Sainte-Adèle

In 1842 Augustin Norbert Morin purchased land in the area that would become Sainte Adèle for 8¢ per arpent, which colonists arriving soon after then purchased from him for $8 CAD per arpent. The town of Sainte Adèle was founded in 1855. A rail line was constructed and the first Canadian Pacific Railway train arrived in the town in 1891. The railway was used primarily to transport wood, cattle, dairy products, and mail. The development and growth of the village of Sainte Adele began in 1938 with the opening of Le Chantecler Hotel[8], a 45 room inn on the shores of Lac Rond. Today this hotel has grown into a beautiful world class resort and convention centre. In 1939 this was followed by the development of the Ste. Adele Lodge in the centre of the community. The history on the location of the Ste. Adele Lodge[9] actually dates back to 1910 when the site at the top of the big hill was developed and occupied by l’Hotel Rochon from 1910 1928. In 1928 its name was changed to La Maison Blanche and it operated until 1939. In late 1939 a Montreal businessman, Tom G. Potter, bought the old La Maison Blanche, demolished it and in its place built the Ste. Adele Lodge. The hotel consisted of the main building with an attached structure called the Red Room, which was a dance hall and got its name from the red cement polished floor. Facing north behind the main hotel was a building called The Cedars with deluxe hotel rooms and on the right, a building called The Pines containing less expensive rooms. The swimming pool with its three diving boards was the largest pool in Quebec outside Montreal. Mr. Potter also developed two ski hills, Hills 40 and 80, where the initial charge for day skiing was $0.50. Mr. Potter hired the Johnny Holmes[10] Band which played on the CBC, and its star attraction Oscar Peterson [11] to perform during one summer. Mr. Lowell Thomas, the American radio broadcaster, broadcast shows from both the Ste. Adele Lodge and Mount Tremblant to his audiences in the United States, promoting the resorts as destinations for skiers. After Mr. Potter’s death in 1946 the hotel was sold and become known as the Montclair until it was destroyed in 1969. Tom Potter, who owned both the Ste. Adele Lodge and the Alpine Inn, Emile Cochand[12] owner of Chalet Cochand and Joe Ryan[13] a New Yorker who owned Mont Tremblant ski resort, were major players responsible for the development of the ski industry in the Laurentians. The first "ski resort", Chalet Cochand, was built in 1914, followed by The Alpine Inn in 1924. More hotels and expansions of local ski slopes followed. Sainte Adèle's local newspaper, Le Journal des Pays d'en Haut, was established in 1967. Supporting the thriving hotel and resort business of the time, the École Hôtelières des Laurentides (Hotel School of the Laurentians) opened in 1983. In 1991 the railway was decommissioned and converted to a park for cyclists and skiers. The town has since abandoned the tourism industry in favour of residential development. Sony Pictures Entertainment mostly filmed Snowboard Academy here in 1995. Also during this era, more land was being used for condominium complexes, attracting more permanent residents to the area. In 2009, municipal taxes were doubled to what they were in the early 1990s to reflect the high demand for real estate that has been experienced in the municipality in recent years, and the beautiful landscape is now dotted with condos and strip malls, including the 500th Tim Hortons donut shop in Canada.

The municipal status of Sainte Adèle and the surrounding areas was the subject of personal, local, provincial, and national politics several times in its history. A coarse timeline of these divisions and fusions follows:
1918: Mont Rolland is separated from Sainte Adèle and created as a factory town. 1922: Val Morin becomes an independent municipality. 1922: Sainte Adèle was divided into the municipalities of Sainte Adèle en Haut and Sainte Adèle en Bas along class lines. 1948: Owners of the Chantecler Hotel petition the Ministère des Affaires municipales for the right to create the Village of Chantecler. 1951: Sainte Marguerite Station demands the right to secede from Sainte Adèle. 1954: The Mont Gabriel becomes a municipality with only nine citizens. 1964: Sainte Adèle en Haut and Sainte Adèle en Bas are reunited. 1967: Village de Séraphin is created. 1968: Part of Mont Rolland (Sommet Bleu) is annexed by Sainte Adèle. 1981: Mont Gabriel becomes part of Mont Rolland. 1997: Sainte Adèle and Mont Rolland are rejoined. Sainte Adèle was the setting of the long running Quebec television series Les Belles Histoires des pays d'en haut, an adaptation of Claude Henri Grignon's novel Un Homme et son péché.