Contents

Otterburn Park

Otterburn Park
City
Entrance sign for the city of Otterburn Park
Location within La Vallée-du-Richelieu RCM.
Otterburn Park Location in southern Quebec.
Coordinates: 45°32′N 73°13′W / 45.533°N 73.217°W / 45.533; -73.217[1]
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Montérégie
RCM	La Vallée-du-Richelieu
Constituted	July 1, 1855
Government [2][3]
• Mayor	Mélanie Villeneuve
• Federal riding	Beloeil—Chambly
• Prov. riding	Borduas
Area [2][4]
• Total	5.70 km2 (2.20 sq mi)
• Land	5.37 km2 (2.07 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[4]
• Total	8,479
• Density	1,578.2/km2 (4,088/sq mi)
• Pop 2016-2021	0.7%
• Dwellings	3,381
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)	J3H 2M6
Area code(s)	450 and 579
Highways	R-133
Website	www.ville. otterburnpark.qc.ca

Otterburn Park is a small town located 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 8,479. The town lies south of Mont-Saint-Hilaire on the Richelieu River and is one of the few officially bilingual towns in Quebec.

Originally a rural agricultural area, Otterburn Park's transformation began in the late 1800s, when it became a favourite weekend destination for employees of the Grand Trunk Railway, which, starting in 1885, ran a weekend train from Bonaventure Station to Mont-Saint-Hilaire.^[5] Occasional recreational visitors, including railroad employees, bought or built summer cottages, spurring development and, eventually, permanent settlement.^[5]

Until 1949, the Otterburn park was a neighbourhood within Mont-Saint-Hilaire parish.^[5] It took its present name, Otterburn Park, by vote in 1953.

Otterburn Park was the scene of the St-Hilaire train disaster in 1864, in which nearly 100 people were killed when an immigrant train failed to stop at an open swing bridge and fell into the Richelieu. The disaster remains the worst railroad accident in Canadian history, and the bridge is known to this day as the Pont Noir, or black bridge.

According to the Office québécois de la langue française, Otterburn Park has been officially recognized as a bilingual municipality since 1978-04-22.^[6][7]

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Otterburn Park had a population of 8,479 living in 3,335 of its 3,381 total private dwellings, a change of 0.7% from its 2016 population of 8,421. With a land area of 5.37 km² (2.07 sq mi), it had a population density of 1,579.0/km² (4,089.5/sq mi) in 2021.^[8]

Population trend:[9] Census Population Change (%) 2021 8,479 0.7% 2016 8,421 0.3% 2011 8,450 0.2% 2006 8,464 7.6% 2001 7,866 7.5% 1996 7,320 21.1% 1991 6,046 32.3% 1986 4,571 6.6% 1981 4,268 2.6% 1976 4,159 18.4% 1971 3,512 14.6% 1966 3,065 16.7% 1961 2,627 70.1% 1956 1,544 42.3% 1951 1,085 24.3% 1941 1,433 64.1% 1931 873 8.9% 1921 802 38.7% 1911 1,309 2.7% 1901 1,275 1.9% 1891 1,251 9.5% 1881 1,383 14.5% 1871 1,208 23.6% 1861 1,581 N/A

Mother tongue language (2021)[10] Language Population Pct (%) French only 7,615 89.9% English only 455 5.4% Both English and French 155 1.8% Other languages 225 2.7%

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2014)

The South Shore Protestant Regional School Board previously served the municipality.^[11]

• List of cities in Quebec

• City of Otterburn Park