The Mill on Lot 178

In 1866 Landry Lafond sold to Antoine Baril and Pierre Houle a parcel of land at the junction of the Rivière-aux-Orignaux and the second rang road (rang: concession road, a row of farm lots), together with the right to build a flour mill and a small dam to feed it.

In 1868 the land and the mill were sold to Raphaël Hamel; the contract, a very detailed one, lists the mill’s equipment, the rights and obligations of each party, and the outbuildings.

Elzéard Hélie bought the whole property in 1873 for the sum of $2,000.

In 1890 Théodore Vézina acquired it, and the Vézina family would own it until 1937, apart from an interruption from 1923 to 1928. Thus in 1892 Théodore sold it to his father Octave but went on operating it, then took possession of it again in 1897; in 1918 it belonged to Théodore’s son, Laurent Vézina; unfortunately a car accident cut short his career as a miller; his widow, Albertine Gendron, made the mill over to Henri Gervais in 1923, who in turn sold it to Albert Lefebvre in 1925; Théodore Vézina took possession of it again in 1928 and operated it until 1937.

At that point he sold it to Hubert Leboeuf, who kept it until 1943; Hubert then made it over to his father Delphis Leboeuf; four days later the latter sold it to the brothers Hervé and Henri Turcotte; it was mainly Hervé who ran the mill, and who sold it again in 1953 to Maurice Dupont; around 1957-58 the buildings were destroyed by fire and were never rebuilt. The land was bought back by Lucien Tousignant in 1959, then by the municipality in 1970, in order to replace the old covered bridge, which had become dangerous, and to regrade the hills, which were too steep.