Sainte-Agathe-de-Lotbinière () is a municipality in the

Lotbinière Regional County Municipality Lotbinière () is a regional county municipality in the Chaudière-Appalaches region of Quebec. It is an almost exclusively rural RCM, with no village with a population above 4,000. As of the 2016 Canadian census, the RCM had a population of 31,7 ...

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

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. It had a population of 1,049 as of 2021. It is named after

Agatha of Sicily Agatha of Sicily () is a Christian saint. Her feast is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania, part of the Roman Province of Sicily, and was martyred . She is one of several virgin martyrs who are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Ma ...

, who died as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

in 251.

History

The initial development of Sainte-Agathe-de-Lotbinière is linked to the construction of the ''chemins'' Craig and

Gosford Gosford is a waterfront city at the northern end of Brisbane Water on the Central Coast in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Gosford Waterfront is known for its boating and scenic views on the shores of Brisbane Water. Gosford is ...

Roads in the mid-19th century. The first road constructed within the lands was Craig Road (now Quebec Route 269), which was naed after

James Henry Craig General Sir James Henry Craig KB (1748 – 12 January 1812) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor general of British North America from 1807 to 1811. Early life and military service Craig came from a ...

, who was the governor. The construction of the road started in August 1810, and in 1811, people could make the Quebec-Boston trip in winter only since in the summer the road was too bumpy. It is from that road that the first road leading to the territory that would form the Sainte-Agathe was built. The road was named either Harvey Hill or Chemin des Mines for a long time, because it started from the Harvey Hill mine, located south of Craig Road. This road passed through Craig to get to Ste-Agathe. Although the new constitution dates from 1743, following the amalgamation of the village and parish of Sainte-Agathe, the territory was opened to settlers in 1830. This road was opened to prospectors to allow them to find deposits of copper or other metals. In those years, many prospections in the surrounding areas had the aim to find important deposits. It was all abandoned and the Harvey Hill mine closed permanently in 1899. After the construction of this road, settlers settled in the area and practiced agriculture. It was mostly Irish people who settled along the road. Sometime later, another road opened, Gosford Road, which was made to link the Townships of Nelson, Inverness, Halifax, Wolfton, Ham, Weedon, Westbury and Ascot to Quebec City. In those moments, the territory that would come to form the parishes of Sainte-Agathe already had 63 families for 522 total individuals, of which 219 spoke French, and 303 spoke English. There were 1,763 acres under cultivation. It is only some time later that there would be a road to Methot's Mill ( Dosquet). It was the only location where people could receive merchandise and travel by train. There were pathways in the forest that made it possible to travel by foot or by horse but not by car. It was in 1862 that construction began. The total cost was 41 pounds and 16 shillings, which were obtained from the government through MP Mr. H. Joly. The parishes of Sainte-Agathe were merged in 1999.

Geography

Sainte-Agathe-de-Lotbinière's territory, located at the foot of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

, is crossed by small water streams and presents a predominantly agricultural and forestry character. The territory mainly grows a mixed forest and is part of the hemiborated climatic zone. The municipality covers 167.04 km squared of surface area, which is about 10% of the Lotbinière MRC territory. In terms of distance, the citizens need to travel 30 km to get to the ''autoroute'' 20 highway at Laurier-Station and they are located at 45 minutes from

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

, 30 minutes from Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce and from

Thetford Mines Thetford Mines (; Canada 2021 Census population 26,072) is a city in south-central Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of Les Appalaches Regional County Municipality. The city is located in the Appalachian Mountains, 187 km east-northeast of Mo ...

, the main surrounding cities.

Climate

Demography

Population

Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.7,0.9,0.7) ImageSize = width:600 height:350 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:30 top:30 right:50 DateFormat = x.y Period =from:0 till:3000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:400 start:400 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:200 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:2000 bar:2001 text:2001 bar:2002 bar:2003 bar:2004 bar:2005 bar:2006 bar:2007 bar:2008 bar:2009 bar:2010 bar:2011 text:2011 bar:2012 bar:2013 bar:2014 bar:2015 bar:2016 bar:2017 bar:2018 bar:2019 bar:2020 bar:2021 text:2021 PlotData= color:barra width:10 align:left bar:2001 from:0 till: 1238 bar:2006 from:0 till: 1202 bar:2011 from:0 till: 1145 bar:2016 from:0 till: 1168 bar:2021 from:0 till: 1049

Picture Gallery

File:Église Sainte-Agathe de Lotbinière (3).jpg, Sainte-Agathe Church File:Maison Louis-Dumont 2.jpg, Louis-Dumont House File:Sainte-Agathe-de-Lotbinière.jpg, Town File:Pont Rouge 2.jpg, Red Bridge File:Sainte-Agathe-de-Lotbiniere from air 2019.jpg, From the air, 2019 File:Sainte-Agathe-de-Lotbinière (1).jpg, Sainte-Agathe-de-Lotbinière

References

External links

Commission de toponymie du QuébecMinistère des Affaires municipales, des Régions et de l'Occupation du territoire

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sainte-Agathe-De-Lotbiniere, Quebec Municipalities in Quebec Incorporated places in Chaudière-Appalaches 1999 establishments in Quebec Lotbinière Regional County Municipality Canada geography articles needing translation from French Wikipedia