Cowansville is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in south-central

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, located on Lac Davignon north of the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

border. It is the seat of Brome-Missisquoi, a

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 ...

. The population as of the

Canada 2021 Census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

was 15,234. In recent years, Cowansville has seen its commercial activity blossom mainly due to its proximity to a major freeway, Autoroute 10, and the Eastern Townships ski resort region.

History and name

Jacob Ruiter was the first person to settle on the current site of Cowansville. In 1800 he built a flour mill, and then a saw mill. In 1805, Ruiter named the small town as Nelsonville, in honour of British admiral, Lord

Horatio Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...

, who was killed in the naval

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

. The city's current name is due to Peter Cowan, a merchant 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 ...

who settled in the area in 1836 and become

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

in 1841. In order to avoid the mail being sent inadvertently to another city named Nelsonville, close to

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

, he decided to change its name. During the 1870s, the construction of the South Eastern Railway linking Montreal to Cowansville and the opening of the first bank, the Eastern Townships Bank, contributed to the expansion of the small city, which allows many businesses settle in the area. The municipality detached from the district of Dunham, and incorporated on the January 1, 1876 and officially was named Cowansville. In February of the same year

James O'Halloran James O'Halloran, (c.1820 – June 1, 1913) was a Quebec lawyer and political figure. He was born about 1820 (some sources say 1821) near Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland and came to Canada with his family in 1828. He studied at the University of Ve ...

was acclaimed as Mayor by the town council. Cowansville saw a strong industrial growth during the 20th century, and became a city on June 25, 1931, and has grown since World War II by various annexations, such as Sweetsburg in 1964. The municipality has a current population of over 12,000. The main economy is based on the industrial sector, in particular textiles. There is also a hospital, Brome-Missisquoi-Perkins, a municipal court, a

federal penitentiary The Federal Bureau of Prisons classifies prisons into seven categories: * United States penitentiaries * Federal correctional institutions * Private correctional institutions * Federal prison camps * Administrative facilities * Federal correctio ...

, and a Nature Centre close to Davignon Lake. Cowansville is the seat of the

judicial district A judicial district or legal district denotes the territorial area for which a legal court (usually a district court) has jurisdiction. By region Europe Austria In texts concerning Austria, "judicial district" (german: Gerichtsbezirk) refers ...

of Bedford. It is also the birthplace of the artist and botanist

Faith Fyles Faith Fyles (1875–1961) was the first botanical artist with the Canadian federal government, department of agriculture (now Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada). Her work resulted in the expansion of the herbarium in Ottawa. Biography Fyles wa ...

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

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 ...

, Cowansville 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

George Harold Baker George Harold Baker (November 4, 1877 – June 2, 1916) was a lawyer, political figure, and soldier from Quebec, Canada. He represented Brome in the House of Commons of Canada from 1911 to 1916 as a Conservative Member of Parliament. He is th ...

(1877-1916), was a lawyer, political figure, soldier and Member in the Canadian House of Commons, as a Conservative Member of ParliamentMorning Glory: Canada's own WWI war horse
/ref>

References

External links

Ville de Cowansville

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Quebec

History and name

Demographics

Notable people

See also

References

External links