A BRIEF HISTORICAL TIMELINE OF CHESTERFIELD INLET
As Portrayed On Our Town Historical Mural


1600 – 1800’s
The search for a Northwest Passage brings explorers to Hudson Bay and the Inlet as early as 1612.

1850 – 1910
Overwintering whalers at Depot Island introduce trading and wage employment to the Inuit culture.

1911
The Hudson’s Bay Company opens its first post in the Eastern Arctic Trading in white fox and other pelts begin.

1912
Father Turquetil establishes the first mission in the region. Over the next two decades the mission provides many community services.

1914
The RCMP move from Cape Fullerton to Chesterfield Inlet. During the 1920’s and 30’s this is the main detachment on the Hudson Bay Coast.

1922

The Danish Members of the Fifth Thule Expedition (Knud Rasmussen, Kaj Birket-Smith, Helge Bangsted, Jacob Olsen, Therkel Mathiassen, Peder Pedersen and Peter Freuchen); the Knud Rasmussen – Fifth Thule Expedition members visits Chesterfield Inlet, Saturday 23rd of April and until 3rd of May.

1950’s
After World War ll, the federal government looks north. A federal day school opens in 1951. DEW Line work starts and ends in 1955.


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