Plessisville, Quebec is a

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

L'Érable Regional County Municipality L'Érable (''Maple'') is a regional county municipality in the Centre-du-Québec region of Quebec, Canada. Named for its maple trees, the area is rural in nature and is located 50 km southwest of Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Routes

116 116 (''one hundred and sixteen'') may refer to: *116 (number) *AD 116 * 116 BC * 116 (Devon and Cornwall) Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, a military unit * 116 (MBTA bus) * 116 (New Jersey bus) * 116 (hip hop group), a Christian hip hop collect ...

and 165 go through it. The city is 185 km from

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and 95 km from

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

. Plessisville's claim to fame is as the "World's

Maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

Capital"; the city has hosted an annual Maple festival since 1958, and the ''Institut québécois de l'érable'' (Quebec Maple Institute) is headquartered there. The production of

maple syrup Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple tree ...

and maple products is a major industry in the entire area, even giving the

regional county municipality The term regional county municipality or RCM (''french: municipalité régionale de comté, MRC'') is used in Quebec, Canada to refer to one of 87 county-like political entities. In some older English translations they were called county r ...

its name (''érable'' is French for "maple"). The first person to permanently settle in the area was Jean-Baptiste Lafond, in 1835. First incorporated as the village of Somerset, the settlement was officially incorporated as the village of Plessisville in 1855 in honour of Monseigneur Octave Plessis,

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

at the time.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Plessisville had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Notable people

* Denis Blondin, anthropologist * Pierre Bourque, saxophonist * Pierre-Andre Fournier, Roman Catholic Archbishop *

Raymond Garneau Raymond Garneau, (born January 3, 1935) is a Canadian businessman and politician. Early life Born in Plessisville, Quebec (located 30 km from Victoriaville, Quebec), the son of Daniel Garneau and Valérie Gosselin, he received a master's ...

, politician * Louis-Édouard Roberge, politician * François-Théodore Savoie, politician *

Pierre Vachon Pierre Vachon (3 June 1738 – 7 October 1803) was a French composer. Vachon was born in Avignon, France. He wrote around thirty string quartets, various chamber works, operas, and orchestral pieces. He studied the violin with Carlo Chiab ...

, president of IB Quebec *

Mavrik Bourque Mavrik Bourque (born January 8, 2002) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre for the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League (AHL) as a prospect for the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted in the first round, ...

, hockey player

Sources

*
Official City website
*
Quebec Maple Institute
*
Maple Festival

References

{{authority control Cities and towns in Quebec Incorporated places in Centre-du-Québec