Note: The present-day town of Mary's Harbour was previously called St Mary's River.

Dr. Wilfred Grenfell first arrived in Labrador in 1892; he was working with the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen to assess the condition of the fishermen in the area of Northern Newfoundland and the coast of Labrador. He determined almost immediately that medical services were required. In 1893 he started his first hospital at Battle Harbour in a building given to him by Baine Johnson and Company, the St. John's-based merchants that operated there.

Battle Harbour was the hub of the Labrador fishery and easily accessible during the summer months. It was not, however, the best location for a hospital during the winter. By 1915 Dr. John Grieve, resident physician at Battle Harbour, had created plans to build a winter headquarters for the Grenfell Mission at Hatter's Cove in St. Lewis Bay.

Battle Harbour Hospital. The Rooms Provincial Archives IGA 1-407.

Dr. John Grieve at Battle Harbour, 1909. The Rooms Provincial Archives VA 17-21.1.

Sam Acreman and an IGA volunteer, Hatter’s Cove, 1928. The Rooms Provincial Archives, VA 112-3.

In addition to being a sheltered location on the mainland that was easily accessible, Hatter's Cove was the site of a large sawmill operation run by Conception Bay merchant George Sellars. The war and the resignation of Dr. Grieve resulted in delays and the Hatter's Cove station did not get built until 1921, and then with the help of Sellars and the local people. An appeal by Dr. Grenfell raised an additional 1000.00 for the station.

St. Mary’s River Hospital. 1934. The Rooms Provincial Archives IGA25-229.

St. Mary’s River. (ca. 1935). The Rooms Provincial Archives, IGA 13-44.

Dr. Moret’s house, St. Mary’s River. July 1934. The Rooms Provincial Archives, IGA 24-476.

The Battle Harbour and Hatter's Cove hospitals continued to operate until 1929. The old Battle Harbour facility was in a bad state of repair and a decision was made under the guidance of Dr. Herman Moret to construct a new hospital on the mainland to replace it and the Hatter's Cove hospital. Much of the equipment had been moved to the new facility at St. Mary's River (present-day Mary's Harbour) when the Battle Harbour hospital was destroyed by fire in November 1930.

In 1931 a school was constructed at St. Mary's River with funds raised largely through Princeton University, for which the school was named. It took both day students and boarders. A prefabricated house was purchased from Sears Roebuck in the United States and shipped to Mary's Harbour, where it was erected on the hill overlooking the harbour to serve as living quarters for the doctors, which were stationed at Mary's Harbour until the 1940s. In 1945 it and most of the other buildings at Mary's Harbour were destroyed by a large forest fire. The hospital and the Princeton School were spared by a change of wind.

School, St. Mary’s River, ca. 1946. The Rooms Provincial Archives IGA 33-220.

Mission staff with several patients in deck chairs on Hospital verandah. ca. 1930s. Nurse is Dorothy Jupp. The Rooms Provincial Archives VA 118-205.

Alongside MV Jessie Goldthwait. 1932. Dr. and Mrs. Herman Moret in canoe. The Rooms Provincial Archives VA 92-159.

Nurse Dorothy Jupp was in charge of the hospital during the crises of the fire; she was also at St. Mary's River, along with Dr. Helen Hosmer, during the eventful war-time summer of 1942. In the space of 10 days the St. Mary's River hospital received victims of two catastrophic events.

The first were burn victims from the American troop carrier Chatham, which was torpedoed off Henley Harbour in the Strait of Belle Isle. Next came the victims of the crash of a PBY flying boat near Battle Harbour after it took off from the American Loran A site at White Point. While assisting Dr. Hosmer with the extraction of a particularly stubborn tooth, Nurse Jupp witnessed the burst of flame and cloud of smoke on the horizon when the plane exploded.

During the 1950s many of the tuberculosis patients from St. Anthony were sent to St. Mary's River for rest and convalescence. In the words of Dr. Charles S. Curtis, "It is a delightful place for patients recovering from serious illness."

The hospital at Mary's Harbour continues to be used as the local clinic by Labrador Grenfell Health and is a reminder of the influence of Sir Wilfred Grenfell in this area.

The history of the Battle Harbour Hospital, the St. Lewis Bay winter station at Hatter's Cove and the early years of the St. Mary's River Hospital have one person in common: Samuel Acreman. Uncle Sam, as he was known, was born in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland in 1878. His family was connected to Battle Harbour and in 1903 he started working as handyman at the Battle Harbour Hospital.

Sam Acreman: shaking hands aboard the SS Meigle. Sept 1920. The Rooms Provincial Archives MG 158-210.1.

Battle Harbour. 1914-15. Acreman house at centre. The Rooms Provincial Archives VA 93-157.

Cook, maid and patients, St. Mary’s River. ca. 1940. The Rooms Provincial Archives IGA 24-397.

Uncle Sam owned a small saltbox house at the north end of Battle Harbour. In 1923 the Grenfell Mission helped him to enlarge his house so that he could accommodate visitors to Battle Harbour, namely many of the Mission workers who had to wait at Battle Harbour for connecting steamers.

When the new hospital was built at St. Mary's River Uncle Sam and his family moved too. In fact, he had no house at St. Mary's River the first winter of 1929 so he and his family lived on board the steam launch Jennie Foote, which was moored in the harbour.