Chelsea is a

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

located immediately north of

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada, and about north of

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. Chelsea is located within Canada's National Capital Region. It is the seat of

Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais Regional County Municipality Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais (, "The hills of the Outaouais") is a regional county municipality in the Outaouais region of western Quebec, Canada. The region nearly encircles the City of Gatineau, which is to the south. Its administrative seat is i ...

. Its population was 8000 in the

2021 Canadian Census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, 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%, whic ...

. The population of Chelsea is almost evenly divided between anglophones and francophones, with both official languages being spoken in roughly 70% of households. The municipality has a reputation for being environmentally responsible, and was one of the first in Canada to ban the use of

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...

s. While 60% of the area consists of

Gatineau Park Gatineau Park () is a federal park located in the Outaouais, Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. Administered by the National Capital Commission as part of the National Capital Region (Canada), National Capital Region, Gatineau Park is a wedge ...

, much of the rest of Chelsea is residential. A sports complex, the Meredith Centre, was developed in 2012 next to Chelsea Elementary School. The complex hosts a hockey rink, community rooms, and soccer fields. The mayor of Chelsea, QC is Pierre Guénard. Part of the film ''

Grey Owl Archibald Stansfeld Belaney (September 18, 1888April 13, 1938), commonly known as Grey Owl, was an English-Canadian popular writer, public speaker and conservationist. Born an Englishman, in the latter years of his life he passed as half-Indi ...

'' was shot on the Gatineau River. A number of regionally and nationally well-known musicians, filmmakers, and artists live in Chelsea, including Ian Tamblyn.

History

Chelsea is named after the Vermont town of its first settler, Thomas Brigham, who was a partner and son-in-law of Philemon Wright and arrived there in 1819. The name has been in use since the early 19th century: Old Chelsea (1819), Parish Saint-Stephen-of-Chelsea (1835), Chelsea (circa 1870). In 1875, the municipality was established as Hull-Partie-Ouest, or commonly referred to as West Hull. The municipality was renamed to its current name in 1990. During World War II, the Royal Canadian Navy wanted to understand more about the propagation of radio waves and how they were affected by the earth's ionosphere so that German radio transmissions could be intercepted more efficiently. In cooperation with the National Research Council, the RCN established a "field intensity station" at Chelsea in 1941 to monitor the height of the ionosphere. Chelsea, also known as an ionospheric observatory, was established in 1941 and closed down in 1947. It was located on the north side of Old Chelsea Road a few hundred yards west of Highway 105. The Chelsea station operated during the post-war period but in 1947, its work was transferred to the Defence Research Board's new Radio Propagation Laboratory in Ottawa. Shortly thereafter, the station was demolished. Today, there are no traces of the single shack or the many masts that were once erected on the property.

Geography

Chelsea is a roughly triangle-shaped municipality that includes much of the southern and eastern parts of

, and is bordered on the east by the Gatineau River. The southern border is south of Old Chelsea, the municipality historical centre, and runs north to the community of Farm Point. Beyond Farm Point lies the municipality of La Pêche and the village of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

. North of Old Chelsea is Camp Fortune, a popular alpine ski club 15 minutes from Downtown Ottawa.

Communities

* Kingsmere * Chelsea * Old Chelsea * Larrimac * Farm Point * Hollow Glen

Demographics

Mother tongue: * English as first language: 43.1% * French as first language: 46.3% * English and French as first language: 3.9% * Other as first language: 5.6%

Transportation

Autoroute 5, also known as the Autoroute de la Gatineau, is a major freeway that connects Chelsea and La Pêche with Gatineau and Ottawa. Public transportation is provided to the region by Transcollines, with bus routes 921, 922, 923, 924, and 925 connecting the regional county municipality with Gatineau as of 2022. During summer weekends, the Societé de Transport de l'Outaouais provides free shuttle buses through Gatineau Park that terminate at the Gatineau Park Visitors Centre in Old Chelsea.

Gallery

File:Chelsea town hall.JPG, Chelsea town hall in Old Chelsea, which is also the home of the Chelsea Library's main branch. File:Centre administratif du MRC Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais mosbo6.jpg, The administrative center and municipal court of Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais RCM is located in Chelsea. File:Ruisseau Chelsea mosbo6.jpg, The Chelsea Creek flows southeast through Old Chelsea, eventually forming part of the southern border with Gatineau.

References

Official Transport Quebec Road Map

External links

Municipality of Chelsea Website
{{Authority control Incorporated places in Outaouais Municipalities in Quebec National Capital Region (Canada)