Massey Drive:
Located on the western side of Newfoundland, 6.1 km (3.8 mi) everything about the town that now goes by the name of "Massey Drive" is a bit "strange".

It is rather peculiar to name a town after a "drive", but the area around Massey Drive was actually first called Horse Shoe Bend, which in itself is a bit odd for the name of a town.

According to information presented in the ENL, in the 1920s, employees of the Corner Brook pulp and paper mill, which was begun in 1923 by Armstrong, Whitworth and Company Limited, in particular the European employees, "formed a ski club and opened a lodge there".

From this statement, one could assume that it was the workers who built the lodge, however, according to the town's website "Massey Drive had its beginning as a Bowaters' woods road known as Ski Cabin Road.

It was called this because Bowaters built a ski club in Massey Drive in 1936. It was the first ski club in Western Newfoundland, and some believe it was the first one in Newfoundland".

There seems to be, however, some confusion regarding dates, for, according to information presented in the ENL, it was not until 1938 that the mill was owned by Bowaters Newfoundland Limited, having been owned for approximately a decade from 1928 on by the International Power and Paper Company.

Regardless of the dates and other minor details that may be questionable, because the lodge was so close to town, it is known that the residents were able to ski to the club house in the morning, have a day on the mountain skiing and return home in the evening, all in a day's fun!

According to the town's website, in 1937, a Mrs. Ester Dawe bought a house on the road and changed the name to Massey Drive.

According to several sources, the change was made to honour Vincent Massey, who was the first Governor General of Canada to be born in Canada.

In the ENL it was written that "the local view is that the community was named after Vincent Massey"; similarly, Brooks (2013) wrote that "[Mrs. Ester Dawe] changed the name to Massey Drive to acknowledge Vincent Massey"; and finally, on the town's website it is written [Mrs. Ester Dawe] changed the name from Ski Cabin Road to Massey Drive after Vincent Massey" and adds the following information on Mrs. Dawe:

"[she] had the first Polling Station in Massey Drive in her home in 1949 and every election through until 1965 when she moved out of Massey Drive.

Mrs. Dawe carried her groceries from Corner Brook to Massey Drive on her back during the early years that she was in Massey Drive".

While at first glance, given the consistency, that the information would be correct, however, again seems to be some confusion with dates, as Vincent Massey did not actually assume the position of Governor General until February 28, 1952, long after Mrs. Dawe is said to give the town its name.

In 1937 Mr. Massey was serving a term as "High Commissioner to the United Kingdom" for His Majesty's (Mackenzie King) Government in Canada, having been appointed on November 8, 1935, so one must wonder what his connection was to Newfoundland, if any.

The most "confusing" piece of information came from the ENL article, in which it is stated that "the first people to inhabit the area were Louis Vincent and his wife Gladys in the early 1930s. The family later operated a family farm there and sold produce to the Corner Brook Co-op Store.

The Chaulk family and then the Dawes moved in as did more and more settlers during the early years of Corner Brook's development". So, here is a reference to a "Vincent" but not "Vincent Massey".

Looking at various documents highlighting the life of The Right Honorable Vincent Massey, some interesting facts were uncovered, none of which, however, point definitively to a "Newfoundland connection".

From the Governor General of Canada's Website comes the following brief biography of the early part of his life:

Vincent Massey came from a prominent Canadian family successful in business and active in philanthropy. His brother was the popular actor Raymond Massey, and his father was president of the Massey-Harris Company, known worldwide for manufacturing agricultural equipment.

His early education took place at St. Andrew's College. He continued his studies at the University of Toronto and then went on to attend Oxford - an early experience of England that gave him a lasting appreciation of its traditions and institutions.

After returning to Canada, he became Dean in Residence of Modern History at Victoria University in Toronto.

On June 4, 1915, he married Alice Parkin, daughter of Sir George Parkin, a former principal of Upper Canada College and secretary of the Rhodes Trust.

Sadly, Mrs. Massey died in July 1950, just 18 months before her husband's appointment as Governor General. As a result, his daughter-in-law, Lilias, acted as Chatelaine of Rideau Hall while Mr. Massey was in office.

Before beginning his career in diplomacy, Vincent Massey spent four years as president of the business his father had founded.

During this time, he pursued philanthropic interests - promoting the arts, education and letters.

He also began compiling one of Canada's great art collections and through the Massey Foundation, influenced the construction of Massey College at the University of Toronto.

In 1926, he was appointed first Canadian Minister to Washington and then High Commissioner to London in 1935.

He made such a favourable impression in England that in 1946, King George VI invested him with the Companion of Honour.

In 1949, he was appointed chairman of the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences. The ensuing report issued in 1951, known as the Massey Report, led to the creation of the National Library of Canada and the Canada Council.

From the above, one can see that there were no apparent connections to Newfoundland, however, according to the Digital Museum Website, it is known that he visited Corner Brook many years later on August 26th, 1955 when he laid a wreath at the War Memorial to honor the WWII war dead.

Maybe Mrs. Dawe was not even thinking about Vincent, but rather his brother, Raymond.

By the early 1930s Raymond was becoming well known as an accomplished actor having had several movie roles. He is described in the Canadian Encyclopedia as having a "distinctive voice and craggy good looks."

Another possibility, suggested by the local mayor, was that perhaps there was a Massey connection to the early pulp and paper mill.

However, after many hours of searching on the web, the name Massey never appeared to be connected (e.g., none of the CEOs etc. had either a first name or a family name of Massey).

It would appear then, that how Massey Drive got its name is a best speculative, however, in returning to more recent history, by the early 1970s, the area known as Massey Drive was considered to be a "suburb" of Corner Brook and was growing steadily.

The residents, wanting more services than they were getting under the Corner Brook jurisdiction, decided to split off from Corner Brook and become an incorporated town.

According to the town's website, "in 1969 .... some residents were concerned about the poor state of the roads, garbage collection, etc. They went from door to door trying to get residents interested in their community.

A committee was formed to approach the City Council to see if they would put street lights, water and sewage and have garbage collection in Massey Drive.

The council said 'no". By 1971, with a population of 370 they become a separate municipality.

With the most recent census, it was reported that there were 1,632 residents, a substantial increase of 15.6% from the 1,412 recorded in 21011. The ski club relocated to Marble Mountain, in the 1950s.

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/MasseyDrive