La Minerve is a village and municipality in the
Laurentides
The Laurentides () is a region of Quebec. While it is often called the Laurentians in English, the region includes only part of the Laurentian mountains. It has a total land area of and its population was 589,400 inhabitants as of the 2016 Cens ...
region of Quebec, Canada, part of the
Les Laurentides Regional County Municipality
Les Laurentides ''(English: The Laurentians)'' is a regional county municipality in the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada. The seat is in Mont-Blanc. It is named after the Laurentian Mountains.
The population was 50,777 according to the 2021 ...
.
Located in the
Laurentian Mountains
The Laurentian Mountains ( French: ''Laurentides'') are a mountain range in southern Quebec, Canada, north of the St. Lawrence River and Ottawa River, rising to a highest point of at Mont Raoul Blanchard, northeast of Quebec City in the Laurentid ...
, La Minerve is still fairly forested and covered with many lakes, notably Chapleau, Désert, and La Minerve Lakes. Its southern portion is 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 area is popular for cottage vacationing. In the summer, the small local population swells with nearly 15,000 tourists.
History
Before the arrival of missionary colonizer
Antoine Labelle
François-Xavier-Antoine Labelle (November 24, 1833 – January 4, 1891) was a Roman Catholic priest and the person principally responsible for the settlement (or "colonization") of the Laurentians. He is also referred to as "Curé Labelle" an ...
, journalists of the Montreal newspaper "''
La Minerve
''La Minerve'' (French for "The Minerva") was a newspaper founded in Montreal, Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) by Augustin-Norbert Morin to promote the political goals of Louis-Joseph Papineau's Parti patriote. It was notably directed by Ludge ...
''" explored this region between 1880 and 1885. At that time, the Club Island was known as "Governor Island" and belonged to Sir
Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau
Sir Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau (November 9, 1840 – June 13, 1898), born in Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec, was a French-Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 7th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec from 1892 to 1898.
Life
As a lawyer, he defen ...
, controller of the newspaper.
Afterwards, employees of ''La Minerve'' began to strongly encourage the settlement of the area which came to be named after this newspaper.
The 30 January 1886 edition of ''La Minerve'' reported:
During the years 1880 to 1890, the government granted the first land concessions. The first settler, Isaac Grégoire, arrived in 1885, and in the fall of the same year, notary Joseph Lefebvre, from
Waterloo in the
Eastern Townships
The Eastern Townships (french: Cantons de l'Est) is an historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby in the southwest, to Drummondv ...
, and some of his friends came to the area taking possession of some lots in La Minerve. Lefebvre opened a flour mill and a sawmill on the shores of Lake Desert.
In 1892, the Township of La Minerve and its township municipality were formed. In 1896, the post office opened, named Minerve (but renamed to La Minerve in 1949).
In 1897, there were under cultivation, 13 houses, 4 barns, 40
arpent
An arpent (, sometimes called arpen) is a unit of length and a unit of area. It is a pre-metric French unit based on the Roman ''actus''. It is used in Quebec, some areas of the United States that were part of French Louisiana, and in Mauritius ...
s of fencing (about 2.34 km). Twenty years later in 1917, there were 125 families with a total of 677 inhabitants.
On January 1, 1995, La Minerve absorbed the unorganized territories of Lac-Marie-Le Franc and Lac-aux-Castors located in the Labelle and Gagnon townships, but subsequently lost about to the
Municipality of Labelle. In 1998, the Township Municipality of La Minerve obtained a new legal status and became the Municipality of La Minerve.
Demographics
Population
Population trend:
* Population in 2021: 1,421 (2016 to 2021 population change: 17.9%)
* Population in 2016: 1,205
* Population in 2011: 1,234
* Population in 2006: 1,295
* Population in 2001: 1,080
* Population in 1996: 927 (or 912 when adjusted for 2001 boundaries)
* Population in 1991: 880
Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 767 (total dwellings: 1,638)
Mother tongue:
* English as first language: 5.3%
* French as first language: 91.2%
* English and French as first language: 1.4%
* Other as first language: 1.4%
Education
Sainte Agathe Academy Sainte Agathe Academy (SAA; french: Académie Sainte Agathe) is a public anglophone primary and secondary school in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec. It is operated by the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board.
Persons from the following communities are ...
(of the
Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board
The Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board (SWLSB, french: Commission scolaire Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier, CSSWL) is a school board headquartered in Rosemère, Quebec in Greater Montreal.
It officially came into existence in July 1998 when English-language sc ...
) in
Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts
Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts is a town in the province of Quebec, Canada, in the regional county municipality of Les Laurentides in the administrative region of Laurentides, also known as the "Laurentians" or the Laurentian Mountains (in English). Sai ...
serves English-speaking students in this community for both elementary and secondary levels.
[About Us]
" Saint Agathe Academy Sainte Agathe Academy (SAA; french: Académie Sainte Agathe) is a public anglophone primary and secondary school in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec. It is operated by the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board.
Persons from the following communities are ...
. Retrieved on September 4, 2017. Se
Elementary zone map
an
Secondary zone map
- Note that all areas covered in the elementary map are also covered in the secondary one.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minerve, La
Incorporated places in Laurentides
Municipalities in Quebec