Moonbeam is a township in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, located in Cochrane District

Cochrane District, Ontario

Cochrane District, Ontario is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1921 from parts of Timiskaming and Thunder Bay districts....

. It had a population of 1201 in the 2001 census

Canada 2001 Census

The Canada 2001 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 15, 2001. On that day, Statistics Canada attempted to count every person in Canada. The total population count of Canada was 30,007,094. This was a 4% increase over 1996 Census of 28,846,761. In...

, a decline of 9% from 1996. It was named after Moonbeam Creek.

The township is located south of René Brunelle Provincial Park, between the communities of Fauquier and Kitigan

Kitigan, Ontario

Kitigan is a community in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the unincorporated geographic township of O'Brien in Cochrane District. The community is located along Highway 11 between the incorporated municipalities of Moonbeam and Kapuskasing....

. It is known for its roadside flying saucer

Flying saucer

A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...

, which is also featured prominently in promotional material.

Origin of the name Moonbeam

The name "Moonbeam" is attributed to early pioneers who allegedly witnessed flashing lights falling from the sky, which they called "moonbeams". These lights fell down or reflected in a creek that flows west from Strickland

Fauquier-Strickland, Ontario

Fauquier-Strickland is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the Cochrane District. The township had a population of 678 in the Canada 2001 Census. The three main communities in the township are Fauquier, Strickland, and Gregoires Mill...

 to Rémi Lake and was called Moonbeam Creek. These lights could have been Northern Lights

Aurora (astronomy)

An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...

 that often appear with the moon light.

Another suggestion is that the name came from the passengers on the Transcontinental Railway, who would be traveling for many miles through dark forests and when they came to the natural clearing near Moonbeam would be struck by the brilliance of the moon-lit snow. Nevertheless, there is no documented proof of the exact source of this name.

Rémi Lake was named after a Great Trunk Pacific Railway worker who drowned there in 1905.

History

The Canadian Transcontinental Railway, connecting Quebec City

Quebec City

Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

 with the Canadian Prairies

Canadian Prairies

The Canadian Prairies is a region of Canada, specifically in western Canada, which may correspond to several different definitions, natural or political. Notably, the Prairie provinces or simply the Prairies comprise the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as they are largely covered...

, was completed by 1912 and provided new access to agricultural land and natural resources of northern Ontario. This attracted colonizers from Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Sainte-Agathe

Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec

Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts is a town in the province of Quebec in the regional county municipality of Les Laurentides, in the administrative region of Laurentides, also known as the "Laurentians" or the Laurentian Mountains...

, and Saint-Jovite, to the Moonbeam area, looking for land to cultivate or mine.

Timeline:

• The first family to get established in Moonbeam is Théodule and Valentine Léonard in 1909.
• The first baby born in Moonbeam was Marie Régina Lecuyer in 1914.
• The priest, founder of Moonbeam, was Ovila François Paquette O.M.I. in 1916.
• The first school to open its doors was in September of 1919.
• The first church to be built in Moonbeam was in 1919-1920, called Nativité de Moonbeam.
• The first cottage to be built on the Rémi Lake is the cottage of a rich tourist from Rochester New-York, Mr. Buelle in 1920.
• The first Reeve of Moonbeam was Joseph Girouard in 1922.
• The first St-Jean Parade was in 1922.
• The incorporation of the District of Fauquier was January 9th, 1922.
• The first doctor in the region was Doctor Nicole in Fauquier in 1924.
• The first airplane in Moonbeam was a Curtiss HS-2L flown by Captain C.A. Schiller in 1925.
• The first butter-production firm was open in 1927. It cost $3689.00 to build and $5954.00 for all the machineries.
• The first doctor to open its doors in Moonbeam was Doctor Soucie in 1934.
• 1930-1940, the speed limit was raised to 15 miles per hour.
• 1930-1940, all stores were restricted to not sell tobacco to kids less than 18 years of age.
• The chapel at Rémi Lake celebrated its first mass in 1960.
• The sewage system in the village was installed November 1st 1965.

List of mayors

Mayors from incorporation in 1922 to present:

• Joseph Girouard (1922-1923)
• Célestin Desgroseillers (1924-1928)
• Vital Filion (1929-1931)
• Cléophas Desgroseillers (1932-1935)
• Albert Gaudreault (1936-1938)
• Guillaume Soucie (1939-1942)
• Ernest Léonard (1943-1946)
• Alexandre Lacroix (1947-1950)
• Jos. Aimable Turcotte (1951 and 1955-1958)
• Francis St-Aubin (1952-1954)
• Stanislas Lavoie (1959-1972)
• Raymond Bouchard (1972-1978)
• Gaëtan Filion (1979-1985)
• Olivain Fullum (1985-1997)
• Claude D'Amours (1997-2000)
• Gilles Audet (2000-present)

Demographics

Population:

• Population in 2006: 1298
  • 2001 to 2006 population change: 8.1 %
• Population in 2001: 1201
• Population in 1996: 1322
• Population in 1991: 1330

Private dwellings, excluding seasonal cottages: 544 (total: 907)

Mother tongue:

• English as first language: 12.9 %
• French as first language: 83.6 %
• English and French as first language: 1.5 %
• Other as first language: 2.0 %

External links

Moonbeam Township official website

• Ontario Highway 11 Homepage - Moonbeam