Terrebonne (La Plaine)

La Plaine is a sector of the city of Terrebonne. In 1830, while the lords of Terrebonne and Lachenaie were building the Chemin de la Grande Ligne (now Laurier Boulevard), the city of La Plaine was created from the detachment of part of the cities of Mascouche, Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Saint-Lin and Terrebonne. In 1877, the arrival of the railway stimulated the economy and gave birth to the village of Saint-Joachim, which became La Plaine in 1920. It merged with the cities of Terrebonne and Lachenaie in 2001. This sector has approximately 22,000 inhabitants. The name La Plaine comes from the surrounding area of ​​Terrebonne, which was nicknamed "La Plaine" by Father Louis Lepage de Sainte-Claire, parish priest of Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne from 1724 to 1751. He wanted to emphasize that the site had a fairly uniform surface and no notable relief. When the seigneury of Terrebonne was increased in 1731, this part was given the name "Belle Plaine". When the post office opened in 1879, it was given the name La Plaine. The name Saint-Joachim was instead chosen for the Catholic parish in 1915 and for the parish municipality constituted in 1922 on the grounds that Joachim was Anne's husband, and that the new parish was close to Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines. The name La Plaine remained the most common name to designate the place, so much so that in 1969, the municipality changed its name to La Plaine.