Richmond, Quebec

Richmond, population 3,232 (2016), is a town nestled amidst rolling farmlands on the Saint-François River between Sherbrooke and Drummondville, in the heart of Estrie in Quebec, Canada.

Originally settled by colonists from New England, Montreal and the Richelieu River valley circa 1798, Richmond is one of the oldest settlements in the former region of the Eastern Townships.

Richmond grew in importance during the 1800s when it became a key railway junction. The St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad opened between Montreal and Portland, Maine, on April 4, 1853 and was purchased four months later and absorbed into the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR)'s system. Two years later, the GTR opened a line from the mainline in Richmond northeast to Lévis to connect Montreal with Quebec City. The line was eventually extended further east to Rivière-du-Loup and a connection with the Intercolonial Railway, which operated trains on the GTR through Richmond to Montreal until 1897.

The town itself was first called Richmond in 1820, when a post office was inaugurated. By the 1860s Richmond was an important centre, with a college, literary institute and a public library.

Richmond's importance has waned since the 1930s, however, as the railways have also come to play a lesser role in the economy. The GTR was absorbed into the Canadian National Railways (CNR) and the line to Levis was abandoned in favour of more direct lines from Montreal to Quebec City. In 1989, CNR sold the entire railway line from Montreal to Portland, via Richmond, to a short line operator.

Industrial development Slate mines By the nineteenth century, Richmond had become the main place for slate mining and production in Canada. There were a dozen slate quarries, the largest being the Melbourne Quarry, also known as Walton's Quarry, and the New Rockland Quarry, located in Melbourne (Kingsbury). Towards the end of the nineteenth century, about 80% of the roofing slates on the Canadian market were produced in these 2 mines. The last quarry ceased operations in 1924^[5].

Many buildings in Richmond still have slate roofs. The Slate Interpretation Centre, located at 5 Belmont Richmond Street, was founded in 1992. It is located in the former St. Paul's Church, built in 1889; The building has an original roof and a slate bell tower. The mission of the Slate Centre is to promote the history of this material and its use throughout history. The Richmond Region credit union is called the Caisse de l'Ardoise[13]..

First dairy It was under the name of "Laiterie Janesville" that Charles Lampron founded his dairy in 1928. Janesville was a working-class neighbourhood in Richmond on the north end of the city, most of which was originally owned by Eliza Jane Mulvena, hence the name Janesville (Town of Jane), who had inherited a much larger parcel of land from her father John Mulvena 1785-1867, Lot 19 which she later subdivided to allow for the present housing development beginning in 1862 (see John Mulvena's will 16 July 1862). In 1931, Charles Lampron's herd was five cows, the distribution reached 50 pints/day and the delivery was made by a horse-drawn carriage. Charles is helped by his son Armand who works very hard. In 1946, the father/son duo was doing so well that it was decided to buy the clientele of the "Comisky Brothers" who distributed their natural milk in the other part of the city. In 1951, faced with an ever-increasing clientele, with sales of more than 250 pints/day, the time had now come for the Lamprons to start pasteurizing because this new technique was more and more in demand. In 1953, the capacity of the equipment, although still young and modern, was no longer sufficient for the task. The surface cooler must be replaced by a new system called "A.P.V. System" which is a plate cooler. We also need to change the 500 pints/day bottling machine to a more efficient one because production has now increased to more than 550 pints/day. We are also taking the opportunity to add another delivery car to better serve another district of Richmond.

After the death of Charles Lampron in 1957, Armand continued to work alone and remained the sole owner of the "Laiterie Janesville". However, with the expansion of the territory now served, the dairy will now be called "Richmond Dairy". The distribution exceeds 1000 pints/day and milk retails between 19 and 25 cents per pint; Armand quickly turned to other producers in the region for supplies: Messrs. G. Crack, L.P. Lemire, E. Comisky, W. Lavigne and Armand Fortier who have Jersey and crossbred herds, produce and sell their milk at the "Richmond Dairy". It was Rosaire Gagné and Donat Cloutier who took care of the large herd of the Lampron farm; 25 animals crossed and in full health. In the mid-1960s, another expansion and modernization was carried out. It was during these years that it was decided to change the name of the dairy to "Laiterie Lampron" Armand is happy and grateful to the whole team, among others: Omer Guimond helped by his son Jean from 1952 to 1970, In 1972, with the end of glass pints, Armand sold his milk routes to the Lamothe dairy (Drummondville) and closed the "Laiterie Lampron" for good[14].

Footwear industry Richmond prospered in the first half of the twentieth century, when more than 300 people worked at the Canadian National Railway (CNR), which later became CN. In the 1950s, Richmond had 4 shoe manufacturing plants: H.H. Brown, The Duchess, Teen Age Shoe, La Diva Shoe as well as a heel manufacturing plant: Bennett's. In total, more than 1,000 people worked there full-time.

