Cap-de-la-Madeleine

Cap-de-la-Madeleine is a former city, incorporated in 1923, but merged with Trois-Rivieres, in 2002. It has a population of about 33 thousand.

Cap-de-la-Madeleine is located on the north shore of the St Lawrence River at its confluence with the St-Maurice River. Originally it was a Jesuit mission, founded in 1640.

The oldest church of Canada was built here in 1720. By 1900 the village had 300 families. Its inhabitants lived from agriculture and lumbering. Then, the industrial boom begins, with the arrival of Gres Falls Co, in 1909, followed in 1912 by the Wayagamack Pulp and Paper Co. Industrialization brings major residential construction, but since the 1970s, the industrialisation slowed, and since the moment Cap-de-la-Madeleine or Cap has become a residential suburb of Trois-Rivieres. The sanctuary Our Lady of the Cape (Notre-Dame du Cap), is a well-known pilgrimage site of Canada.

Its octagonal basilica, renowned for its stained-glass windows, dates from 1974.

Today, like many other communities in the Mauricie region, Cap-de-la-Madeleine draws a large number of settlers in the region.

See also:

• Mauricie Region 
• Our Lady of the Cap Shrine
• Bridge collapses (1950)