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Saint-Eustache

Saint-Eustache, Quebec, incorporated as a town in 1835, population 45,276 (2021 census), 44,008 (2016 census). Saint-Eustache is located at the junction of the Rivière du Chêne and the Rivière des Mille-Iles, 30 km West of Montreal (see also Thousand Islands).

Tribute to the Patriotes, 1837–37

History

The village of Saint-Eustache was born when the owner of the seigneury of Rivière du Chêne gave the mill enough land in 1770 to build a church. This village was the site of a fierce battle during the Rebellions of 1837–38 as Jean-Olivier Chénier and the Patriotes barricaded themselves in the church, priest's house and convent. Nearly 100 Patriotes were killed and the British troops put the village to the torch.

Saint-Eustache became an important residential suburban town. The main signs of local and regional history are the mill (built in 1762) in the centre of town and the parish church (1780). An important regional centre, with half of its territory farmland, Saint-Eustache has doubled its population every decade from 1951 to 1981.