La Minerve, Quebec

Before the arrival of missionary colonizer Antoine Labelle, journalists of the Montreal newspaper "La Minerve" explored this region between 1880 and 1885. At that time, the Club Island was known as "Governor Island" and belonged to Sir Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau, controller of the newspaper.{{cite web |url=http://www.municipalite.laminerve.qc.ca/fr/historique/index.html |title=Historique |accessdate=2009-04-01 |publisher=Municipalité de La Minerve |language=French}} Afterwards, employees of La Minerve began to strongly encourage the settlement of the area which came to be named after this newspaper.{{cite web |url=http://www.toponymie.gouv.qc.ca/ct/topos/carto.asp?Speci=347587&Latitude=46,25&Longitude=-74,93333&Zoom=1700 |title=La Minerve (Municipalité) |accessdate=2009-04-01 |publisher=Commission de toponymie du Québec |language=French}} The 30 January 1886 edition of La Minerve reported:

{{blockquote|"From Iroquois Chute, you can go on a good road to Minerva Township, where there are several inhabitants and where the chapel, the sawmill needs to be built soon. The site of the village is wonderful. At two miles away, opposite Lake Desert, is Chapleau Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes in this region. There is a beautiful island of 3200 acres of land, fertile and well wooded, which belongs to the Honorable Secretary of State. There is enough to make a princely mansion and enjoy in summer all the benefits of country life and the most beautiful lakes."}}

During the years 1880 to 1890, the government granted the first land concessions. The first settler, Isaac Grégoire, arrived in 1885, and in the fall of the same year, notary Joseph Lefebvre, from Waterloo in the Eastern Townships, and some of his friends came to the area taking possession of some lots in La Minerve. Lefebvre opened a flour mill and a sawmill on the shores of Lake Desert.

In 1892, the Township of La Minerve and its township municipality were formed. In 1896, the post office opened, named Minerve (but renamed to La Minerve in 1949). In 1897, there were {{convert|331|acre|km2}} under cultivation, 13 houses, 4 barns, 40 arpents of fencing (about 2.34 km). Twenty years later in 1917, there were 125 families with a total of 677 inhabitants.

On January 1, 1995, La Minerve absorbed the unorganized territories of Lac-Marie-Le Franc and Lac-aux-Castors located in the Labelle and Gagnon townships, but subsequently lost about {{convert|20|km2|sqmi}} to the Municipality of Labelle. In 1998, the Township Municipality of La Minerve obtained a new legal status and became the Municipality of La Minerve.

{{Canada census

|location = La Minerve

|2021_population=1,421 | 2021_pop_delta=+17.9 | 2021_land_area=274.92 | 2021_pop_density=5.2

|2021_median_age=62.0 | 2021_median_age_m=62.4 | 2021_median_age_f=62.0

|2021_total_pvt_dwell=1,638 |2021_occ_pvt_dwell=767 |2021_mean_hh_income=57,600

|2021_geocode=2021A00052478130 | 2021_access_date=2023-10-19

|2016_population=1,205 |2016_pop_delta=-2.4 |2016_land_area=278.49 |2016_pop_density=4.3

|2016_median_age=60.9 |2016_median_age_m=61.8 |2016_median_age_f=59.8

|2016_total_pvt_dwell=1,674 |2016_mean_hh_income=51,021 |2016_access_date=2022-08-24

|2011_population=1,234 |2011_pop_delta=-4.7 |2011_land_area=278.01 |2011_pop_density=4.4

|2011_median_age=57.7 |2011_median_age_m=57.9 |2011_median_age_f=57.6

|2011_total_pvt_dwell=1,586 |2011_mean_hh_income=45,601 |2011_access_date=2022-08-24

}}

{{Historical populations

| title= Historical Census Data - La Minerve, Quebec

| percentages =

| shading = off

| align = none

| cols = 3

| source = Statistics Canada1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, 2021 census

| 1901 |307

| 1911 |463

| 1921 |684

| 1932 |578

| 1941 |722

| 1951 |813

| 1956 |813

| 1961 |808

| 1966 |762

| 1971 |751

| 1976 |686

| 1981 |734

| 1986 |736

| 1991 |880

| 1996 |927

| 2001 |1080

| 2006 |1295

| 2011 |1234

| 2016 |1205

| 2021 |1421

| footnote =

}}

Mother tongue (2021):

• English as first language: 5.3%
• French as first language: 91.2%
• English and French as first language: 1.4%
• Other as first language: 1.4%

{{expand section|date=September 2017}}

Sainte Agathe Academy (of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board) in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts serves English-speaking students in this community for both elementary and secondary levels."[https://saa.schoolqc.ca/?P=aboutus About Us]." Saint Agathe Academy. Retrieved on September 4, 2017. See [http://www.swlauriersb.qc.ca/docs/Transportation%20maps%20zone/172%20-%20WEB%20STE-AGATHE.pdf Elementary zone map] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904011627/http://www.swlauriersb.qc.ca/docs/Transportation%20maps%20zone/172%20-%20WEB%20STE-AGATHE.pdf |date=2017-09-04 }} and [http://www.swlauriersb.qc.ca/docs/Transportation%20maps%20zone/189%20-%20WEB%20STE-AGATHE%20HS.pdf Secondary zone map] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904011632/http://www.swlauriersb.qc.ca/docs/Transportation%20maps%20zone/189%20-%20WEB%20STE-AGATHE%20HS.pdf |date=2017-09-04 }} - Note that all areas covered in the elementary map are also covered in the secondary one.

{{Reflist|refs=

{{mamrot |type=municipalite |78130}}

{{toponymie |347587}}

{{SCref |year=2021 |unit=csd |code={{#property:P3012}} |access-date=2024-07-10}}

}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{Official website}}

{{Geographic location

| Centre = La Minerve

| North = Nominingue, Rivière-Rouge

| Northeast =

| East = Labelle

| Southeast = Amherst

| South = Lac-des-Plages

| Southwest = Duhamel

| West = Lac-Ernest

| Northwest =

}}

{{Laurentides RCM|state=expanded}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minerve, La}}

Category:Incorporated places in Laurentides

Category:Municipalities in Quebec