one professor) at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, ...

is the name of an oil field offshore Newfoundland. The announcement included the news that this oil resource could be exploited by installing a gravity based 'wellhead platform' structure over the western section of the oil field on the ocean floor in approximately of water. To support this billion dollar wellhead platform construction project, Husky announced that it would be establishing a

graving dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

facility on the Northside Peninsula at Argentia to support the construction of the concrete base of the wellhead platform. Construction of the graving dock began in late 2013 and was finished in early 2015. However, in December 2014, Husky announced that, due to declining oil prices, the decision to construct the Concrete Gravity Base (CGS) had been deferred.

Transportation

Airport

The former US Navy Air Station airfield on the Northside Peninsula has not been active for air traffic since 1973 other than for the Air Cadet Gliding Program.

Ferry terminal

By the mid-1960s roads were upgraded between Argentia and the newly opened

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 on ...

at Whitbourne. In 1967 a new ferry terminal was opened by Canadian National Railway and the '' Ambrose Shea'' became the first seasonal ferry to call at the port, largely carrying tourists bound for the Avalon Peninsula (19 hours crossing time) from

North Sydney, Nova Scotia North Sydney (Scottish Gaelic: ''Suidni A Tuath'' or ''Am Bàr'') is a former town and current community in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Located on the north side of Sydney Harbour, along the eastern coast of Cape Breton ...

. In the 1980s the terminal was upgraded by CN Marine and in 1989 the company's successor, Marine Atlantic, welcomed the MV ''Joseph and Clara Smallwood'' superferry (14 hours crossing time) on the Argentia summer run.

References

External links

Town of Placentia

Port of Argentia

Argentia Management Authority (responsible for development of former USN properties)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Argentia, Newfoundland And Labrador Populated coastal places in Canada Populated places in Newfoundland and Labrador