Historic Events
It was the site where responsible government was given Newfoundland in 1855. It was at this building that Newfoundland entered in the Commission of Government in 1934 and the location of the Newfoundland National Convention from 1946–1948 then in 1949 when Newfoundland entered into Confederation with Canada.
It was also the site of a number of political riots and disturbances. One of those was the public protest on April 5, 1932 for maladministration and corruption in government when all the windows were broken, doors smashed and furniture destroyed, which cost $10,000 to repair. The Prime Minister, Sir Richard Squires, barely escaped the building at that time.
The building was also the site of Newfoundland's first bank robbery, in 1850. Located in the basement of the Colonial Building was the Newfoundland Savings Bank and it was robbed of £413.
On July 28, 1959 the provincial legislature had its last working session in the building before relocating to the newly completed Confederation Building on Prince Philip Drive.
Read more about this topic: Colonial Building
Famous quotes containing the words historic and/or events:
“If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side, and admit of being compared; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“All the events which make the annals of the nations are but the shadows of our private experiences.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)