Accueil Austin Austin

The municipality of Austin was not created in 1796 contrary to what the posters of the municipality at the limits of its territory suggest, but in 1938.
Affiche AustinNevertheless, the territory of Austin is the one where the colonization of the township by the Loyalists began . This territory has been part of East Bolton since West Bolton became a separate municipality in 1876. Like West Bolton, Austin is also somewhat isolated from the Missisquoi Valley by mountains, marshy areas and lakes, so the settlers oriented their activities around Lake Memphremagog. Austin would naturally have expanded to the Magog River in the north, but Magog grew rapidly to the point where a new township was created which severed Bolton from its northeast portion. Until 1930, the lake was the essential means of communication, so that Knowlton Landing, quite far to the south, was important for the community which will become Austin.

The hamlets in this area were Millington (founded by Thompson), Peasley's Corner, Head of the Bay and Knowlton Landing. Only Peasley and Knowlton Landing remain. Peasley became East Bolton, then the Village of Austin after the municipality was created. At the same time, however, Saint-Benoît-du-lac, a large estate roughly where Nicholas Austin had settled, became a separate municipality.

Maurice Langlois documented the events relating to the separation of Austin and Saint-Benoît-de-lac from the East Bolton municipality. A brochure is available on the Austin website telling this story. Long before the creation of the municipality, the territory was already divided into two parts, one to the west, located in the Missisquoi Valley and one to the east, along Lake Memphremagog. It seems that the citizens of the eastern part did more business with Mansonville to the south, Knowlton to the west and Eastman and Stukely to the north, while those of the east went towards Magog and Sherbrooke.

Maurice Langlois calls the separation process a “heartbreaking event” for both parties. It was in 1930 that the owners of the eastern part addressed a request to the Government of Quebec to obtain the creation of a new municipality. The distribution of taxes and grants to the disadvantage of the eastern part is the main cause of this approach. The road to Bolton Center was not passable due to the bridge over Powell Creek. The Benedictines supported this approach. This first request having had no follow-up, in the context of the raging economic crisis, a second request was made in 1937, this time by the Benedictines themselves who asked that the new municipality bear the name of Saint -Benoît-du-lac and not Austin. But the opposition of the Brome County Historical Society (BCHS) which prefers the name of Austin, will convince the Benedictines that Austin be created first but that it be followed by the creation of the municipality of Saint-Benoît-du- lake.

The proclamation of the erection of the municipality of Austin will be published in November 1938. The new municipality made no objection to the separation of Saint-Benoît, which thus obtained the exemption from taxes that the Benedictines wanted. This process was facilitated by the religious bias of Prime Minister Maurice Duplessis. The Proclamation was issued in March 1939.

One cannot talk about Austin without mentioning the presence of Wilder Penfield, the famous neurosurgeon from Montreal (avenue Dr Penfield) who acquired a huge property on Sargeant Bay, two farms (including the Manning farm) whose heirs will donate to McGill University and which is now a nature reserve. A limnological research laboratory will be set up on Greene Bay. The nearly one square mile property was purchased with a compensation Wilder Penfield received from Germany following the torpedoing of the English Channel ferry Sussex, he was on in 1915. The house he built on his East Bolton estate (which would become Austin) was named Sussex House. The estate was called Magog Meadows. Penfield was the creator with other Austin residents, including Eric and Gordon Fisher and Sydney Lyman, of Sargent's Bay Yacht Club, located on the eastern shore of the bay.

In 2015, the municipality commissioned a Inventaire du patrimoine which is an invaluable source of information on its territory.

Chronology

https://municipalite.austin.qc.ca/histoire-et-patrimoine/histoire/histoire-daustin/

Historical Documents

https://municipalite.austin.qc.ca/histoire-et-patrimoine/histoire/publications-historiques/

https://municipalite.austin.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/brochure_creation_austin.pdf

Photos

https://municipalite.austin.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/panneau_archives-WEB.pdf

Statistics

https://originis.ca/paroisses/p_alpha/p_a/paroisse_austin/

Saint-Austin

http://www.leseglisesdemonquartier.com/1576.html

https://catholicsaintmedals.com/st-austin-items/

On ne peut parler d’Austin sans mentionner la présence de Wilder Penfield le célèbre neurochirurgien de Montréal. L'avenue Dr Penfield fut nommée en son honneur le 5 octobre 1978. Il vient à Montréal en 1928 suite à l'invitation de Sir Vincent Meridith, alors gouverneur de l'Université McGill, Président de l'Hôpital Royal Victoria et président de la Banque de Montréal. En 1934, il fonda l'Institut neurologique de Montréal grâce, entre autres, à la fondation Rockefeller.

Il fit l’acquisition, en 1929, d’une immense propriété sur la baie Sargeant, deux fermes (dont la ferme Manning). La propriété de près d’un mile carré a été achetée grâce à l’indemnisation qu’il reçut de l’Allemagne suite au torpillage du traversier SS Sussex à bord duquel il se trouvait le 24 mars 1916. Il était alors étudiant en médecine à l'Université d'Oxford. Il eut la jambe gauche brisée lors de l'explosion. Il fut traité pendant des mois avant de pouvoir SS Sussex à Boulogne après avoir été torpillé en mai 2016marcher à nouveau. La maison qu’il fit construire sur son domaine d’East Bolton (devenu Austin) fut baptisée Sussex House. Le domaine s’appelait Magog Meadows. Penfield fut le créateur avec d’autres résidents d'East Bolton, dont Eric et Gordon Fisher et Sydney Lyman, du Sargent’s Bay Yacht Club, situé sur la rive est de la baie. Les héritiers du Dr Penfield feront don de la propriété à l’Université McGill, qui en a fait une réserve naturelle. Un laboratoire de recherche en limnologie fut installé à la baie Greene.

Sur le même traversier Sussex se trouvait aussi le célèbre compositeur de musique classique catalan, Enrique Granados. Granados eut moins de chance car il se noya avec sa femme en tentant de la sauver (Goyescas, Danses espagnoles, Maria Del Carmen). Selon Daniel Sargent, un survivant, Amparo était incapable de grimper sur un bateau de sauvetage. Enrique l'installa sur un espèce de flotteur auquel il s'accrocha. IlsEnrique Granados en 1914 dérivèrent et on ne les revit plus. Ironiquement, le bateau se sépara en deux parties dont une coula avec 80 passagers à son bord alors que la partie où se trouvait la cabine des Grenados demeura à flot et fut remorquée au port avec la plupart de ses passagers, sauf les Granados. Cette histoire est racontée par Lyn MacDonald dans son livre The Roses of No Man's Land.

Comme plusieurs passagers étaient Américains (dont Penfield) ce torpillage eut une grande répercussion et, en conséquence, l'Allemagne mit fin à sa campagne U-Boats.

Comment Wilder Penfield en est-il venu à s'intéresser à Sargeant's Bay? A-t-il rencontré et parlé avec Daniel Sargent? Était-il frappé par cette coïncidence? Qu'il ait nommé sa maison d'East Bolton Sussex House suggère que cela est possible.

Autres informations à propos d'Austin

La municipalité a fait réaliser en 2015 un Inventaire du patrimoine qui est une source inestimable d’information sur son territoire.

Chronologie

Divers documents historiques

Histoire de la création de la municipalité d'Austin