Historical sites

The Lamontagne house

Built in 1750 by Marie-Agnès Lepage and her husband Basile Côté, the Maison Lamontagne in Rimouski represents one of the last examples in North America of a method of construction inherited from the Middle Ages: pierroté half-timbering. Listed as a historic monument in 1974, the house was opened to the public as a museum and interpretation center for Quebec's domestic architecture in 1982.

"The place takes its name from the seigneury of Terrebonne or Terbonne, granted on the banks of the Mille-Îles river in 1673 to André Daulier Des Landes (circa 1653-1715), who attributed this domination to it because of fertility lands, like several ranks in Quebec also bearing the name of Terrebonne. In 1722, the boundaries of the parish of Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne were fixed. (…) Saint Louis de Terrebonne recalls Father Louis Lepage de Sainte-Claire (1690-1762), (…) Lord of Terrebonne in 1731, who built the first church (1734), the first manor (1735), as well as a sawmill and a flour mill. This name (Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne) will be taken over by the parish municipality created in 1855. As for the municipality of the village of Terrebonne, it was created in 1853. Became city of Terrebonne in 1860, it merged with the municipality of the parish in 1985 to form the current municipal entity. "In 2001, a new f usion took place with the municipalities of La Plaine and Lachenaie ".

Terrebonne

"With La Plaine, Mascouche and Lachenaie, Terrebonne contributes to forming the territory of the MRC des Moulins, where it ranks second in extent, but the first in terms of demography. Barely 12 km from Montreal, including it contributes to forming the suburban ring, Terrebonne is bathed by the waters of the Mille Îles river, of which it occupies the north shore, 7 km southwest of Mascouche.

The Mascouche River flows in the northern part of the territory. The nearby Ile des Moulins remains an exceptional historical site with its old buildings and vast green spaces, classified as a historic district a few years ago. The place takes its name from the seigneury of Terrebonne or Terbonne, granted on the banks of the Mille Îles river in 1673 to André Daulier Des Landes (circa 1653-1715), who gives it this name because of the fertility of the land , like several ranks in Quebec also bearing the name Terrebonne.

In 1722, the limits of the parish of Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne were fixed by decree of the King's Council of State and the first decree of canonical erection adopted in 1723. However, in 1835, the sanction of 'a second decree of erection. The name chosen recalls Father Louis Lepage de Sainte-Claire (1690-1762), son of the first lord of Rimouski, René Lepage, lord of Terrebonne in 1731, who built the first church, the first manor (1735), as well as than a sawmill and a flour mill.

This name will be taken over by the parish municipality created in 1855. As for the municipality of the village of Terrebonne, it was created in 1853. Became city of Terrebonne in 1860, the latter and that of the parish merged in 1985 to form the current municipal entity. It should be noted that obtaining city status in 1860 underlines the importance of the place with its some 2 inhabitants, its college (Masson), its convent, to which a newspaper, a bank and business establishments.

A flourishing place at the end of the XNUMXth century^e century, Terrebonne experienced a big fire in 1922 which destroyed a good part of the locality. After 1945, the people of Terrebonne mainly considered their city to be part of the greater Montreal suburbs. Nearly 650 businesses provide residents with access to a wide range of products and services. This town is twinned with Vitré in France ".

L'Ile des Moulins

HISTORY

"L'Île-des-Moulins was a prosperous pre-industrial complex in the 19^e century. The production activities were very diversified: forge, sawmill, flour mill, carding mill, bakery, oven to dry wheat and mill to saw stone.

Even today, when you come to visit Île-des-Moulins, you can admire some of these majestic buildings that have stood the test of time and that still stand proudly.

On December 23, 1673, André Daulier-Deslandes, secretary of the Compagnie des Indes Occidentales, received a piece of land in New France. Land without a name, he decides to baptize his seigneury Terbonne! "Terbonne" out of mockery, because one of his luckier friends obtained a barony in Switzerland which he named Aubonne. Daulier-Deslandes never set foot on his good soil.

Île-des-Moulins, an integral part of the seigneury of Terrebonne, quickly became the heart of this territory. The lords following Daulier-Deslandes harnessed the river, had new mills built, service and production buildings; they turned it into a real pre-industrial complex. Among these many lords, there were several avant-garde men and a leading woman… Their names are: Louis Lepage, Simon McTavish, Joseph Masson and Geneviève-Sophie Raymond Masson.

Louis Lepage, parish priest of Île Jésus, is a very enterprising man, a man who sees big. When he bought the seigneury of Terrebonne in 1721, he immediately noticed the driving potential offered by the river that bathes Île-des-Moulins. Indeed, this river with powerful flow and at the bottom of pebbles, once harnessed, allows him to turn the wheels of the mills he is building.

