| Fort-Coulonge | |
| Settlement Type: | Village municipality |
| Pushpin Map: | Canada Western Quebec |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in western Quebec |
| Coordinates: | 45.85°N -120°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Quebec |
| Subdivision Type2: | Region |
| Subdivision Name2: | Outaouais |
| Subdivision Type3: | RCM |
| Subdivision Name3: | Pontiac |
| Established Title1: | Constituted |
| Established Date1: | December 15, 1888 |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Christine Francoeur |
| Leader Title1: | Federal riding |
| Leader Name1: | Pontiac |
| Leader Title2: | Prov. riding |
| Leader Name2: | Pontiac |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 3.17 |
| Area Land Km2: | 2.96 |
| Population Total: | 1312 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Density Km2: | 443.9 |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Pop (2016-21) |
| Population Blank1: | 8.4% |
| Population Blank2 Title: | Dwellings |
| Population Blank2: | 605 |
| Timezone: | EST |
| Utc Offset: | −05:00 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | −04:00 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code(s) |
| Postal Code: | J0X 1V0 |
| Area Code: | 819 |
| Blank Info: | 148 west from Ottawa |
Fort Coulonge is a village in the Pontiac Regional County Municipality in western Quebec, Canada, at the mouth of the Coulonge River. It is the francophone centre of the otherwise largely (57%) anglophone Pontiac MRC, with 79.6% listing French as their mother tongue in the Canada 2006 Census.
Fort-Coulonge is known for the Félix-Gabriel-Marchand Bridge, Quebec's longest covered bridge which is actually in neighbouring Mansfield-et-Pontefract.
In the late 17th century the site was occupied, perhaps intermittently, by members of the d'Ailleboust family, who used "sieur de Coulonge" as a title. Accounts differ: the Commission de toponymie du Québec mentions Nicholas d'Ailleboust de Manthet, who wintered in that location in 1694; Elizabeth Browne Losey says it was founded by the d'Ailleboust family 'as early as 1650'. With the fall of New France it was abandoned.
In 1784, the site was re-occupied when the North West Company built a fort, named Fort Coulonge. When the Hudson's Bay Company took over in 1821 it continued to be supplied from Montreal. Until 1828 it was the head trading post on the Ottawa River. The post engaged in farming, as well as trading with the indigenous Ojibwe and Algonquins. After 1830, as the area became more settled, it became more like a general store. The post's 655acres farm was sold in 1844. In 1855 the surviving store was sold to Thomas Taylor, its last clerk. The buildings were still standing in 1873 but by 1892 they had burned down.[2] [3]
The trading post became the village of Fort-Coulonge situated several kilometres down river, when in 1843, the region's first sawmill was built by George Bryson Sr. This was the impetus that led to permanent settlement and the formation of the village. Two year later in 1845, the mission of Saint-Pierre-de-Fort-Coulonge was established, followed by the Presbyterian parish of St. Andrews in 1863. Its post office opened in 1853. By the mid 1860s, the town had a population of about 500.[3]
The first wooden chapel was built in 1873. It was destroyed by fire and replaced by a brick church in 1884. In 1886, the Pontiac Pacific Junction Railway reached Fort-Coulonge. Fort-Coulonge became a municipality in 1888 when it separated from the Township Municipality of Mansfield. John Bryson, son of George Bryson, was the first mayor.[3]
The lumber industry continued to drive the growth of Fort-Coulonge in the 1890s and early 20th century. The many logging camps in the Ottawa Valley created a big demand for accommodation in the town; by the 1890s there were at least 5 hotels. The town's mills produced thousands of feet of cut lumber, as well as pulp wood.[3]
In passenger rail service to Fort-Coulonge ended in 1958, and cargo traffic ended in 1977.[3]
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Fort-Coulonge had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 2.96km2, it had a population density of in 2021.[4]
List of former mayors: