Springdale

Springdale, NL, incorporated as a town in 1965, population 2907 (2011c), 2764 (2006c). The Town of Springdale is located on the northwest side of Halls Bay near the mouth of the Indian River.

This was an important area for the Beothuk and later it was used by the Mi'kmaq as well. In the late 1700s Halls Bay was used by traders from Twillingate who sent crews there to cut ship's timber, fish for salmon and trap or trade for furs. By the mid-1800s various outposts had evolved into several permanent settlements on the bay, including probably what would become Springdale. The official origin of the community dates to 1870 when a Twillingate entrepreneur built a sawmill at Mill Island. At first it operated only seasonally, but by the early 1880s a number of mill workers lived there year round and operated the mill until it burned in 1890. By that time several smaller sawmills were operating, and in 1898 the community adopted the name Springdale.

In 1904 much of the town burned in a forest fire, but it was quickly rebuilt. Mill owners cut pit props for mines and supplied a local shipbuilding industry as well. In the 1930s Springdale continued to develop as a regional commercial and service centre. New pulp and other forest products industries in the area encouraged further business and population growth as did the government policy of encouraging migration from outposts and small communities into regional growth centres like Springdale in the 1960s and 1970s.