He first had a church and a manor built, which also served as a presbytery. In 1721, this same priest had a flour mill erected (ordinary mill) and in 1725, the sawmill was inaugurated. Production is going well and the years are prosperous ...
This is how Louis Lepage asked the king for permission to build a forge. Too impatient and too sure of himself to wait for the slow response, Lepage borrows the necessary capital and begins construction. As everything comes to an end, the king's response finally arrives: a real cold shower for Father Lepage. The king does not accede to his request since he has just financed the forges of St-Maurice. The investors want to be reimbursed and this is how Louis Lepage must sell his beautiful seigneury and pack up his bags ".

History of mills

The example of the Isle of the Mills shows us the importance of the mills under the French regime and then under the reign of the Scottish merchants. As early as 1707, the inhabitants of Terrebonne obtained permission to build a “hydraulic” mill on the Mille Isles river and from 1721 it was reported that there was a causeway linking the Île des Moulins to the shore of the town of Terrebonne. Lord Louis Lepage operates a flour mill and a sawmill.

The arrival of the Scottish lords Jacob Jordan and Simon McTavish will give, from 1784, a formidable impetus to the site which becomes a commercial and industrial center, place of meetings and exchanges with the Pays d'en Haut. At the head of the North West Company, McTavish and his heirs will build new flour mills, saw mills, with large docks on the rock beds of the river, adding a bakery, secondary outbuildings. In 1815, Joseph Bouchette reported that the Terrebonne mills were the most complete and best built in the country. It was the decline in the fur trade that led to the slowdown in activities. The site is no longer frequented except by farmers from the region. With the arrival of Joseph Masson, the physiognomy of the island changes. Granaries were added, a forge, farm buildings, new mechanisms for the mills built on the roadway, a seigneurial office, a carding mill and later his widow had the new mill built.

The Ile des Moulins will no longer regain its former importance. The buildings are deteriorating but the site retains its character. In 1945, Sylva Lamothe acquired the entire hydraulic power system. The site continues to deteriorate to become a swimming center and a land for the rental of mobile homes. On May 22, 1974, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs acquired the site by expropriation.
Restoration and reconstruction of buildings

Despite multiple transformations, the site still bore traces of some buildings of interest, such as a flour mill, a carding and saw mill, the seigneurial office, the bakery and the new mill. These are the buildings that we decided to restore.

The new mill

Built in 1850, the new mill is the largest and best located building on the Île des Moulins. It was to replace the old carding mill which in 1870 no longer existed. They made "cloths and satin" there for the son of Joseph Masson, Lord of Terrebonne. The textile vocation of the mill is abandoned and the mill deserted after the fire of 1909 which was to seriously damage it. The reconstruction of the original roof of the new mill, with a row of dormers on each side, will make this building a remarkable construction.
The flour mill

Built in 1846 in sawn stone, this mill has a single story on the side of the dike and two floors on the side of the bridge. At the end of the XNUMXth century, another floor was added, covered with a sloping roof like that of the adjacent building and the new mill. Its construction was to involve considerable work in the bed of the Mille Isles river as far as Saint-Eustache in order to guarantee a suitable water flow.

The case of the flour mill resembles that of the new mill: it is a restitution of form. The most important operation of the restoration is to remove the third story and restore the roof to its original angle.

The bakery

Built in the 1800s by carpenters and masons from Terrebonne, it had three floors and served as a residence, a warehouse for grain and lumber, and a meeting place. Bread and biscuits were made there until 1815. Having lost its original function, due to the fire of 1875, it was in poor condition in 1974, but its solid remains required restoration because the bakery remained the only building "of French spirit."
The seigneurial office

It is the best preserved building. It has a characteristic that should be emphasized, that of its double masonry device. The facade and the two side walls are in freestone and the west facade in rubble stone. This stately office has undeniable historical value because it is a good example of urban architecture from the mid-XNUMXth century.^e century. It was in this building that the affairs of the seigneury were discussed and settled.

The sawmill

Built in wood, we know that it was burnt down several times, rebuilt and rehabilitated for the last time in 1804. In the 1720s, Île des Moulins was linked to the mainland by a stone and masonry causeway. where were installed at the entrance a flour mill and, fifty feet further, another "water mill with two saws making boards". In XX^e century, there was still a sawmill on this road, with its outbuildings. The island of the mills was then used as a wooden enclosure. All these restorations and constructions will also affect the dams and the reconstructed bridge to be the replica of the XNUMXth century wooden bridge.