Rimouski ( rim-OO-skee RIM-oo-SKEE; French: [ʁimuski] ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. As of 2021, the city has a population of 48,935. Rimouski, whose motto is Legi patrum fidelis (Faithful to the law of our fathers), is located on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence Estuary, around 300 km downstream of Quebec City. It is the site of Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), the Cégep de Rimouski (which includes the Institut maritime du Québec) and the Music Conservatory. It is also the home of some ocean sciences research centres (see below).
Bell Homestead National Historic Site
Alexander Graham Bell made the world's first long-distance telephone call from his father's homestead in Tutela Heights, just minutes from West Brant. The Bell Homestead National Historic Site preserves the farmhouse and coach house where Bell conducted his early telephone experiments in the 1870s. Open seasonally for tours.
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Full History
The name Rimouski has been described as likely derived from a Mi'kmaq word meaning "land of the moose". However, the Commission de toponymie du Québec notes that more recent research instead favors a link to the Wolastoqey, likely meaning "Land of Dogs" or "Land of Poplar Blossoms". The city was founded by Sir René Lepage de Ste-Claire in 1696. Originally from Ouanne in the Burgundy region, he exchanged property he owned on the Île d'Orléans with Augustin Rouer de la Cardonnière for the Seigneurie of Rimouski, which extended along the St. Lawrence River from the Hâtée River at Le Bic to the Métis River. De la Cardonnière had been the owner of Rimouski since 1688, but had never lived there. René Lepage moved his family to Rimouski, where it held the seigneurie until 1790, when it was sold to the Quebec City businessman Joseph Drapeau. The "Maison Lamontagne" was built in 1750 per Marie-Agnès Lepage, granddaughter of René Lepage de Ste-Claire. It carries now the surname of the family that resided at it in 1844. It is one of the oldest half-timbered houses in Quebec and is within what is now called the District of Rimouski-Est. Today, a boulevard, park and monument at the western entrance of Rimouski bear the name of René Lepage. On May 6, 1950, Rimouski suffered a severe fire, in which 319 houses burned to the ground. This event is known as La nuit rouge (French for Red Night). The fire originated in the yard on the left shore of the Rimouski River and quickly crossed the river and spread throughout the city pushed by strong winds, destroying half of the city. No one died in the blaze. Legend has it that a priest sprinkled holy water around the city's cathedral and that the fire would not cross the line.
Source: Wikipedia