Township mayor house

In 1855, the adoption of the Lower Canada Municipal and Road Act enabled a new township to claim the status of township municipality. Thus the municipality’s first election was held. But not everyone could vote. The new law was specific. Listen as a clerk from Lower Canada reads part of the law:

"No person shall be allowed to vote at any election of Members of any Local Council, unless he be of the male sex, of the full age of twenty-one, and a natural born or naturalized subject of Her Majesty, nor unless… he be… proprietor or… hold… an estate of the yearly value of at least five pounds currency..." (Municipal and Road Act in the Statutes of the Province of Canada, 18 Victoria, 1855, pp. 414-415).

John Peters à son bureau de la Domion Textile, vers 1918 (Photographe inconnu, fonds Bibliothèque Memphrémagog, coll. SHM)

Après Hoyt, les Peters habitent la maison à partir de 1895. La maison remarquablement bien entretenue reste dans la famille Peters pendant plus de 70 ans.

As you make your way along, admire the house at 204-206 Pine on the other side of the street.

The widow of Lavinus K. Drew had this neo-Queen Anne style home built in 1898 and 1899. Inspired by 18th-century English country manors, the neo-Queen Anne style was in vogue in Quebec from 1885 to 1910. We will see this style again later on.