Valcourt () is a town 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 ...

Le Val-Saint-François Regional County Municipality Le Val-Saint-François () is a regional county municipality in the Estrie region of Quebec, Canada. The seat is Richmond. Subdivisions There are 18 subdivisions within the RCM: ;Cities & Towns (3) * Richmond * Valcourt * Windsor ;Municipa ...

in the

Estrie Estrie () is an administrative region of Quebec that comprises the Eastern Townships. ''Estrie'', a French neologism, was coined as a derivative of ''est'', "east". Originally settled by anglophones, today it is about 90 per cent francophone. Angl ...

region of

. The town is accessible via Quebec Route 222.

Toponymy

The town of Valcourt is enclaved by

Valcourt (township) Valcourt is a township municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec, located within the Le Val-Saint-François Regional County Municipality. The township had a population of 1,047 in the Canada 2011 Census. Demographics In the 2021 Cens ...

. The name of Valcourt makes reference to the origin of this township. The origins of Valcourt go back to 1802, the year where the first inhabitants came to establish themselves in the township of Ely, named after the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. The first inhabitants were Loyalists, but by 1840

Canadiens French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...

began to arrive in the area. The first parish was created in 1856, and a civil entity in 1865 under the name of Township of Ely. The official name of Valcourt was not given until 1965, and took the name of the post office and the railroad station belonging to the Canadian Pacific Railway. Many hypotheses exist as to the naming of Valcourt. The first is situated in the fact that a small valley in French would be a ''val court''. The second is the deformation of a certain family name between 1849 and 1850 of Dalcourt. The last hypothesis is the existence of a village in the United States by the name of Valcour, situated just south of the border with Canada and the state of New York.

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, Valcourt 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. Mother tongue (2011)

Famous people

The inventor of the snowmobile,

Joseph-Armand Bombardier Joseph-Armand Bombardier (; April 16, 1907 – February 18, 1964) was a Canadian inventor and businessman who was the founder of Bombardier. His most famous invention was the snowmobile. Biography Born in Valcourt, Quebec, Joseph-Armand Bombar ...

, was born in Valcourt.

Tourist attractions

The ''J. Armand Bombardier'' museum is situated on the territory of the municipality. The main theme of the museum is the interpretation of the history of the

snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...

industry and of its inventor,

. url=http://www.museebombardier.com/fr/content/musee/histoire.htm , titre=Histoire du Musée J. Armand Bombardier , auteur=Musée J. Armand Bombardier , site= , consulté le=15 octobre 2010./ref> The museum also houses three exhibition halls and a temporary exhibition hall.

References

External links