Heritage in Motion : Stéphane Lafrance Photo Conquering the East
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MRC de Coaticook Heritage in motion : Stéphane Lafrance Photo CONQUERING THE EAST The “Pearl of the Eastern Townships”—Coaticook—is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. In the general fervour, it will be a celebration of the history and heritage of the entire region—a return to the roots of our settlement. By Jean-Pierre Kesteman the flow of the Coaticook River Compton, Hereford, and parts The mist is lifting over Translation by Stevenson and its tributaries, the Moe and of Auckland and Stanstead. Saint-Venant. Founded by & Writers Inc. Salmon rivers. The tops of its Here as elsewhere in the French Canadians from the n hills are often forested while Eastern Townships, popula- Richelieu Valley in 1863, this With 19 000 inhabitants in the valleys are remarkably tion came in successive waves, village is proud of its heritage 12 towns and villages, the fertile. first American and British, then church, which dates regional county municipal- Since the settlement era, sud- French-Canadian. from 1875. ity of Coaticook draws its den relief in the landscape has Families from New England Photo: Stéphane Lemire, name from its county town, fostered the use of hydraulic came first, attracted by the Tourisme Cantons-de-l’Est founded in 1864. The town, energy for early manufacturing, fertile and affordable land. like the region, is character- industry, and hydro-electricity. The region did not have ized by the cohabitation of The temperamental flow of many Loyalists. The pion- Anglo-Protestant and French- the Coaticook led most farms eers came from Connecticut, Canadian cultures—a natural and villages to settle on neigh- Massachusetts, and New 5000 people had already settled consequence of its location bouring hills, and water-level Hampshire clearing the rich soil in the territory of the future along the American border at control dams to be built at the east of Stanstead and west of county municipality. Vermont and New Hampshire. Vermont border. Barnston and Compton. They Leaning into the upper part At the start of the region’s arrived from the southwest, AUTONOMOUS HAMLETS of the Appalachian plateau, at settlement, at the end of the departing from Stanstead where At the time, the region was the base of Barnston, Pinnacle, 18th century, the current the American roads ended, and largely influenced by dis- and Hereford mountains, the regional county municipality’s from the northwest, travelling tant trading centres, such as region descends gradually territory covered the townships up the Coaticook River val- Stanstead and Sherbrooke, from the south to north with of Barford, Barnston, Clifton, ley from Lennoxville. By 1830, with the only internal 2 MRC de Coaticook u 2014 stopovers being the villages of wild, but started attracting Barnston Corner and Waterville in 1860 French-Canadian (formerly Ball’s Mills and settlers from the seigneuries Pennoyer’s Mills). Next to the of the Saint Lawrence and “frontier” (the line between Montreal plain. Several uncleared forest and the settled parishes thus came to be: Saint- areas), the site of the future Venant-de-Paquette, Saint- town of Coaticook was but a Malo-d’Auckland, Sainte- bridge, mill, and several farms. Edwidge-de-Clifton, Saint- During the greater part of Herménégilde-de-Barford. The the 19th century, the area’s human landscape had to adapt American population—of evan- to a rougher land (Saint-Malo gelical (Baptist or Methodist) peaks at 500 metres altitude) or atypical faith (Universalist)— and built itself around the par- consisted of a rural society, ish church. The denser forest hard-working and very keen on provided an essential comple- its own political and education ment to modest agricultural systems. Population centred on productivity, with logging oper- hamlets and small villages at ations and the sawmill industry, crossroads or near waterfalls. for example at East Hereford at The streets held stores and the outlet of the Hall Stream. trade shops, a school, and one This waterway is the only one ticular, Compton Township’s Built in 1873, the Milby covered or more Protestant churches. in the region to flow to the model farms were avant-garde bridge spans the Moe River. The fortunes of the Baldwin, Connecticut River. in assembling herds of excel- Typical of the hamlets and Cutting, and Cleveland families Starting in 1880, the emigration lence. The most famous was crossroads in the Eastern were amassed in this region of of many English-Canadians to that of Senator Matthew Henry Townships, Milby also has an prosperous farms. the West enabled a new wave Cochrane, at Hillhurst. As of Anglican church (1869) and a Some of the hamlets and vil- of French and Catholic popu- 1866, his lavish auctions were former one-room schoolhouse lages remain today and have lation, often from the Beauce attracting livestock producers (1822). conserved aspects of their sig- region, first in Compton, then from all over North America, Photo: