Mail delivery in the Eastern Townships dates to about 1800. At that early date, virtually all of the settlers in the region were recent arrivals from New England. These people were anxious to maintain their ties to their old country and to the friends and family they left behind.
The first newspapers in the Eastern Townships served the New England settlers who populated the region at that time. They provided news (lifted from other papers, and mainly from Europe and the U.S.), political speeches, texts on religion and morality, farming techniques and technological advances, and advertisements and articles of local interest.
Several commercial steamers have operated on Lake Memphremagog over the course of its history. This 44-km (27-mile) international lake, whose southern quarter lies within the state of Vermont, is the longest stretch of navigable water in the Eastern Townships. Newport lies at the south end of the lake, Magog, at the north.
(Continued from Steamers of Lake Memphremagog, Part 2)
(Continued from Steamers of Lake Memphremagog, Part 2)
A catastrophic flood wreaked havoc throughout northern New England and the Eastern Townships in the fall of 1927. The disaster was the worst flood on record.
Born on December 12, 1912 in Coaticook, third child of Stewart Curtis and Mary Wellman (Lovell) Smith, a fifth generation Canadian and descendent of the prominent Lovell family, respected for its diverse business activities, and its many years in Federal, Provincial and local politics representing Stanstead County.
The shores along lakes and rivers were often the most suitable routes for railway lines. Level, low-lying terrain free from major natural obstacles (especially steep grades and river crossings) offered the most inexpensive, if not necessarily the most direct, route.
Up until the 1840s, the bridge in Sherbrooke was the only one across the St. Francis River. Like many rivers in the Eastern Townships, the St. Francis was crossed by means of ferries at villages situated along its course. Such was the case in Richmond until the first bridge was erected there.
The 19th century saw a massive railway boom all across the Eastern Townships. Driven by the need to access raw materials, the desire for rapid transit, and a mania to build more and more branch lines, companies vied for territory and markets. By 1900, a network of local and regional railway lines crisscrossed virtually every corner of the region.