History of Lac-Sainte-Marie, Québec, Canada

Lac-Sainte-Marie is a municipality in the La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada, 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Gatineau. It is named after Lake Saint Mary.

In 1840, the area was opened to colonization, and a municipality was formed in 1872, originally called Hincks, in honor of politician Sir Francis Hincks (1807-1885), who was then finance minister in the cabinet of Macdonald. After this cabinet fell in 1873, Hincks name was quickly replaced in popular usage by the name of the parish, and then by the name of the lake.

In 1928 the Village was voluntarily flooded to create the Paugan hydroelectric dam in Low Quebec, 90% of the Village had to be relocated to more higher grounds. The Church remained in the center of the old town and is to this day still underwater. As devastating as this was for the locals it attracted enough attention that allowed many tourist to visit Lac-Ste-Marie and this expanded its surface and conquer the hearts of numerous tourists from the city of Ottawa and Gatineau.

In 1975, Lac-Sainte-Marie became the official name, and paid tribute to a forgotton pioneer, Marie Léveillée, mother of Jean-Marie Léveillée who was the first settler in the area.