History of Saint-Alphonse-de-Granby, Québec, Canada

Saint-Alphonse-de-Granby is a municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec, located within La Haute-Yamaska Regional County Municipality.

Before October 25, 2008 it was known simply as Saint-Alphonse.

It is located approximately halfway between Montreal and Sherbrooke.

In the 1800s, the region that would become Saint-Alphonse-de-Granby was colonized, but it would not known by that name until 1890. A one-room school was inaugurated on a land held by Georges D. Fuller in 1850 to educate the children of the area. In about 1855, Hungerford Mills, a sawmill, was constructed by Stephen Léonard Hungerford before it was sold to Joseph B. Hungerford, an American relative, who operated it for 15 years, until Thomas Ferguson took over; the mill was part of the Township of Granby.

Another mill (for flour) appeared before 1870, and it was around these two mills that the village of Saint-Alphonse slowly developed. Houses began to be built; the space was divided in four zones and many workers were hired to run roads across its territory.

Many of the workmen who built Saint-Alphonse also worked for the township of Granby.

The parish of Saint-Alphonse was decreed by Bishop Charles La Rocque of the Diocese of Saint-Hyacinthe, February 6, 1875.

On December 30, 1890, the municipality of Saint-Alphonse became a distinct and independent municipality after a petition by the residents of the Saint-Alphonse du Canton de Granby parish.