Nominingue is above all a lake! On the Indigenous peoples’ route to their hunting and fishing territories. Algonquins, Iroquois and others travelled the tributaries of the Ottawa: the Nord, the Rouge, the Petite-Nation, the Lièvre et the Gatineau. It was their custom to name locations they visited on their travels. Does "Nominingue" have its origins in the Iroquois or the Algonquin languages? Who could tell? According to Mr. B.A. de Montigny, Nominingue means in Iroquois: "red paint". For the Algonquin "Onamani Sakaigan" would be translated as "Vermilion Lake" in reference to the red soil with which some coloured their bodies. But according to Father Lemoine, philologist, Nominingue is an Algonquin word meaning: "A land to which one must return" ... why not?
A natural paradise...At which the King of the North, Antoine Labelle, marvelled and which made him dream of a unique cultural and tourist centre! The founding of Nominingue was quite unique in that even before the arrival of the first settler, the real Nominingue existed on paper, well thought out detailed... a wonderful dream to be fulfilled. In 1881 There was already a classical college which, according to its charter, which had the potential to become a university. The village was laid out with its streets, its surrounding forest, its farmland and its lakes all precisely documented.
Men and women's labour...
On March 30, 1883, from Montréal, Father Marcel Martineau s.j., aged 36, his elderly father Narcisse, his brothers Vital and Charles arrive at Nominingue accompanied by Charles' wife, and their 2 year old daughter Julia. On April 27th Narcisse Martineau's wife arrived to join them, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Herminie, Vital's wife, and her grand-daughters, Maria (10), Rose de Lima (6) and Bernadette (4).
Farms were established and the land was cultivated with the persistence and love of folk dedicated to building a new land. Many of their names live on in the local area:
Lalande, Jetté (1883);
Constantineau, Paiment, Démanche, Boyer, Morand, Laberge (1884);
Loiselle, Lefebvre, Nantel (1885);
Viau, Chalifoux (1887);
Poirier (1888);
Charbonneau (1889);
Forget, Quevillon, Rodier (1893);
Labelle (1895);
Côté, Gagnon, Dusseault (1896);
Lapointe, Levac (1897);
Forget, Beaulieu (1899);
Chartrand, Lacaille (1900);
Croisetière, Gauthier (1901);
They even came from 'la belle France': from the château de Liettres, Pas-de-Calais, a young gentleman, the Baron of Halewyn, sought adventure, hoping to engage in the fur trade. Also coming to Nominingue, invited by Monseigneur Labelle while on a voyage to France: Augustin Varenne (1887), Louis Cornut (1888), Jean-Baptiste Brun (1889), Hypolite Multeau (1898) and Paul Ragot (1904).
Life, day after day... They were farmers, merchants, industrialists; already in 1884 the Jesuits found themselves owners of a versatile facility, a mill for that could both grind flour and saw wood. Four large millstones, preserved to this day are testimony to the existence of this enterprise. This was the first mill in Nominingue, located on the St. Ignace river, not far from Lake Joseph, which, with Lake Ste. Marie provided the flow of water which was its driving force. Later came the mills of Potvin, Godard, Patenaude, Edwards, Lacaille, etc...There was always work: land to cultivate, logging in the winter and the sawmill in the summer - to say nothing of the tourists who needed guides for hunting and fishing.
There were also school masters and school mistresses. As a true Jesuit, father Martineau paid great attention to the education of the young of the town. After several attempts, the Holy Cross nuns finally came to pursue their mission in the north. They established themselves here in 1887, taking charge of the village school. They later established a normal school which later became a homemaking school when a normal school was established in Mont-Laurier. Later, after being rebuilt, this became the institute of family studies. Not to be forgotten are the small rural schools built as needs developed and staffed by dedicated lay teachers.
But what became of the promise of a classical college? The lack of progress in its establishment is one of the causes for the departure of the Jesuits in 1891. That same year, the Chanoines Réguliers de l'Immaculée Conception (cric) (the Roman Catholic order of the Cannons Regular of the Immaculate Conception) left France and came to take their place. Their superior, father Chalumeau opened Nominingue College which gave its first course in 1910. The number of students grew... there were plans to expand. Whatever happened to this grand dream? In 1913 the diocese of Mont-Laurier was formed. It was only natural that the first bishop, Mgr. Brunet dreamt from the time of his arrival of building this college into his seminary. The new academic wing burned: the priests of the Community of Cannons Regular, almost all of whom were French, were called home to serve France in 1914; the operation of the college was then assigned to secular priests... and moved to Mont-Laurier. This college was part of the period of . . .
Growth of Nominingue:
The period when the village had its print shop and newspaper, "L'Ami du Colon" (the Colonists Friend) later "Le Pionier" (the Pioneer). A young 19 year old typographer, Adolphe Ardouin, worked there. The circuit court of the District of Ottawa regularly held sessions in the town hall. The first Caisse populaire (Credit Union) was established in 1908, the eighth established by Alphonse Desjardins himself. It didn't survive, but was reborn in 1939. A small hospital which doubled as an orphanage was run by the Chanoinesses des Cinq Plaies (Roman Catholic order of nuns, the Cannonesses of the Five Wounds) from 1896 to 1914.
Among Nominingue's residents were numerous doctors, lawyers, judges and other professionals.Creativity flourished:
Dominating Lake Nominingue, from a hillside on its shores, was built the "Château Lacaille" (left).The owner, Mr. Sem Lacaille, once offered it to Sir Wilfrid Laurier.Mr. Eugène Patenaude had his private railway, the Trans Nominingue Railway. The village is the northern terminus of the railway from Montréal. Tourism is expanding rapidly.
Nominingue now includes three municipalities: the Village, the township of Loranger and Bellerive-sur-le-Lac. The 3rd of November 1971, an act of council brought about the fusion of the three into the Municipality of Lac-Nominingue.
Nominingue today... Where we still live our history with the vitality brought by those who love this corner of our land. Tourism has made it into a place of leisure and sports while nature reigns; artists, faithful over several generations, plus new talented arrivals have imbued it with culture; its lakes, its forests, its magnificent landscapes all make it a retirement paradise.
Nominingue tomorrow... Will be what we make of it. We must preserve its beauty, its openness, its spirituality. Its history is woven of fulfilled dreams and of despair, the efforts of men and women who loved it and who passed on this love to their descendants. From the original prestigious community now thrives a community that is good to live in, in an environment that will remain beautiful ... if we take care of it ...
The present is good, the future remains to be built, all dreams are possible.