Saint-Georges

Saint-Georges

Saint-Georges, Qué, City, pop 29 616 (2006c), 28 127 (2001c), inc 2001. The present-day Saint-Georges consists of 5 former municipal entities, Saint-Georges and Saint-Georges-Ouest (both incorporated in 1948) were merged to form the new city of Saint-Georges in 1990; the 2001 amalgamation involved Saint-Georges, Aubert-Gallion (incorporated 1855), Saint-Georges-Est (1947) and Saint-Jean-de-la-Lande (1933). The metropolis of the Beauce region, Saint-Georges is located 102 km southeast of Québec City on Rivière Chaudière at its junction with Rivière Famine. Its first inhabitants, the Abenaki, called it Sartigan, meaning"the shady river." This same name was given to the dam built upstream in 1967 to protect the town from spring flooding by the Chaudière. (Designed to hold back ice, it was the first dam of its type in Canada.)

The first colonists came during the French regime to settle on seigneuries ceded to Thérèse Aubert de Lalande Gayon (Aubert-Gallion) and Gabriel Aubin de L'Isle (Aubin-de-l'Isle). The American invasion of 1775 led to British regular troops occupying the Beauce and to the presence of many English families in Sartigan. In 1807 a German named George Pozer bought the seigneury, settled there with 189 compatriots (1817) and gave his name to the area. Population increased with the opening of the Kennebec route, linking the Beauce with New England in 1830. Agriculture, forestry, gold mining and light manufacturing supported the early economy.

Today Saint-Georges' economy focuses on manufacturing. The city has developed a multipurpose Technocentre for small- and medium-sized business involved in manufacturing or research and development. A CÉGEP and the Centre universitaire des Appalaches are located in Saint-Georges. The area is known for its maple products.