Berthierville (; ; also called Berthier-en-haut, and legally called Berthier before 1942) is a town located between Montreal and Trois-Rivières on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada. Berthierville is the seat of D'Autray Regional County Municipality, and is served by Autoroute 40, and is the junction of Routes 138 and 158. The town is listed as a Village rélais. It is surrounded by the parish municipality of Sainte-Geneviève-de-Berthier.

The Marie Reine du Canada Pilgrimage column stops at the church of Sainte-Geneviève de Berthierville for Mass on the first day of its three-day walk from Lanoraie to Cap-de-la-Madeleine.

History

In 1672, the area was granted as a seignory by Jean Talon, intendant of New France, to Hugues Randin, who in turn sold it to Alexandre Berthier the following year. This seignory became known as Berthier-en-Haut (Upper Berthier) to distinguish it from another seignory that Berthier owned in the Bellechasse region.

In 1845, the Municipality of Berthier-en-Haut was formed, but abolished in 1847. It was reestablished as the Village Municipality of Berthier in 1852, and changed status to ville in 1865. In 1942, it was renamed to Berthierville.

In 1962, Berthierville annexed part of Sainte-Geneviève-de-Berthier.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Berthierville had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Mother tongue (2021):

• English as first language: 0.8%

• French as first language: 95.5%

• English and French as first languages: 0.8%

• Other as first language: 2.5%

Education

Centre de services scolaire des Samares, formerly the Commission scolaire des Samares, operates francophone public schools, including:

• École secondaire Pierre-de-Lestage

École du Chemin-du-Roy

• pavillon maternelle Sainte-Geneviève

• pavillon Sainte-Geneviève

• pavillon Saint-Joseph

  École de l'Île Saint-Ignace (currently in Berthierville)

The Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board operates anglophone public schools, including:

• Joliette Elementary School in Saint-Charles-Borromée

• Joliette High School in Joliette

Notable people

• Alexis St. Martin, Gastrointestinal experimentation pioneer

• Gilles Villeneuve, Formula One race car driver

• Jacques Villeneuve, Formula 1 driver

• Aristide Blais, Canadian Senator for Alberta

• Richard Landry, architect

See also

• List of cities in Quebec

References

External links

• Ville de Berthierville :: MRC de D'autray, Lanaudière