Lévis, Quebec
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| Ville de Lévis, Quebec | |||
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| Country | Canada  |
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| Province | Québec  |
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| Established | January 1, 2002 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | Danielle Roy-Marinelli | ||
| - Governing body | Lévis City Council | ||
| - MPs | Steven Blaney, Jacques Gourde | ||
| - MNAs | Christian Lévesque, Marc Picard | ||
| Area | |||
| - City | 334.65 km² (129.2 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2005 est) | |||
| - City | 126,396 | ||
| - Density | 284.9/km² (737.9/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) | ||
| Postal Code | G6 | ||
| Area code(s) | 418 | ||
| Website: www.ville.levis.qc.ca | |||
Lévis (officially Ville de Lévis) is a city in eastern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec City. A ferry links Old Quebec with Old Levis, and two bridges, the Quebec Bridge and the Pierre Laporte Bridge, connect western Levis with Quebec City. The population in 2005 was estimated at 126,396. Its current incarnation was founded on January 1, 2002, as the result of a merger between ten cities, including the older city of Lévis.
Lévis is home to the Ultramar refinery, one of the largest in eastern Canada, Frito-Lay, and the Desjardins Group headquarters. The founder of the latter, Alphonse Desjardins, lived in Lévis and ran with his wife, Dorimène Roy Desjardins, the first caisse from their home. The city is also a major agricultural business research and development center.
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[edit] Territory
Lévis County existed until 1980s when it was divided into Desjardins Regional County Municipality, Chutes-de-la-Chaudière-Ouest Regional County Municipality, and Chutes-de-la-Chaudière-Est Regional County Municipalities, which are now equivalent to current districts within the current Lévis.
On January 1, 2002, ten cities were merged by the Quebec provincial government to form the new city of Lévis: Charny, Lévis, Pintendre, Sainte-Hélène-de-Breakeyville Saint-Étienne-de-Lauzon, Saint-Jean-Chrysostome, Saint-Joseph-de-la-Pointe-de-Lévy, Saint-Nicolas, Saint-Rédempteur, and Saint-Romuald. The three RCMs which these cities were a part of ceased to exist. The new city, however, was divided into three districts:[1] Desjardins, Chutes-de-la-Chaudière-Ouest and Chutes-de-la-Chaudière-Est, which have the same boundaries as the former RCMs.
Lévis covers an area of 444 km²: 10% urban, 48% farmlands, 36% forests and 6% wetlands. In addition to the Saint Lawrence River, the Etchemin and Chaudiere rivers also run through the city before ending their journey in the Saint Lawrence. The Chaudiere river also boasts a fall with a suspended bridge, which can be accessed from autoroute 73.
[edit] History
Native Americans are said to have favored the Lévis area long before French settlement due to its ideal location, at the junction of the St-Lawrence and the Chaudière rivers. Many archeological sites reveal evidence of human occupation for about 10,000 years. Some historians theorize that Lévis could have been one of the main centres of Native American population development in the Quebec province.
In 1636, approximately twenty-eight years after the foundation of Quebec City, The seignory of Lauzon was founded on the eastern part of the actual territory. In the following years, other seignories were founded near the St-Lawrence river. Lévis was mainly an agricultural domain in which several lords ("Seigneurs") controlled their part of land in a medieval feodal way.
During the Seven Years' War in the summer of 1759, General James Wolfe established a camp in the territory of Lévis and laid siege to Quebec city. The siege succeeded and after firing cannons from the hills of Lévis for three months and the battle on the plains in front of the walls, Quebec fell to the British. During this time, Lévis served as the main camp to sustain the British army in the Quebec area. The constant cannon firing between Quebec city and Lévis also served as a way to stop the French and British ships from going farther on the St-Lawrence river thus preventing reinforcement to other major cities like Montréal.
Many years later, between 1865 and 1872 while the city was still under control of Britain, a series of forts were built to protect Québec and the surroundings from the American invasion. They were never really used. One of this forts still remain today and can be visited.
From 1854, the railroad appeared in Lévis making the city a major transportation centre for commerce and immigration. Being on the south shore of the St-Lawrence river, Levis could be connected through rail to Ontario, Maine (and from there the whole United States) and the Maritime Provinces.
In the late nineteenth and beginning of twentieth century, Alphonse Desjardins, pioneered the foundation of the credit union movement and founded the first Caisse populaire in Lévis. He also began a long process to form the Desjardins group by traveling everywhere in Québec helping other city to start their own credit union.
[edit] Life in Lévis
Although a relatively small city, Lévis is not a typical suburb. The presence of several large employers, such as the Desjardins Group, Ultramar and Frito-Lay has allowed many citizens to both live and work in Lévis.
There are many schools of different levels, including the Cégep de Lévis-Lauzon and a UQAR campus (Université du Québec à Rimouski). A lot of small business and entertainment developed in the city during the last decade and finalized the transformation from a Quebec City suburb into a small city.
[edit] Demographics
The city of Levis population grew by an estimated 1.3 per cent in 5 years. Levis is an old community in terms of population as the proportion of youths is lower than the national average and the proportion of those over 65 years of age is higher than the national average. Some 14.5 per cent is under 14 years of age, while those over 65 number 15.7 per cent. Around 99.5 per cent of the population have white backgrounds hailing mostly from France, the British Isles, Germany, and Italy.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Chaudière-Appalaches (12) |  |
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Lévis City | L'Amiante | Beauce-Sartigan | Bellechasse | Les Etchemins | L'Islet | La Nouvelle-Beauce | Lotbinière | Montmagny | Robert-Cliche Neighbouring regions: Bas-Saint-Laurent | Capitale-Nationale | Estrie | Centre-du-Québec |
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 Subdivisions of Quebec |
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|---|---|
| Regions | Abitibi-Témiscamingue · Bas-Saint-Laurent · Capitale-Nationale · Centre-du-Québec · Chaudière-Appalaches · Côte-Nord · Estrie · Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine · Lanaudière · Laurentides · Laval · Mauricie · Montérégie · Montréal · Nord-du-Québec · Outaouais · Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean |
| Territories | Basse-Côte-Nord · Jamésie · Kativik · Nunavik |
| Separated cities | Gatineau · Lévis · Notre-Dame-des-Anges · Rouyn-Noranda · Saguenay · Saint-Augustin · Shawinigan · Sherbrooke · Trois-Rivières |
| Agglomeration areas | La Tuque · Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine · Longueuil · Montreal · Quebec City |
