Nantes, Quebec

Nantes (French pronunciation: [nɑ̃t] (listen)) is a municipality in Le Granit Regional County Municipality in the Estrie region of Quebec, Canada. It is situated between Stornoway and Lac-Mégantic, where the Canadian Pacific Railway used to cross. Its population in the Canada 2011 Census was 1,374.

Nantes
Municipality
Location within Le Granit RCM.
Nantes
Location in southern Quebec.
Coordinates: 45°38′N 71°02′W[1]
Country Canada
Province Quebec
RegionEstrie
RCMLe Granit
ConstitutedJanuary 1, 1874
Government
 • MayorSylvain Gilbert
 • Federal ridingMégantic—L'Érable
 • Prov. ridingMégantic
Area
 • Total120.50 km2 (46.53 sq mi)
 • Land120.39 km2 (46.48 sq mi)
Population
 • Total1,374
 • Density11.4/km2 (30/sq mi)
 • Pop 2006-2011
 4.3%
 • Dwellings
654
Time zoneUTC−5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)
G0Y 1G0
Area code(s)819
Highways Route 161
Route 214
Route 263
Websitewww.munantes.qc.ca

History

Nantes used to be called Spring Hill. In 1856, Scottish settlers established their camps. It was called in Gaelic Drum-A-Vack. Later, French-Canadian families took over the camps in 1905. A train station and a postal office were added to the community in 1879 and in 1898, two sawmills, two telegraph offices, and two general stores were added as well.

On July 6, 2013, a Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway train engine caught fire and was extinguished by the Nantes Fire Department. In the process of extinguishing the fire, fire department turned off the engine.[4] Later MMA officials left the train unmanned and parked on the line. As the engine had been turned off, the brake system began to lose pressure, eventually dropping to the point the brakes could no longer hold the train in place.[4] The train rolled away from Nantes, towards Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, and derailed there, causing an explosion that destroyed around half of the downtown area and killed forty-two people.

Nantes has the distinction of having the last electro-mechanical telephone exchange in the public network of North America, finally converting to digital in 2002.

Twin town
Entrance to Nantes.

References
  1. Reference number 43374 of the Commission de toponymie du Québec (in French)
  2. Geographic code 30045 in the official Répertoire des municipalités (in French)
  3. "(Code 2430045) Census Profile". 2011 census. Statistics Canada. 2012.
  4. Woods, Allan; McDiarmid, Jessica; Gallant, Jacques (8 July 2013). "Lac Mégantic: Quebec train explosion site still too hot to search for missing". The Star. Retrieved 7 April 2020.



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