| Mont-Saint-Hilaire | |
| Official Name: | Mont-Saint-Hilaire |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Pushpin Map: | Canada Southern Quebec |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in southern Quebec. |
| Coordinates: | 45.5622°N -73.1917°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Type2: | Region |
| Subdivision Name2: | Montérégie |
| Subdivision Type3: | RCM |
| Subdivision Name3: | La Vallée-du-Richelieu |
| Established Title1: | Constituted |
| Established Date1: | March 12, 1966 |
| Government Footnotes: | [1] [2] |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Marc-André Guertin |
| Leader Title1: | Federal riding |
| Leader Name1: | Beloeil—Chambly |
| Leader Title2: | Prov. riding |
| Leader Name2: | Borduas |
| Area Footnotes: | [3] |
| Area Total Km2: | 45.50 |
| Area Land Km2: | 44.08 |
| Population Total: | 18859 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Density Km2: | 427.8 |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Pop 2016–2021 |
| Population Blank1: | 1.5% |
| Population Blank2 Title: | Dwellings |
| Population Blank2: | 7917 |
| Timezone: | EST |
| Utc Offset: | −5 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | −4 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code(s) |
| Postal Code: | J3H |
| Area Code: | 450 and 579 |
| Blank Name: | Highways |
| Blank Info: | |
Mont-Saint-Hilaire (in French pronounced as /mɔ̃ sɛ̃ nilɛʁ/) is a suburb of Montreal on the South Shore of southeastern Quebec, Canada, on the Richelieu River in the Regional County Municipality of La Vallée-du-Richelieu. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 18,859. The city is named after the Mont Saint-Hilaire.
A significant deposit of the semi-precious mineral sodalite is located near Mont-Saint-Hilaire.
Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville was granted the seignory of the region in 1694.[4] By 1745 a mountain village had been formed with the first chapel being built in 1798 near the Richelieu River. Nearly twenty years later, in 1822, a ferry operating between Beloeil and Mont-Saint-Hilaire came into service. A bridge, enabling Beloeil and St. Hilaire to be connected by rail, was built in 1848 by the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway. The Campbell family, owners of the mountain after that of Rouville, sold the mountain to a British officer, Brigadier-General Andrew Gault, in whose ownership it remained for 45 years. Gault then bequeathed the mountain to McGill University before his death in 1958.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Mont-Saint-Hilaire had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 44.08km2, it had a population density of in 2021.[5]
Population trend:[6]
| Census | Population | Change (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18,859 | 1.5% | |
| 2016 | 18,585 | 2.1% | |
| 2011 | 18,200 | 15.8% | |
| 2006 | 15,720 | 10.2% | |
| 2001 | 14,270 | 9.2% | |
| 1996 | 13,064 | 6.5% | |
| 1991 | 12,267 | 15.9% | |
| 1986 | 10,588 | 5.2% | |
| 1981 | 10,066 | 30.9% | |
| 1976 | 7,688 | 33.5% | |
| 1971 | 5,758 | N/A |
| Language | Population | Pct (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| French only | 17,025 | 91.5% | |
| English only | 565 | 3.0% | |
| Both English and French | 260 | 1.4% | |
| Other languages | 665 | 3.6% |
thumb|left|Museum of Fine Arts in February 2022
Mont-Saint-Hilaire is served by the Mont-Saint-Hilaire commuter rail station on the Réseau de transport métropolitain's (RTM) Mont-Saint-Hilaire line. Local bus service is provided by the RTM's Vallée du Richelieu sector.
In 1864, Canada's worst rail disaster occurred here when a passenger train passed a red signal and fell off an open swing bridge into the Richelieu River, killing around 99 people.
The town is home to 4 primary schools: Au-fil-de-l'eau (659 pupils), de l'Aquarelle (354 pupils) and de la Pommeraie (383 pupils) and Paul-Émile-Borduas. There are also 2 secondary schools, including Ozias-Leduc, with 1,480 students[10] and Collège Saint-Hilaire, a private high school that receives students from the region.[11]
The South Shore Protestant Regional School Board previously served the municipality.[12]