Main Brook:
A Company Town

Like many communities in Newfoundland, Main Brook owes its existence to the forest industry.

The pulpwood industry had grown steadily in Newfoundland since 1909. The expansion of Bowater’s Pulp and Paper Company into the Hare Bay at the end of World War II began a period of boom and eventual bust for Main Brook.

Bowater Pulp and Paper Company operated a large woods operation on thousands of acres of forest surrounding Hare Bay. The base of operations was Burnt Point in Drac Bay, 4 kilometers from Main Brook.

Bowater Newfoundland Act of 1938 authorized Bowater’s to form towns on land where it held timber rights. To avoid problems it experienced in other company towns, Bowater constructed a carefully planned community. The community or Depot contained rows of houses for the company’s mangers, office buildings, and warehouses. The Depot was also serviced by a municipal water supply.

The Depot master plan contained no design for the settlement of Main Brook proper but Bowater was instrumental in the creation of the town and assisted in its development. Bowater’s never paid the town more than five hundred dollars a year as a grant in lieu of taxes, but it offered many services. The company donated logs to the town to build homes, schools and churches.