Lac-Mégantic, Quebec

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lac-Mégantic is a town in southeastern Quebec, Canada on a lake of the same name. Situated in Frontenac County in the historic Eastern Townships, Lac-Mégantic is the seat of Le Granit Regional County Municipality.

[edit] Statistics

According to the Canada 2001 Census:

• Population: 5,897
• % Change (1996-2001): 0.6
• Dwellings: 2,754
• Area (km².): 21.76
• Density (persons per km².): 271.0

[edit] History

Formerly called Megantic, the town was founded in 1884 after the Canadian Pacific Railway began construction of the final segment in its transcontinental railway linking Montreal with the Atlantic Ocean port of Saint John, New Brunswick; the CPR subsidiary International Railway of Maine opened in 1889. Lac-Mégantic was also situated on a line of the Quebec Central Railway, making the town an important junction. Today, the Quebec Central line is gone and the CPR line has been sold to the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway. VIA Rail service provided by the Atlantic was cut in December 1994.

The town derives its name from the adjacent Lac Mégantic, located on the municipality's southern boundary. Although the railway has declined in recent decades, Lac-Mégantic remains an important lumbering and farming centre. Other industries have included a paper-printing plant, a sash-and-door factory, saw mills, and a butter, cheese, and cheese box factory.

The town is home to the now-decommissioned Megantic Airport, as well as a junior college, Centre d’études collégiales de Lac-Mégantic. A weekly newspaper is published in the town, L'Écho de Frontenac.