Old St. John's Business Streets trail marker

Inscription

Old St. John's Business Streets (Water Street Section).

Length: 2.1 km (1.3 mi). Time: Stroll - 25 minutes, Brisk - 15 minutes. Grade: Mostly Level.

This Walk continues to Water Street, the heart of downtown and the one-time historical centre for our international trade in salt fish.

Even when called "the Lower Path", Water Street was the major "business street" of the old Colony. Enterprises along Water Street developed from a shoreline of fish flakes to a street of merchants, importers, and traders.

Features - 8. St. John's City Hall. 9. Former Fisherman's Hall. 10. Mile One Centre. 11. St. John's Convention Centre. 12. Murray Premises. 13. Red Brick Buildings. 14. Harbourside Park. 15. Temperance Street. St. John's Port Authority

Symbols - This Walk. Other Concourse Walks. Direction of View. Little Rest or Bench. Hotels Junction Parking.

Information - Parking: Metered Parking. Surface: Concrete sidewalk. Highlights: Historic businesses, buildings, and sites. Bus Stops: New Gower Street, Waldegrave Street, Water Street, Plymouth Road. Food / Drink: Convenience stores on New Gower Street, Cafes and Restaurants on New Gower and Water Streets, Hotels. Rest Rooms: City Hall.

Old St. John's Business Streets (Water Street Section) - What you will see and enjoy ! From City Hall proceed west along New Gower to Queen Street. On the left is the old stone Fisherman's Hall, now a nightclub. Opposite is Mile One Centre, home to professional hockey and large-scale entertainment events. Continue past the St. John's Convention Centre, turning left on Waldegrave Street and left again on Water Street. This is the heart of the Downtown (Business) Development District, on the oldest street in North America. Smaller retail stores occupy this part of the street. Watch for a lane to your right to the Murray Premises, now housing stores and a hotel, and the O'Dwyer Block (#295-301). These mercantile premises, built in the 1800s, have received awards for their restoration. Just ahead, at Beck's Cove, begins the three-block area that, at the time of Confederation in 1949, had the major department stores and provisioning firms in Newfoundland. At the rear of these stores and coves were the old wooden "finger-wharves" that handled cargoes of fish and trade goods. The wharves were replaced by the modern marginal wharf and Harbour Drive. The intersection of McBride's Hill and Ayre's Cove, became a "bankers' quarter" after the Bank Crash of 1894, when the Banks of Montreal and Nova Scotia set up offices here. The red brick buildings, just past Clift's-Baird's Cove, are the largest surviving range of commercial buildings built after the 1892 fire. Past Job's Cove/Prescott Street, #95 Water Street was built in 1916 as the Commercial Cable Company Building by noted architect W.F. Butler. Proceed to Harbourside Park, known as the Queen's (or King's) Beach since 1583, when Sir Humphrey Gilbert here proclaimed formal possession of Britain's first colony in the New World. Turn left on Hill O' Chips and continue east on Duckworth Street back to Temperance Street.

Old and new storefronts.

GRAND CONCOURSE The Walker's Paradise. Johnson Family Foundation Research, Design, and Installation.

Commemorates 1583