Notre-Dame-du-Portage | |
Settlement Type: | Municipality |
Pushpin Map: | Canada Eastern Quebec |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in eastern Quebec |
Coordinates: | 47.7667°N -106°W |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Type1: | Province |
Subdivision Name1: | Quebec |
Subdivision Type2: | Region |
Subdivision Name2: | Bas-Saint-Laurent |
Subdivision Type3: | RCM |
Subdivision Name3: | Rivière-du-Loup |
Established Title1: | Constituted |
Established Date1: | July 19, 1856 |
Leader Title: | Mayor |
Leader Name: | Vincent More |
Leader Title1: | Federal riding |
Leader Name1: | Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup |
Leader Title2: | Prov. riding |
Leader Name2: | Rivière-du-Loup-Témiscouata |
Area Total Km2: | 115.90 |
Area Land Km2: | 40.06 |
Population Total: | 1296 |
Population As Of: | 2021 |
Population Density Km2: | 32.4 |
Population Blank1: | 12.6% |
Population Blank2 Title: | Dwellings |
Population Blank2: | 748 |
Timezone: | EST |
Utc Offset: | −5 |
Timezone Dst: | EDT |
Utc Offset Dst: | −4 |
Postal Code Type: | Postal code(s) |
Postal Code: | G0L 1Y0 |
Area Codes: | 418 and 581 |
Blank Name: | Highways |
Blank Info: |
Notre-Dame-du-Portage (in French pronounced as /nɔtʁ dam dy pɔʁtaʒ/) is a municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec located at the edge of the Saint Lawrence River in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region. It is part of the Rivière-du-Loup Regional County Municipality and home to the Riviere-du-Loup Golf Club.
The municipality of Notre-Dame-du-Portage was officially created on July 19, 1856, by merging two sections of Rivière-du-Loup and Saint-André.
Construction of the first chapel began on May 30, 1855, under the supervision of Rivière-du-Loup priest Narcisse Beaubien. The first mass was celebrated there on November 1, 1855, by priest Beaubien, while the chapel received his blessing. The parish was canonically erected on March 1, 1856, while the parish municipality was officially created on July 19 of the same year from territories of the parishes of Saint-Patrice de Rivière-du-Loup and Saint-André-de-Kamouraska. A small Stations of the Cross given free of charge at the chapel was blessed by Father Michaud on March 10, 1857. Father Beaubien is often considered to be the founder of the parish of Notre-Dame-du-Portage, but the first resident priest was Father Esdras Rousseau, from 1858 to 1860. Construction of the current church, in Romanesque art, began in 1859 with two contractors, Charles Bernier of Cap-Saint-Ignace and Philippe Fortin of Montmagny; the cornerstone was blessed on July 21, 1859. Construction of the church was completed in 1863, but the first mass was celebrated there in 1862. The chapel was transformed into a clergy house. In 1889, a carillon of three bells was added to the church by Father de la Chevrotière; The bells were made in Villedieu, France, by Maison Havard and imported by J.-A. Langlais, of Quebec City. The carillon was blessed by Cardinal Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau on June 16, 1889. The first Stations of the Cross in the church were purchased in September 1892 by Father Girard; it was painted on canvas. In September of the same year, Father Girard also purchased a white Madonna placed in the façade of the church. In 1906, a second Stations of the Cross was purchased; it was composed of a series of oil-painted canvases. It was blessed and installed by Father Taschereau on October 27, 1907. In 1983, a Casavant pipe organ dating from 1906 was purchased from the Franciscan monastery of Quebec for $2,000. It was inaugurated in February of the following year. On November 19, 2005, Notre-Dame-du-Portage changed its status from parish municipality to municipality. In the summer of 2006, the municipality celebrated its 150th anniversary of founding.
In 2005, Notre-Dame-du-Portage changed status from a Parish municipality to become a regular municipality.
Notre-Dame-du-Portage is a member of the Association of the Most Beautiful Villages of Quebec. Its Roman Catholic Church was constructed in 1859.