Duhamel is a town and municipality in the
Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. It is the largest municipality in surface area in the
Papineau Regional County Municipality
Papineau is a regional county municipality in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. The seat is Papineauville.
Subdivisions
There are 24 subdivisions within the RCM:
Demographics
Mother tongue from Canada 2016 Census
In 2016, the popu ...
.
Its western portion consists mostly of undeveloped
Laurentian Hills
Laurentian Hills is a municipality in Eastern Ontario, Canada, on the Ottawa River in Renfrew County. It surrounds (by land) Deep River on the Ontario side of the river. The town is home to the Nuclear Power Demonstration nuclear power plant. T ...
, part of the
Papineau-Labelle Wildlife Reserve
Papineau-Labelle Wildlife Reserve is a reserve in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, Canada, stretching across the Laurentides and Outaouais regions.
The area was extensively logged in the late 19th to the mid-20th century. Although logging sti ...
. The town itself is located along the
Petite-Nation River
The Petite-Nation River is a river in western Quebec, Canada, that flows from the Laurentian Mountains to empty into the Ottawa River near Plaisance, Quebec. The river is in length.
This river's French name refers to the Algonquin people that i ...
between Lake Simon and Lake Gagnon.
History
In the mid 19th century, the area's forests were being exploited. Duhamel, which used to be called Preston, formed shortly after when its first settlers were assigned land, while logging continued to be the dominant factor for its colonization.
By 1880, a post office existed bearing the name Duhamel, named in honour of
Joseph-Thomas Duhamel
Joseph-Thomas Duhamel (6 November 1841 – 5 June 1909) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest and Archbishop of Ottawa.
Born in Contrecœur, Lower Canada, he was educated at St. Joseph's College, Ottawa, and ordained in 1863. He became Bis ...
(1841–1909), second bishop of Ottawa from 1874 to 1909. In 1888, the Mission of Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel opened.
In 1892, the Township of Preston was formed (named after
Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby
Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, (15 January 1841 – 14 June 1908) styled as Hon. Frederick Stanley from 1844 to 1886 and as The Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886 and 1893, was a Conservative Party politician in the United Ki ...
, Baron of Preston, and governor general of Canada from 1888 to 1893).
Starting in 1925, the
Singer Company
Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Singer, Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward Cabot Clark, Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing ma ...
, best known for its sewing machines, built a railway through Duhamel linking
Thurso
Thurso (pronounced ; sco, Thursa, gd, Inbhir Theòrsa ) is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical County of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the island of Great ...
to Lake Montjoie (in
Lac-Ernest unorganized territory). The railroad was used until 1980 when it was dismantled and converted to a tourism corridor.
On August 15, 1936, the Municipality of Duhamel was formed when it separated from the United Township Municipality of Hartwell-et-Preston.
On December 21, 1985, Duhamel annexed a portion of the unorganized territories of Lac-du-Sourd and Lac-des-Écorces, and again on October 10, 1998, it annexed the northern portion of Lac-des-Écorces.
Demographics
Mother tongue:
[
* English as first language: 7.0%
* French as first language: 91.2%
* English and French as first language: 0.9%
* Other as first language: 0.9%
]
Local government
List of former mayors:
* Télesphore Tremblay, 1936 – 1941
* Lionel Ethier, 1941 – 1949
* René Pilon, 1949 – 1950
* Fréréole Filion, 1950 – 1951
* Arthur Lamontagne, 1951 – 1954
* Lionel Éthier, 1954 – 1955
* Camille Poliquin, 1955 – 1976
* Jean Turcot, 1976 – 1979
* Martial Brière, 1979 – 1981
* Yvon Jérôme, 1981 – 1985
* Phil Patry, 1985 – 1997
* Yvon Charlebois, 1997 – 2005
* Richard Chartrand, 2005 – 2009
* David Pharand 2009 -
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Incorporated places in Outaouais
Municipalities in Quebec