Industrial Promotion Committee The Richmond Industrial Promotion Committee (CPIR) is a para-municipal organization, founded in the mid-1980s. Its mission is to promote the establishment of new businesses or the expansion of existing businesses by providing entrepreneurs with efficient and affordable industrial premises. One of its first tenants, Gel-Gar Textiles Inc., occupied the first industrial motel to be built at 327 9th Avenue until it closed in 2007[15]. The CPIR owns (as of 2010) ten (10) industrial motels, which it leases with an option to purchase, to a variety of industries.

In the late 1990s, H.H. Brown Shoes Canada, the city's largest employer (320 employees), closed its doors due to the emergence of Asian economies. The City of Richmond was the majority owner of the buildings leased by this company. His departure left nearly 160,000 ft. square areas (approximately 15,000 m2) of empty area. It was at this time that the CPIR took action to recreate jobs, whose first major achievement, after the closure of H.H. Brown Shoes Canada, was the intermodal station. In December 2010, ten years after the company closed, Richmond recovered all the jobs lost and even surpassed the total[16].

Businesses in the industrial park The Richmond Industrial Park is home to a variety of companies that are firmly rooted in their field:

Godin Guitars - Guitabec - Electric Guitar Manufacturer. Richmond Logistics - Intermodal (truck-rail) warehousing and transload centre. Specialized Gears - Machining of gears of all types Uni Tires & Retreading Inc - Truck Tire Retreading. Richmond Enr Cookie Cutters - General welding, die-cutters. SOPREMA Resistoseal Division - Distribution of waterproofing products (roofs and foundations). Novus Packaging - Manufacturer of products to serve the flexible packaging industry. Pratiko inc. (Composite Hightech) Techni Flamme Combustion - Contractor and consultant in the fields of industrial combustion. Thermo 2000 - Water Heater Manufacturer Produits Hévéa - Manufacturer of rubber products. Exo-s (formerly Camoplast Solideal) - Exposed Auto Parts, Recreational and Utility Vehicle Parts/Parts. Codet Inc - Workwear Manufacturer. Solar Pro - Tanning Equipment Manufacturer Biocardel SM - Produces oil used to make biodiesel. The Frank Lareau Group - Wood shavings bagging plant Groupe Gaston Côté - Manufacturer of prefabricated walls, roof trusses and floor joists in 3 plants in Richmond. Richmond businesses, outside the industrial park Innotex - Manufacturer of flame retardant safety clothing. Plastik M.P. - Manufacturer of plastic parts using thermoforming technology. Distribution Yvon Dupuis Inc. - Cosmetics, Import and Distribution. La Maison Canelle - Gluten-free and lactose-free ready meals. Exocet Art Ironwork - Design and manufacture of artistic ironwork Pro-Hill Marketing Inc. Melbourne Sawmill (1989) Inc. - Hardwood sawmill. Demix Richmond Concrete - Pre-mixed concrete. Béton Royal 2000 - Concrete manufacturing, ready-mix and pouring. Bull's Head Beverages - Manufacturer and distributor of Bull's Head Brand Ginger Ale (ginger ale known for over 110 years). Comeau Store Source: - Répertoire des entreprises du Val Saint-François [archive] Consulted in December 2010.

Richmond as it exists today was created on December 29, 1999 following the merger of the "old" town of Richmond on the right bank of the Saint-François and the village of Melbourne, located on the other side.

The name Richmond is in memory of Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond and Lennox (1764–1819), Governor General of Upper Canada from 1818 to 1819.

The origin of the name Melbourne is uncertain, but the village is believed to have been named for Melbourne, Derbyshire or Melbourne, Hampshire.

Richmond has a humid continental climate^[6] typical of southern Quebec. Precipitation is high year-round, resulting in warm to hot, humid summers and cold, snowy winters. There is a significant temperature difference between seasons as typical of the North American interior, with 25.8 °C (78.4 °F) as July high and −4.9 °C (23.2 °F) as the high for January.^[7]

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Richmond had a population of 3,259 living in 1,609 of its 1,720 total private dwellings, a change of 0.8% from its 2016 population of 3,232. With a land area of 6.98 km² (2.69 sq mi), it had a population density of 466.9/km² (1,209.3/sq mi) in 2021.^[10]

Mother tongue (2011)^[3]

• Joseph Bédard (October 23, 1835 – May 4, 1912), merchant and political figure in Quebec.
• Sylvain Lefebvre (born October 14, 1967), former ice hockey defenceman who played on five National Hockey League teams from 1989 to 2003
• Walter George Mitchell (May 30, 1877 – April 3, 1935), Canadian lawyer and politician.
• Peter Samuel George Mackenzie (1862–1914), lawyer and politician, Minister of Finance in the government of Quebec
• Mack Sennett, Hollywood director/pioneer
• Yvon Vallières, politician and teacher
• Paul Ignatieff June 30/July 12, 1870 – August 12, 1945) was an Imperial Russian politician who served as Education Minister for Tsar Nicholas II.

• The reverse side of the 1954-series Canadian $2 bill featured a view of the village of Melbourne.
• Richmond plays host to the second largest St. Patrick's Day Parade in the province of Quebec, behind only Montreal.

• List of anglophone communities in Quebec
• List of cities in Quebec