Stéphane Lemire, nificant religious and civil Barnston, Stanstead East, wanting to acquire the best Tourisme Cantons-de-l’Est heritage: Barnston Corner, Waterville, and Martinville. purebred reproducers. His Moe’s River, Baldwin’s Mills, herd provided the livestock for Way’s Mills, Kingscroft, COMPTON’S Alberta’s first ranches. Milby, Huntingville. Others AGRICULTURAL RICHES For its part, the dairy sector are but the name of a cross- In the middle of the region, the enjoyed success in processing roads, cemetery, or road: fertile lands of Compton were milk into butter and cheese. In Cassville, Fairfax, Heath for a long time the bastion of 1865, Compton was one of the Corner, Hillhurst, Ladd’s Mill, the rural Anglo-Protestant townships that took cheese pro- Perryboro, Ives Hill, Bickford’s upper class. From the 1860s, its duction from the farm to fac- Corner, Corliss, Malvina... members favoured high-quality tory, with a milk supply from commercial agriculture focused hundreds of cows. Following THE WILDERNESS TO THE EAST on livestock. By importing ani- its example, other regions in Around 1800, the frontier mals from Great Britain in par- Quebec developed their own extended from Waterville to the edge of the Niger River, in Barnston. Twenty years later, settlement had reached east to the villages of Compton and Barnston Corner. Land specu- lation by owners foreign to the region halted the march to the current locations of Coaticook and Dixville. Only the arrival of the railway in 1853 unlocked this territory and fostered fur- ther settlement in the town- ships east of the Coaticook Inspiring a sense of calm and River, up to the American serenity, this agricultural border. landscape in Compton For a long time, the eastern illustrates the rolling hills part of the regional county of the Appalachians. municipality had remained Photo: Lisette Proulx 2014 u MRC de Coaticook 3 communities. Its industrial development in the second half of the 19th century was largely due to the wealth of the Anglophone upper class. By investing in many busi- nesses, it attracted hundreds of working class families, mostly French-Canadian. Between 1880 and 1940, the cohabita- tion of the two communities— which found peaceful ways to share power and enjoy their respective cultures—created a bicultural town. The Catholic elites—such as Reverend Chartier and the Gendreaus, Gérins, and Bachands—rubbed shoulders with the Sleepers, Adams, Thorntons, Clevelands, Akhursts, Lovells, and The Coaticook train station dates dairy industries. Around 1900, along the Coaticook River val- Shurtleffs. from 1904 and reflects what was Coaticook’s Auguste Gérin ley, providing a link to the While Coaticook suffered the then the new Picturesque style owned six butter and cheese Montreal region and to New reversals of deindustrializ- used for the Grand Trunk’s factories that received 21 000 England. The combination ation starting in the 1960s, it stations. Its roundhouse pounds of milk per day. Most of the railway and harness- has since strengthened its role architecture at one end and of his cheddar production was ing of waterfalls—in Dixville, as an administrative, commer- diverse decorative elements exported to the United States, Waterville, and Coaticook— cial, cultural, and tourist cen- earned it a citation as an historic then to Great Britain. added a manufacturing com- tre. Indeed, the territory of site in 1999. The Compton region’s repu- ponent to the economy and its the regional county municipal- Source: Société d’histoire de tation for its agricultural activ- agricultural wealth (see “Of ity has expanded since 1980 to Coaticook ities continues today, in apple Water and Steel,” p. 10). extend from Stanstead East to production and dairy, as well Unlike other towns in the Saint-Malo. as agri-tourism and heritage Eastern Townships, Coaticook With its contrasting human agriculture. was not dominated by a sin- and geographical landscapes, gle industry or large com- diversified economic past, ENGINES OF INDUSTRY pany. It incorporated as a vil- and dynamic agri-tourism, the Lacking in navigable rivers lage in 1864. Like Sherbrooke, region has everything to build to the Saint Lawrence, the although at a smaller scale, on the promise of its future. Eastern Townships unshackled Coaticook enjoyed a diversified n itself with the railway. In industrialization, with the pro- Jean-Pierre Kesteman is a 1853, the Grand Trunk from cessing of wood, the mechan- historian. Longueuil to Portland ran ical industry, and various textile sectors: cotton, wool, hosiery, and narrow fabrics. Agricultural machines were made in n Coaticook, children’s toys, rub- ber goods, lift jacks for loco- motives, and fire hoses. Finally, dairy production strengthened O READ T the presence of creameries and To learn more about cheese factories. Coaticook’s history, read De Barnston à Coaticook. La nais- ONE TOWN, TWO CULTURES sance d’un village industriel en Estrie 1792- 1867 by Jean- The proximity of French- Pierre Kesteman (Éditions Canadian townships to the GGC, 2011).