Updated: 02/13/12
About the City of St. John's, Newfoundland
St. John's is the capital city of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. St. John's is Canada's oldest city, and it shows its old-fashioned charm in winding, hilly streets lined with colorful buildings. St. John's sits on a deepwater harbour connected by the Narrows, a long inlet to the Atlantic Ocean. The local economy, depressed by the collapse of the cod fishery in the early 1990s, has been brought back to prosperity with petro-dollars from off-shore oil projects.
Location of St. John's, Newfoundland
The easternmost city in North America, St. John's is situated on the east side of the Avalon Peninsula in southeast Newfoundland.
- see St. John's Maps
Area of City of St. John's
446.06 sq. km (172.22 sq. miles) (Statistics Canada, 2011 Census)
Population of City of St. John's
106,172 (Statistics Canada, 2011 Census)
Date St. John's Incorporated as a City
1921
Date St. John's Became the Capital City of Newfoundland
In 1832, St. John's became the seat of government of Newfoundland, an English colony at the time, when Newfoundland was granted a colonial legislature by England. St. John's became the capital city of the province of Newfoundland when Newfoundland joined Canadian Confederation in 1949.
Government of City of St. John's, Newfoundland
St. John's municipal elections are held every four years on the last Tuesday in September.
Date of the last St. John's municipal election: Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Date of the next St. John's municipal election: Tuesday, September 24, 2013
The City of St. John's has a partial ward system with a Mayor, Deputy Mayor, five ward councillors and four councillors at large.
St. John's Attractions
- Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly
- The Rooms Museum and Art Gallery
- Signal Hill
- Newfoundland National Memorial
- Cape Spear Lighthouse National Historic Site
- Memorial University Botanical Gardens
- Trans Canada Trail
Weather in St. John's
St. John's has a temperate climate, without extremes in temperature. The winters are relatively mild and the summers cool. That's somewhat deceptive though, as Environment Canada also rates St. John's high in other aspects of its weather: it is the foggiest Canadian city; it is the windiest Candian city; and it has the greatest number of days of freezing rain per year.
Winter temperatures in St. John's average around -1°C (30°F), while summer days have an average temperature around 20°C (68°F).
City of St. John's Official Site
Capital Cities of Canada
For information on the other capital cities in Canada, see Capital Cities of Canada.
