The town of St. John’s goes back at least as far as the time of John Cabot who according to English seamen's tradition entered the harbour on the evening of St. John's Day in 1497. Since then ships of Western Europe came to Newfoundland to fish, and St. John's was a port of call for them all.St. Johns Picture Travel Guide The King commanded a West Country merchant named Bute to start a colony in Newfoundland. Bute came out to St. John's in the following year and built the first permanent residence on the island. The founding of the town can be said to date from the year 1528.

The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited St. John's many times. Sir Bernard Drake made St. John's his headquarters in 1585, when he was on a mission for the British Admiralty and captured many Spanish and Portuguese ships and brought their crews home as prisoners.

Sir Humphrey Gilbert landed on King's Beach on August 5th, 1583, and in the name of Queen Elizabeth claimed the island for Britain. Gilbert was drowned on the return voyage to England, but a description of the expedition as recorded by Captain Hayes, who commanded the "Golden Hind". He described St. John's as a populous place much frequented by ships'. Water Street can rightly claim the distincion of being the oldest street on the continent.

St. John's was attacked several times by enemy forces from both land and sea. A Dutch squadron under the famous De Ruyter took the town in 1665 and plundered it. A second attempt was made in 1673, but this time it was defended by Christopher Martin, an English merchant captain. With only twenty-three men, the valiant Martin beat off an attack by three Dutch warships. Later in the same year, the gallant company defied the attempts of a pirate squadron to raid the town. Forts were constructed at both sides of the Narrows. In 1689 a large fort was completed, known as Fort William; it stood where the present Newfoundland Hotel looks over the city. A second fort, known as Fort George was situated at the east end of the harbour. It was connected by a subterranean passage with Fort William. On the south side of the Narrows, there was a third fortification called the Castle.

The town was captured by French troops from Placentia in 1696, and again in 1708. The French burned the town on both occasions and destroyed the forts, carrying the guns to their stronghold at Placentia. Fort Townshend was subsequently built on a commanding height above the centre of the town, and several strong forts were placed at the top of Signal Hill and at Fort Amherst on the south side of the Narrows. Garrisons were withdrawn from St. John's in 1871, and the fortifications were dismantled by orders of the British Government.

Among the finest buildings may be included the Anglican Cathedral, which is said to be the best example of Gothic architecture in America, and the Roman Catholic Basilica which, at the time of its completion a century ago, was the largest church in the northern half of the New World. Government House, with its spacious grounds, and the House of Assembly with its massive columns of grey limestone are well worth a visit for a history fan. There are also a fine Public Library and a Newfoundland Museum. The Museum has many interesting features for the historian and the antiquarian. Among these are paintings and depicting Leif Ericson landing on Markland, Cabot sighting Bonavista, Sir Humphrey Gilbert setting up the first colonial government of Britain, and the "Great Eastern" landing the first cable at Heart's Content. Plus the first trans atlantic wireless signal by Marconi in 1901 Besides other more modern firsts of North American history, there are relics of John Guy's colony at Cupids, and of Lord Baltimore's mansion at Ferryland. The Museum also possesses the only relics in existence of the Beothuck Indians, a vanished race of native people. There is a booth dedicated to old colonial times, and another to Eskimo culture of Labrador. Dioramas of the seal hunt and of the cod fishery present unique and picturesque features of Newfoundland industrial life. Close to St. John's are many fishing towns. A half hours drive brings visitors to beautiful coastal scenery and through old fashioned homes of the fishermen.

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