Chapeau () is a village in the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province of

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 thirte ...

, located along the Culbute Channel of the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern ...

in the municipality of L'Isle-aux-Allumettes in

Pontiac Regional County Municipality Pontiac (french: municipalité régionale de comté de Pontiac) is a regional county municipality in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. Campbell's Bay is the county seat. It should not be confused with the municipality of Pontiac, which is ...

. There is speculation as to the real origin of the name "Chapeau" (French for " hat"). It has been hypothesized that geography of the village vaguely resembles the shape of a hat with three flat edges, or the name may come from a rock in the Ottawa River in the form of a French military headgear. According to other sources, Chapeau recalls a bizarre hairdo of a Native American chief. It may also come from the French surnames Chappeau and Chapeau, common in the time of

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

. However, none of these explanations may be regarded as final.

History

In 1874, the village of Chapeau separated from the Île-aux-Allumettes Township and became a municipality. On December 30, 1998, the municipality of Chapeau Village, together with the township municipalities of L'Isle-aux-Allumettes and L'Isle-aux-Allumettes-Partie-Est, were regrouped into the new Municipality of L'Isle-aux-Allumettes. In 1883 the Chapeau hotel was built on Main Street by Agapit Maloney, which he owned and operated until 1918, when he died. Fred Meilleur bought the hotel in the 1940s, which became "Fred's Restaurant-Hotel". On August 26, 2008, Fred's Restaurant-Hotel and an adjacent building were completely destroyed by an overnight fire. The restaurant-hotel was a local historic landmark, owned and operated by Fred Meilleur since the 1940s and was sold to a new owner, prior to the fire.

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 cultu ...

, Chapeau had a population of 325 living in 145 of its 168 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 373. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Transportation

A bridge carries Chemin Pembroke over the

and Rapide du Chapeau. Starting on January 4, 2021, Transcollines has provided a public transit service from Chapeau to

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's Na ...

via Québec Route 148 on bus line 910.

References

Designated places in Quebec Communities in Outaouais Former municipalities in Quebec Populated places disestablished in 1998 {{Quebec-geo-stub