Shawinigan Falls
| Shawinigan | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| City | |||
An aerial view of Shawinigan
|
|||
|
|||
| Nickname(s): The City of Electricity | |||
| Motto: Age Quod Agis (Do what you are doing) | |||
 Shawinigan
|
|||
| Coordinates: 46°34′N 72°45′W / 46.567°N 72.750°WCoordinates: 46°34′N 72°45′W / 46.567°N 72.750°W | |||
| Country |
 Canada
|
||
| Province |
 Quebec
|
||
| Region | Mauricie | ||
| RCM | None | ||
| Settled | 1851 | ||
| Constituted | January 1, 2002 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Michel Angers | ||
| • Federal riding | Saint-Maurice—Champlain | ||
| • Prov. riding | Laviolette and Saint-Maurice | ||
| Area | |||
| • City | 798.80 km2 (308.42 sq mi) | ||
| • Land | 733.48 km2 (283.20 sq mi) | ||
| • Urban | 109.93 km2 (42.44 sq mi) | ||
| • Metro | 987.14 km2 (381.14 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2011) | |||
| • City | 50,060 | ||
| • Density | 68.2/km2 (177/sq mi) | ||
| • Urban | 47,735 | ||
| • Urban density | 434.3/km2 (1,125/sq mi) | ||
| • Metro | 55,009 | ||
| • Metro density | 55.7/km2 (144/sq mi) | ||
| • Pop 2006-2011 |
 3.6% |
||
| • Dwellings | 26,302 | ||
| Time zone | EST (UTC−5) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC−4) | ||
| Postal code(s) | G9N to G9R | ||
| Area code(s) | 819 | ||
Highways A-55
|
 Route 153 Route 155 Route 157 Route 351 Route 359
|
||
| Website | www |
||
Shawinigan is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 50,060 as of the Canada 2011 Census.
Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division (CD) of Quebec, coextensive with the city of Shawinigan. Its geographical code is 36. Shawinigan is the seat of the judicial district of Saint-Maurice.
The name Shawinigan has had numerous spellings over time: Chaouinigane, Oshaouinigane, Assaouinigane, Achawénégan, Chawinigame, Shawenigane, Chaouénigane. It may mean "south portage", "portage of beeches", "angular portage", or "summit" or "crest". Before 1958, the city was known as Shawinigan Falls.
In 1651, the jesuit priest Buteaux was the first European known to have travelled up the Saint-Maurice River to this river's first set of great falls. Afterwards, missionaries going to the Upper Saint-Maurice would rest here. Before Shawinigan Falls was established, the local economy had been largely based on lumber and agriculture.
In the late 1890s, Shawinigan Falls drew the interest of foreign entrepreneurs such as John Joyce and John Edward Aldred of the Shawinigan Water & Power Company (SW&P), and of Hubert Biermans of the Belgo Canadian Pulp & Paper Company because of its particular geographic situation. Its falls had the potential to become a favorable location for the production of hydroelectricity.
In 1899, the SW&P commissioned Montreal engineering firm Pringle and Son to design a grid plan for a new industrial town on the banks of the Saint-Maurice River, providing the ground work for what would become Downtown Shawinigan.
...
Wikipedia