Pointe-au-Père, Quebec

Pointe -au -Père is a former municipality in the province of Quebec, Canada, which is incorporated in the city of Rimouski since 2002. In its merger in 2002, the municipality had 4240 inhabitants.

Pointe -au -Père is located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence estuary, 280 km northeast of the city of Québec and 8 km northeast from the center of Rimouski. Before the village there is a flat ledge, on the since 1859 the lighthouse of Pointe -au -Père is.

The name of Pointe -au -Père ( dt peak of the father) goes back to the first exhibition on the South Shore of the St. Lawrence estuary, which was celebrated on December 8, 1663 by the Jesuit Father Henri Nouvel. Since 1873, Pointe -au -Père was a place of pilgrimage. In 1882 the parish and the community ( municipalité de paroisse ) officially established by the name of Sainte -Anne -de- la- Pointe -au- Père. 1988, the community name was shortened to Pointe -au- Père. The village used in English Father 's Point or Father Point was named.

From 1863 to 1959 Pointe -au -Père was the pilot station for navigation in the St. Lawrence estuary between Rimouski and Québec. 1902, the first pier was built. The hamlet was later enlarged and provided with railway connection and tanks with petroleum products. At the time the steamer Atlantic, there was a special mail train from Montreal to Pointe -au -Père, where the first / last mail was brought to the ship. With the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959 the navigation route was moved to the north side of the estuary and the pilot station was moved in 1960 to Les Escoumins. The port facilities were later taken out of service.

On May 29, 1914, the passenger liner Empress of Ireland sank near Pointe -au- Père. This 1012, the 1477 people came on board lost their lives. Today, the Musée de la mer recalls ( Museum of the Sea ) to this shipwreck.

Since 1897 there were in Pointe -au -Père a level which was moved in 1983 to the neighboring port of Rimouski. The level of Pointe -au -Père serving since 1955 as the reference point of the international date the Great Lakes, and as a reference point of the North American Vertical date of 1988.

Swell

• Commission de du Québec toponymy: Noms et lieux du Québec: dictionnaire illustré. Les Publications du Québec, Québec 2006, ISBN 2-551-19669-8.