Mount Pearl: Located almost next door to St. John's, Mount Pearl was established when in 1829 James Pearl (and his wife, Lady Ann Pearl) was granted 1,000 acres of land to honour his distinguished service in the Royal Navy.

Even though his original grant was cut by half, supposedly because many of St. John's elite were wanting land, one of the first thing he did was build an estate on the highest point of the remaining 500 acres and to honour his friend Governor Thomas Cochrane (even though he disagreed with the decision Cochrane had made to cut the grant), he named it Mount Cochrane.

After a trip to England to visit King William IV in 1830, he found that property had been damaged by his neighbours who had lit land-clearing fires. He complained to Cochrane however he never heard back so, instead, Pearl tried to have him removed from office, and since he was unsuccessful, he decided that Cochrane did not deserve the accolade and renamed it Mount Pearl.

In 1836 he was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order of Hanover and in 1838 he was knighted for a second time, this time by Queen Victoria. Unfortunately, he died suddenly at his Mount Pearl estate (cause unknown) on January 13, 1840.

At the time of his death, he was only 50 years old. Several months after his passing, the mansion burned to the ground. Today, the sport of horse racing can be traced back to one of the reasons that Mount Pearl became a residential area: In the 1930s and 1940s, Mount Pearl became the meeting place of affluent members of society and lovers of horseracing.

A large open air gallery, with benches for spectators to view surrounding lands was erected on "The Mount" in the 1940s. Horseracing continued to be prominent and Mount Pearl began to develop into something of a summer resort for St. John's residents.

Increased population during summer months led to increased population year round and eventual residential and industrial development....

With the population growing quickly, there was increased demand for municipal government. As a result, Mount Pearl held its first election in 1955 which resulted in Hayward Burrage becoming the first mayor of the Town of Mount Pearl.

The town was incorporated on January 11, 1955 and had population of 1,979. On July 21, 1988, the Town of Mount Pearl became the third community in Newfoundland and Labrador to be granted city status.

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/MountPearl