Foundation of a village

At the heart of St. Albert’s history lies a key moment: the establishment of the post office on August 1, 1874, a date imbued with profound significance. According to historian Brault, this was not simply the birth of the post office, but that of an entire community. Indeed, in the past, the installation of a post office was an act of formalization, a formal recognition of the community by the province. August 1, 1874, is considered the village’s official birthday.

At that time, a post office and blacksmith shop were built. Later, an inn was erected (its owners over the years have included Joseph Vallée, Midas Vallée, Damase Meilleur, Charles Desautels and Narcisse Lapointe, Josephat Quenneville, Jean Ouimet and a Mr. Lauzon).

As with most French-Canadian centers, the village of St-Albert grew up around the bell tower. When the first parish priest arrived on September 27, 1878, all that stood was a poor chapel with a leaky roof, and a few settlers among the stumps. Mr. Albert Philion, the parish’s first parish priest, left Embrun to settle in St-Albert: a name he himself chose for his parish, inspired by his own first name: Albert. Until then, the little community had been known as the Cambridge Mission.

After the construction of the first chapel-presbytery, it was the opening of the first store in May 1879 that marked the beginning of economic life in the parish center. The population peaked around 1910, when the village was made up mainly of French-Canadian families. It was at this time that the first telephone line was installed in St. Albert by the Glasgow Telephone Company (bought by the Bell Telephone Company in 1938). Electricity arrived in the village in 1930.

Roger Cayer, St-Albert, 125 ans de vie, 1999, Page 22

Lucien Brault, Histoire des Comtés unis de Prescott et Russell, L’Orignal, Conseil des Comtés unis de Prescott et Russell, 1965, p. 335.