Parrsboro Village was originally on Partridge Island, to the south of present Parrsboro. This is the fourth Parrsboro post office and the third in the present town. Mounted on the front wall of the post office is an historical marker which relates the story of the postal service in Parrsboro.
Home to the
Fundy Geological Museum, the Parrsboro area was first settled by the Acadians in 1670, then later by New England Planters after the Acadians' expulsion in 1755. Shipbuilding and fishing became the major industries and in 1877, Parrsboro, being the nearest port to Springhill, became the southern terminus of the Springhill and Parrsboro Railway. The railway was built primarily to haul coal from the Springhill mines to the port at Parrsboro. With steadily declining coal shipments railway service to Parrsboro was abandoned on June 14, 1958.
Incorporated as a town on July 15, 1889, Parrsboro today has a population of around 1,300. If one were to follow Main Street south out of town, it would turn into Whitehall Road and lead one to the waterfront and the
OLDEST Building in Cumberland County, Ottawa House. It is the former summer home of one of the Fathers of Confederation, our sixth Prime Minister, Sir Charles Tupper. Ottawa House is actually three different buildings from three eras, from the late 1760s to circa 1860.
Parrsboro Post Office
Postal service for this region began in the 1790s at the original village Site of nearby Partridge Island and James Ratchford, Esq. was the first Postmaster. In the 1850s the Post office moved to Mill Village, which later became the Town of Parrsboro.
There are three known former Post Office sites within the town, One was on Howard Lane. Another was the large brick building, still standing at the corner of Main and Two Islands.
This building was built in 1971, was occupied by Canada Post in 1972. For a few years it contained a Department of Fisheries Office.
Formerly on this site was one of the town's oldest hotels, known respectively as the Minas and then, Evangeline Hotel. In the days before electric lights, that building had a large coal gas green globe light hanging from its balcony to light the street and welcome patrons to its bar and lodgings.
From the historical marker at the post office