MILESTONES

1763...first known settlers in Fortune

1817...(John) Woundy became first teacher

1824...first Methodist chapel built

1825...first school built

1863...Henry J. Haddon became first Justice of Peace

1864-1882...Joseph G. Haddock was town's only resident doctor

1867-1913...James N. Haddon was teaching legend

1871...Masonic Society formed

1872...Henry J. Haddon became first Postmaster

1877...Rev. Jabez Hill was first resident Methodist clergy

1880...John E. Lake operated can-manufacturing factory

1883...Masonic Lodge constructed

1889...first Salvation Army Citadel built; Capt. James Bowring first resident Officer

1896...fire surrounded the town for several days and burnt out the entire countryside

1907...John E. Lake established furniture factory; first in province; burned down in 1917

1913...Lake & Lake Ltd. established; town's longest surviving business

1922...harbour blocked solid by ice from December until February 1923

1930...January 4th; first electric lights turned on in town

1935...Henry B. Mayo, grandson of H. J. Haddon, became town's first Rhodes Scholar

1944...Public Library established

1946...Fortune was incorporated; John R. Dixon became first Mayor

1947...first volunteer Fire Brigade formed; Russell Lake was first Fire Chief

1949...South Coast Bakery Ltd. Opened; first bakery on Burin Peninsula

1971...Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau visited Fortune (See Galleries)

1977...fossils discovered in the Fortune Head area

1994...Fortune Head declared an Ecological Reserve and site of the Precambrian-Cambrian geological boundary

2018...Jonny Harris filmed an episode about Fortune for his television show "Still Standing"; aired October 2019