Saint-Maurice is a

parish municipality A parish is an administrative division used by several countries. To distinguish it from an ''ecclesiastical parish'', the term ''civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is ...

in the

Mauricie Mauricie () is a traditional and current administrative region of Quebec. La Mauricie National Park is contained within the region, making it a prime tourist location. The region has a land area of 35,860.05 km² (13,845.64 sq mi) and a popu ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

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 ...

History

The hagiotoponym refers to

Saint Maurice Saint Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, or Mauritius; ) was an Egyptians, Egyptian military leader who headed the legendary Theban Legion of Roman Empire, Rome in the 3rd century, and is one of the favorite and most widely venerated saints of that Ma ...

. The territory of Saint-Maurice was colonized in the early 1830s when the place was still part of the Seigneurie of Saint-Maurice. The Catholic parish was founded in 1837 and detached from the Parish of Cap-de-la-Madeleine. The territory of the original parish was much larger than that which exists today, as it also included the Saint-Louis-de-France neighborhood in

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

and a part of the current parish of

Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel is a parish municipality in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec in Canada. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population wi ...

. The parish municipality of Saint-Maurice was officially incorporated in 1855 during the original municipal division of Quebec. In 1858, the village of Fermont splitted from Saint-Maurice but was ultimately re-annexed in 1939 following the closure of the Radnor forges, the only company that supported it, and by the same token the exodus of its entire population. In 1859, another large part of the municipality was taken away for the creation of the municipality of Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel witch also included parts of the municipality of Cap-de-la-Magdeleine (today part of Trois-Rivières). In 1904, following repeated requests from citizens living in the west of Saint-Maurice who were too far from the village and the church, a new city, Saint-Louis, was created and detached from the territory of Saint- Maurice. Saint-Louis will be renamed Saint-Louis-de-France in 1969 and will finally be annexed to Trois-Rivières in 2002. Before 1904, Saint-Maurice was therefore bounded to the west by the

Saint-Maurice River The Saint-Maurice River (french: Rivière Saint-Maurice; Atikamekw: ''Tapiskwan sipi'') flows north to south in central Quebec from Gouin Reservoir to empty into the Saint Lawrence River at Trois-Rivières, in the province of Quebec, in Canada. F ...

and it is this natural boundary that gave its name to the territory. Originally part of the county of Champlain, Saint-Maurice was incorporated into the regional county municipality of Francheville in 1982. In 2002, during the municipal reorganization of the region, it was included in the regional county municipality of

Les Chenaux Les Chenaux (meaning ''the channels'' in French) is a regional county municipality in central Quebec, Canada, in the Mauricie region. The seat is in Saint-Luc-de-Vincennes. It is located adjacent on the east of Trois-Rivières on the Saint Lawr ...

. The church of Saint-Maurice has one of

Casavant Frères Casavant Frères is a Canadian organ building company in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, which has been building pipe organs since 1879. As of 2014, the company has produced more than 3,900 organs. Company history Brothers Joseph-Claver (1855–1 ...

' oldest organs, the opus 50, built in 1894 and still in use. With mechanical action, it has 2 keyboards and a pedal for around twenty games.

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 ...

, Saint-Maurice 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. Population trend: * Population in 2016: 3286 (2011 to 2016 population change: 18.4%) * Population in 2011: 2775 (2006 to 2011 population change: 17.2%) * Population in 2006: 2338 * Population in 2001: 2292 * Population in 1996: 2295 * Population in 1991: 2195 Mother tongue: * English as first language: 1.1% * French as first language: 97.4% * English and French as first language: 0.2% * Other as first language: 0.9%

Education

The

Central Quebec School Board The Central Québec School Board (CQSB; french: Commission scolaire Central Québec) is an English-language school board in the province of Quebec, Canada, with its headquarters at 2046 chemin Saint-Louis, Quebec City. It is one of nine English-la ...

operates anglophone public schools, including: * Mauricie English Elementary School in

* Three Rivers Academy in

References

{{authority control Parish municipalities in Quebec Incorporated places in Mauricie Les Chenaux Regional County Municipality Canada geography articles needing translation from French Wikipedia