Country Canada RCM La Vallée-du-Richelieu Time zone EST (UTC−5) Area 45.5 km² Province Québec | Region Montérégie Constituted March 12, 1966 Postal code(s) J3H Population 18,200 (2011) Local time Friday 5:06 PM | |
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Weather -2°C, Wind SW at 11 km/h, 41% Humidity Points of interest Gault Nature Reserve, The Museum of Fine Arts, Ciné‑Parc Mont St‑Hilaire, Mont Saint‑Hilaire, Maison Des Cultures | ||
Mont-Saint-Hilaire is an off-island suburb of Montreal in southeastern Quebec, Canada, on the Richelieu River in the Regional County Municipality of La Vallée-du-Richelieu. The population as of the Canada 2011 Census was 18,200. The city is named after the Mont Saint-Hilaire.
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Map of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, QC, Canada
A significant deposit of the semi-precious mineral sodalite is located near Mont-Saint-Hilaire.
History
Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville was granted the seignory of the region in 1694. By 1745 a mountain village had been formed with the first chapel being built in 1798 near the Richelieu River. Nearly twenty years later, in 1822, a ferry operating between Beloeil and Mont-Saint-Hilaire came into service. A bridge, enabling Beloeil and St. Hilaire to be connected by rail, was built in 1848 by the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway. The Campbell family, owners of the mountain after that of Rouville, sold the mountain to a British officer, Brigadier-General Andrew Gault, in whose ownership it remained for 45 years. Gault then bequeathed the mountain to McGill University before his death in 1958.
Transportation
Mont-Saint-Hilaire is served by the Mont-Saint-Hilaire commuter rail station on the Agence métropolitaine de transport's Mont-Saint-Hilaire Line. Local bus service is provided by the CIT de la Vallée du Richelieu.
In 1864, Canada's worst rail disaster occurred here when a passenger train passed a red signal and fell off an open swing bridge into the Richelieu River, killing around 99 people.
Attractions
Education
The South Shore Protestant Regional School Board previously served the municipality.