newspaper of June 23 rd, 1982 for Lorrainville's 75 th anniversary.
[Lorrainville's origins] [With the passing years] [A municipal complex adventure]
[Lorrainville at "divorcing" time] [Lorrainville's development]
The village of Lorrainville was named upon the memory of Mgr Narcisse-Zéphirin Lorrain (1842-1915), bishop of the Pembroke diocese of which
Lorrainville was part of at that time. Mgr Lorrain was in charge of missions on lake Temiscamingue. His armorial bearings were used by the
parish. The inhabitants' name is "Lorrainvillois" (man) and "Lorrainvilloise" (woman).
In 1884, it could take up to 2 days to get from Lorrainvville to Ville-Marie, a distance of
5 miles (8 km).
The families established in Lorrainville (in the Duhamel and Laverlochère townships) had
to wait until 1892 to get their own mission. In 1906, the "Oblats de Marie-Immaculée"
received the mandate to evangelize the Upper Ottawa River and gave upone of the
missions: Lorrainville.
Coming from established parishes of central of Quebec, mainly Saint-Didace and
Saint-Gérard-de-Mandeville for Lorrainville's pionners, as well as from exile from the
United States, the first settlers are in a hurry to give themselves municipal structures.
Lorrainville is developping itself in the clearing of the plots 28 of Georges Jodoin and 38
of Isaie Dufresne in 1885, which will become today's concesion road 6 and 7 south. If
Lorrainville was at the beginning only a few cleared plots of land in the Duhamel township,
it afterwardsbecame a district of the "Conseil municipal du Témiscamingue"
(Temiscamingue Municipal Council).
Ville-Marie being erected a municipality in 1897, the "Conseil municipal du Témiscamingue"
(Temiscamingue Municipal Council) is split apart and Lorrainville is part of the new
"Conseil municipal du Canton de Duhamel" (Duhamel Township Municipal Council),
council resulting of the splitting from the "Conseil municipal du Témiscamingue"
(Temiscamingue Municipal Council) on April 4 th, 1898. The first mayor of this new council
was Mr. Alfred Miron and the first secretary, Jules Maillart. The first meeting of the
"Conseil municipal du canton Duhamel" (Duhamel Municipal Township Council) is held on
June 5 th, 1899.
While roads and plots of land are registered for the colonization of the Temiscamingue lands, history goes on... And on January 15 th 1900,
Jules Dumais becomes mayor.
On February 4 th, 1901, Mr Jos Bellehumeur is elected mayor of the municipality despite protests to elect Jules Dumais. The same year, the
"Compagnie d'Assurance Mutuelle contre le feu du Témiscamingue" establishes its office in Lorrainville.
On February 3 rd, 1902, Mr. Jos Bellehumeur is reelected mayor, again under protests.
The first of February 1903, Mr. Elzéar Guay is elected mayor. He resigns during the same year and Mr. Jules Dumais is then elected mayor.
1906 - Joseph (Pitre) Bellehumeur of Béarn becomes retailer. Then his sons Sylvio, Joseph and Léonard took over the business one after the
other and finally Paul-Émile, son of Léonard, becomes owner of the general store. This store doesn't exist any more and the site is now occupied
by Casse-Croûte Bournival (a snack bar).
As soon as 1907, registers are opened and, in 1909, Lorrainville welcomes its first home priest. You may visit our historical page on the church
for more details on the religious history.
Time goes by and a group of people established in Duhamel-Ouest decided to take charge of their municipal destiny. So, on February 7 th, 1910,
Jos Bellehumeur, Alphonse Lavallée and Stanislas Larouche are "nominated" in the committee, with the secretary, to proceed to the splitting of
the assets and dues with the new municipality of Duhamel-Ouest Council. Mr Narcisse Bordeleau, elected mayor on February 21 st 1910, will
become a member of the committee too.
Tlit will take place. The last minutes of the Municipalité du canton Duhamel (Duhamel Township Municipality) is dated of October 7 th, 1912 and,
curiouslyenough, the secretary notes th absence of quorum. Because of this, a special meeting will be held on October 14 th. The minutes of this
meeting became the first minutes of the new "Municipalité de Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes de Lorrainville". The municipality will receive its letters of
patent on January 1 st, 1913. The mayor was then Mr Joseph Bellehumeur, reelected mayor on February 5 th, 1912, and mayor since
February 6 th, 1911.
The year after, on February 3 rd 1913, Mr Jules Dumais is elected mayor of the municipality and the history slowly keeps on going, while services
to tax payers are developped.
In 1915, a community hall is built where citizens will present theater plays in order to help the parish finances and where actors themselves had
to pay their entrance ticket. We remember Hyacinthe Lasalle, Edmond Lacasse, Josaphat Baril, Napoléon Bouchard and Pierre Plante.
Base-ball is also present and Lorrainville has its team.
station chief in a mister Caron. Many businesses installed themselves one after an other.
1930 will witness the division of the "Municipalité de Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes" in two municipalities. This division occured because of an
absence of agreement upon the cost of a new aqueduct. This aqueduct was built by "Cie Industrielle", established for this matter in 1927. This
compagny will be sold to the municipality of the village in 1960. In 1965, an aqueduct has to be built and the municipality needed a loan of
$182,500 for 40 years.
The village of Lorraiville is erected on April 14 th 1930 and, on June 2 nd, the first general meeting of the municipal council of the Lorrainville
village is held. The mayor is then M. Eddy Guimond and the councillors are Josaphat Baril, Hormidas Dubois, Joseph Bernèche and Séraphin
Barrette. The mayor of the parish (or countryside) is Mr. Wilfrid Giroux.
Lorrainville celebrates its 75th anniversary in 1982.
Finally, The Municipality of Lorrainville is born from the fusion of the village of Lorrainville and the parish of
"Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes-de-Lorrainville", on February 16 th, 1994.
ad a bakery later on. Like in any good village of that time, Lorrainville can count on the services of a blacksmith, Mr. Edmond Lacasse. As we
saw it above, a general store is very early established.
municipality will buy a brand new firemen truck. Today, the municipality has a new fire
station and trucks ready to fight fire anytime, with the assistance of underground
water tanks along the country road.
