Tourville is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the L'Islet RCM in

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. It is located in the

Chaudière-Appalaches Chaudière-Appalaches () is an administrative region in Quebec, Canada. It comprises most of what is historically known as the "Beauce" (french: La Beauce; compare with the electoral district of Beauce). It is named for the Chaudière River and ...

administrative region.

History

The parish of Saint-Clément-de-Tourville, which served as a mission from 1913-1919, was officially founded in 1919 by an abbot named Bernard-Édouard Martin. The citizens wished to name it Martinville in his honour, but since there was another post office that had been established under this name, they opted for Tourville, which also honours Saint

Martin of Tours Martin of Tours ( la, Sanctus Martinus Turonensis; 316/336 – 8 November 397), also known as Martin the Merciful, was the third bishop of Tours. He has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints in France, heralded as the ...

. A road to the village (today known as

Route 204 The following highways are numbered 204: Canada * Manitoba Provincial Road 204 * Newfoundland and Labrador Route 204 * Nova Scotia Route 204 * Prince Edward Island Route 204 * Quebec Route 204 China * China National Highway 204 Costa Rica ...

), was constructed between 1854 and 1859. At that time, the village had already been taking advantage of the abundant wood, particularly pine. In 1856, a farmer from

Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies is a municipality in Quebec, Canada. See also * List of municipalities in Quebec * Alexis Bélanger Alexis Bélanger (January 18, 1808 - September 7, 1868) was a Roman Catholic black priest and missionary; born at Sain ...

settled near Black Lake and lowered its water level by digging an outlet in hopes of making a pasture. During winter, he would use a special shovel that caused the lake to rise once again, which protected the seeds from freezing. In 1858, construction began on sawmills along the Ouelle and Le Bras rivers. Railroad construction took place between 1905 and 1915 which went on to run from the municipality of Charny to

Edmundston Edmundston is a city in Madawaska County, New Brunswick, Canada. On 1 January 2023, Edmundston will expanded, annexing the village of Rivière-Verte and parts of the local service districts of the parish of Saint-Jacques and the parish of Sai ...

. Two hotels had already been built to accommodate the travellers. A roundhouse was built, in addition to a carbon chute, a water reservoir, and a train station named in the honor of former Chief Justice of Lower Canada

James Monk Sir James Monk (1745 – November 18, 1826) was Chief Justice of Lower Canada. Monk played a significant role in the abolition of slavery in British North America, when as Chief Justice he rendered a series of decisions regarding escaped ...

. The roundhouse eventually closed in 1954, and in 1958 was replaced by the Napoléon Gagnon sawmill which burned down in 1972. The train station was demolished in 1982 and its rails, as well as recreational vehicle trails, were removed. The population has since decreased to 698. In 1918, Abbot Martin built a 2-story fishing cabin on the southern tip of the Lake Therrien lock. This area, then known as Beaubien, gave work to about sixty people to cut and drive logs along the river. For this reason, in 1923, Power Lumber became active, followed by La Rivière Ouelle Lumber's opening of a steam-powered saw to square the harvested logs in 1926. In 1927, the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

opened a sidetrack that would allow wood to be loaded without disrupting train traffic. Twenty-something families settled around the lake. In 1928, a school was at last built in Tourville. In 1939, the mill on the lake closed down.

References

External links

* {{authority control Municipalities in Quebec Incorporated places in Chaudière-Appalaches