Farnham is a

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 de ...

in Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality in the Estrie region of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, 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 ...

, Canada. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 10,149, making it the second most populated community in the RCM.

History

The city of Farnham takes its name from the historic Township of Farnham. The latter is one of the few

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

established before 1800, and was named in remembrance of Farnham, UK. The first "Farnhamiens", mostly Loyalists from the United States, arrived in 1800. On December 28, 1876, Farnham got the status of "town". On March 8, 2000, the town of Farnham and the municipality of Rainville merged to form the new "City of Farnham". The total population is now numbered at 8,000 inhabitants. Farnham is also the site of an important military training camp, used primarily by the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School and local militia.

Geography

Built on the shores of the Yamaska River, at the border of the Saint-Lawrence lowlands, the city of Farnham is located in the center of important cities such as Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (West) and Granby (North-East).

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, Farnham 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.

Attractions

Petite Église - once an old church, the newly renovated building is now a fully functional recording studio, owned and operated by

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

-based

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member ...

. The band announced on January 18, 2013, that they are selling the church they had been using as a studio. Other notable bands to have recorded at Petite Église include Wolf Parade and

Hot Springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by c ...

. The church is now owned by Emery Street Records, and continues to be used as a recording studio.

Activities

Located in Farnham is a skydiving school, Nouvel Air. Farnham has an arena named in honour of Madeleine Auclair. Since the 1990s Farnham has had a skate board park, which hosts an annual festival every August named "Skatefest de Farnham". Southeast of Farnham is the golf course "Club de Golf de Farnham". Farnham is on the route of both the Montérégiade Farnham/Granby and Route verte bicycle paths.

Transportation

Farnham is home to Farnham railway station, a disused station belonging to the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

Notable people

* In 2006, the members of the group

purchased the Petite Église, an old church that was renovated into a permanent recording studio for the band. After recording the albums '' Neon Bible'' and '' The Suburbs'' at the location, the band put the studio up for sale in 2013 citing "roof problems" as the cause for the sale. * H. H. Bennett, photographer, was born in Farnham. * Sylvain Charlebois, researcher and expert at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus in Saint John, New Brunswick. Dalhousie offer ...

, was born in Farnham. He is the son of Farnham's first woman mayor, Lyse Lafrance-Charlebois (1991-2000). * Simon Durivage, a known journalist in Province of Québec, was born in Farnham. * Alain Forand, commanded the southern

UNTAES The United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) was a UN peacebuilding transitional administration in the Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia in the eastern parts of Croatia ...

forces in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, and the Land Force Quebec Area during the

Saguenay Flood The Saguenay flood (french: Déluge du Saguenay) was a series of flash floods on July 19 and 20, 1996 that hit the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada. It was the biggest overland flood in 20th-century Canadian history. History ...

operation and the

Ice Storm of 1998 The North American Ice Storm of 1998 (also known as Great Ice Storm of 1998) was a massive combination of five smaller successive ice storms in January 1998 that struck a relatively narrow swath of land from eastern Ontario to southern Quebec, N ...

. *

Ludger Lemieux Ludger Lemieux (February 9, 1872 – October 27, 1953) was a Quebec architect who designed a number of notable Art deco structures in Montreal's Saint-Henri district. While he often worked in partnership with Joseph-Honoré MacDuff, his bes ...

, architect, was born in Farnham. *

Yvan Ponton Yvan Ponton (born 22 October 1945) is a Canadian actor, commentator and television host. Ponton has had a lengthy acting career which includes roles in a variety of major French-Canadian television shows and movies. He is most well known to En ...

, a known comedian in Province of Québec, was born in Farnham. * Yves Rodier, comic strip creator, known for his many pastiches of The Adventures of Tintin, was born in Farnham.

References

External links

Official web site

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Quebec Incorporated places in Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality