Beloeil, Quebec
Beloeil ( Beloeil also written ) is a city in the southwest of the Canadian province of Quebec. It is located in the Montérégie administrative region, about 30 kilometers east of Montreal. Belœil part of the regional county municipality ( municipalité régional du comté ) La Vallée- du- Richelieu, has an area of 24.09 km ² and has 20.783 inhabitants ( 2011).
Geography
Belœil lies in the region Rive- Sud, on the left bank of the Rivière Richelieu. This tributary of the St. Lawrence River at the same time forms the eastern city limits. The site is due to its location in the St. Lawrence Lowlands is mostly flat; of not overbuilt part is used predominantly agricultural. On the opposite side of the river of 414 meters high Mont Saint- Hilaire protrudes This was formerly called Mont Beloeil, is one of the Montérégie hills and forms a highly visible landmark. There are two historic centers around the church and around the station, which gradually merged in the 1950s. Belœil is grown together to form an agglomeration with more than five thousand inhabitants with McMasterville, Mont -Saint -Hilaire and Otterburn Park.
Neighboring communities are Saint -Marc- sur -Richelieu in the north, Saint -Charles -sur -Richelieu in the northeast, Mont -Saint -Hilaire in the east, Otterburn Park in the southeast, McMasterville in the south, Saint -Basile -le- Grand in the southwest and Saint -Mathieu -de- Beloeil in the West.
History
While there are several indications of a settlement by indigenous natives along the Rivière Richelieu, within the urban area itself was but so far no archaeological finds. Governor Louis de Buade de Frontenac transferred in 1694 a basic rule along the river to the officer Joseph -François Hertel de la Fresnière that Seigneurie Belœil. The name should be attributed to his son Jean -Baptiste, who had risen to the Mont Saint- Hilaire and is said to have raved about the beautiful view ( " quelle belle oeil " ). Hertel would not give up his military career and decided not to develop the area. In 1711 he sold the Seigneurie to Charles Le Moyne, the owner of the neighboring Seigneurie Longueuil. The permanent settlement finally began in 1725, after long-range land clearing had been made.
The village was in 1772 a chapel, which belonged to the parish of Saint -Mathieu -de- Beloeil. Between 1784 and 1787 the first church was built. This was burning in the course of its history twice from, in the years 1817 and 1895. In December 1848, the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad took over the railway line from Montreal to Saint- Hyacinthe in operation, the first section of the railway Montreal Iceland Pond. The route passed Belœil two kilometers south of the church and crossed the river on a swing bridge. In the environment of the railway station is a small hamlet developed. Among the buildings included some summer houses, which had been especially built by Montraler citizens along the Rivière Richelieu.
1855, a year after the abolition of the seigneurial regime, the community Belœil was founded. On June 29, 1864, on the bridge took the heaviest railway accident in Canada, as a passenger train ignored the stop signal before the open swing bridge and plunged into the river; in this accident 99 people died. Industrialization began in 1878, when the Hamilton Powder Company an explosive factory opened south of the station (on the territory of today McMasterville ). In 1903 the settlement was joined to the railway station to the town of Beloeil. This was awarded city status in 1914.
Although Montral was only a few kilometers away, a direct road link to the nearby big city was built only in 1940. In the 1950s, the population increased to almost 6,000 people. Spatially, the two settlements were now grown together to form a single city. 1964 was the city's connection to the motorway network. Today Belœil is considered Suburb city of the metropolitan area of Montreal. Since 2000, the city is a member of the administration union Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal.
Population
According to the 2011 census counted 20.783 inhabitants Belœil, which corresponds to a population density of 862.7 inh. / Km ². 94.6 % of the population reported French as the main language, the proportion of English was 2.3 %. As a bilingual ( French and English) is designated 0.8 %, to other languages and multiple responses accounted for 2.3%. Only 53.5 % spoke French. In 2001, 90.7 % of the population were Roman Catholic, 3.1 % Protestant, and 5.3 % non-denominational.
Traffic
The northern suburbs along runs in east-west direction, the Autoroute 20 This system for the Trans-Canada Highway belonging highway connecting Montreal with Lévis. Also between these two cities, the route 116, one of the major national main roads of the province. The side of the river follows the route 133 between Sorel - Tracy and Saint -Jean -sur- Richelieu. Passenger traffic on the railway line had been temporarily suspended in 1988. It was resumed in 2000, but the station of Belœil remained closed. AMT Suburban trains therefore in neighboring McMasterville. In addition, several bus lines of the company CIT de la Vallée du Richelieu connect the city with Montreal, Longueuil and Saint- Hyacinthe.
Personalities
- Louis -Philippe Brodeur (1862-1924), politician
- Philippe -Auguste Choquette (1854-1948), politician