Fort-Coulonge, Quebec

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Fort Coulonge is a village in the Pontiac Regional County Municipality in western Quebec (45°50.5567′N 76°44.2362′WCoordinates: 45°50.5567′N 76°44.2362′W). Its population in 2001 was 1,661, making it the most populous non-rural municipality in the county. [1] It is also the francophone centre of the otherwise largely anglophone Pontiac MRC, with 82.3 per cent listing French as their mother tongue in the 2001 Census. [2]

[edit] History

Nicholas d'Ailleboust, Sieur de Coulonge, spent the winter of 1694-95 near the mouth of the Coulonge River and so established one of the first settlements on the Ottawa River.

The first trading post was called Fort-Coulonge. In 1760, the Northwest Company took over its management and in 1821, the Fort became the property of the Hudson's Bay Company. Until 1828, it served as the head post on the Ottawa River. The post's 655-acre (2.7 km²) farm was sold in 1844 and the buildings in 1855. The trading post became the village of Fort-Coulonge situated several kilometres down river.

The region's first sawmill was built by George Bryson in 1843. The first wooden chapel was built in 1873. It was destroyed by fire and replaced by a brick church in 1884. In 1886, the railway reached Fort-Coulonge. Fort-Coulonge became a municipality in 1888 and John Bryson was the first mayor.