La Prairie, Quebec

Plan of La Prairie de la Magdelaine in 1704

The old post office of La Prairie.

French Jesuits were the first Europeans to occupy the area, which was named La Prairie de la Magdelaine but was also called François-Xavier-des-Prés. The land was given to the Jesuits by Jacques de La Ferté and the Company of One Hundred Associates in 1647. It is in La Prairie that the story Kateri Tekakwitha took place.

In 1668, the site was named Kentaké, the Iroquois name for "at the prairie". In the beginning of modern Quebec history, the territory of La Prairie would be visited on numerous occasions by Iroquois and English settlers from New York, among others at the time of the Anglo-Iroquois expedition of Pieter Schuyler in 1691, who commanded two battles on August 11, 1691.

The close of the Seven Years' War led to the 1763 treaty ending the French and Indian War. New France, sparsely-populated by indigenous peoples and descendants of French colonists, was ceded by France and divided into British colonies. The territory of La Prairie became part of the Province of Quebec (1763–1791) within the British Empire.

In 1845, the village of La Prairie was established. One year later, La Prairie-de-la-Magdelaine was established. La Prairie was the seat of Laprairie County (1855-1980s),[5] which included the parishes of La Prairie, Notre-Dame, Ste-Catherine, St-Constant, St-Isidore, St-Jacques-le-Mineur, St-Mathieu and St-Philippe. In 1909, La Prairie obtained official city status.

Historically, the city has been an important transportation hub, as it was the point of transfer between Montreal ferries and the land route to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, gateway to Lake Champlain and the Hudson River. The first railway line in British North America, the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad, connected it with Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu on July 21, 1836;[6] the railway ran over 16 miles (26 km). The construction of a rail line between La Prairie and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu would greatly accelerate the commercial development of the village. River transport equally played an important role in La Prairie's history.

Like the rest of southwestern Quebec, La Prairie has hot summers and cold winters, for a generally temperate climate. Winters are cold and sometimes long (snow is usually present from mid-November to mid-April), with temperatures occasionally dipping below -30 °C, not counting the windchill. During snowstorms, snowfall frequently surpasses 40 centimeters. In the summer, temperatures sometimes exceed 30 °C.

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, La Prairie had a population of 26,406 living in 11,049 of its 11,309 total private dwellings, a change of 9.5% from its 2016 population of 24,110. With a land area of 43.47 km² (16.78 sq mi), it had a population density of 607.5/km² (1,573.3/sq mi) in 2021.[8]

Mother tongue language

Canada Census Mother Tongue – La Prairie, Quebec[7]
Census		Total		French				English				French & English				Other
Year		Responses		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %
2016		23,985		19,860	0.4%	82.8%		990	7.03%	4.13%		280	14.29%	1.16%		2,610	34.19%	10.88%
2011		22,895		19,780	4.1%	86.39%		925	25.0%	4.04%		245	113.0%	1.07%		1,945	17.5%	8.50%
2006		21,520		19,010	13.5%	88.34%		740	2.1%	3.44%		115	25.8%	0.53%		1,655	89.1%	7.69%
2001		18,500		16,745	12.6%	90.51%		725	26.1%	3.92%		155	13.9%	0.84%		875	18.6%	4.73%
1996		16,700		14,870	n/a	89.04%		575	n/a	3.44%		180	n/a	1.08%		1,075	n/a	6.44%

Quebec Route 132 in La Prairie.

The CIT Le Richelain provides commuter and local bus services.

In 2013, Grand Boisé conservation park is planned to be created and orchestrated by Nature-Action. The park would include Smithers' swamp, as well as, Hydro-Quebec's servitude area in which the western chorus frog, a vulnerable species in Quebec, is found in greatest numbers. There is a controversy involving the city housing development in that area which was supposed to be conserved integrally with high priority according to RCM of Roussillon 1990s' maps. Local environmental organisms, such as Vigile verte and Projet Rescousse, are denouncing the choice of that land for housing development. The debate is ongoing.

The town has three high schools: l'École de la Magdeleine, a public French school which offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme, Collège Jean de la Mennais, a private mixed French school and Saint-François-Xavier, a public French school.

The South Shore Protestant Regional School Board previously served the municipality.[13]

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  Houses in Old La Prairie
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  Church of La Nativité de la Sainte-Vierge in La Prairie
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  City Hall

• Saint Lawrence River
• Saint Jacques River (Roussillon)
• Brossard—La Prairie
• La Prairie (provincial electoral district)
• List of cities in Quebec

Wikimedia Commons has media related to La Prairie, Quebec.

• (in French) Official website