Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador (pop. 19,333), is a port city on the western coast of the island of Newfoundland in Canada. It lies along an inlet called the Bay of Islands.
Corner Brook has a paper mill that produces hundreds of thousands of tons of newsprint annually. Plants in the city also process fish and produce building materials. Corner Brook’s excellent port facilities and roads make it the major distribution center for western Newfoundland and southern Labrador. The city is also a center for health care in western Newfoundland.
The native Beothuk people lived in what is now the Corner Brook area before Europeans arrived there. Captain James Cook, a British explorer, visited the area in 1767. He probably gave the name Corner Brook to a stream that runs through the city. The community later was named after the stream. In the early 1800’s, white settlers came to the area because of its rich fishing. The town’s economy centered on fishing and lumbering until the paper mill began operating in 1925. In 1955, the citizens of Corner Brook East, Corner Brook West, Curling, and Townsite voted to join their communities to form the city of Corner Brook, which was incorporated in 1956.
The Grenfell Campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland opened in Corner Brook in 1975. It first was named West Coast Regional College, then Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, before receiving its current name in 2010. Corner Brook has an elected city council, which includes a mayor. A city manager is responsible for carrying out the council’s policies.
