Hérouxville, Quebec, formerly known as Saint-Timothée d'Hérouxville, is a parish municipality nestled in the Mékinac Regional County Municipality in the administrative region of Mauricie. This quaint parish is a gateway to the northeast of Mauricie, a region renowned for its lush forests and charming villages.
Hérouxville is situated directly on the route to Saint-Tite and the Festival western de Saint-Tite. The village is crossed by Route 153, with Saint-Tite to the east and Shawinigan to the southwest. The town centre, styled in the seigneurial period, features Rang Saint-Pierre as Main Street, where houses are never really distanced but deep soil. The tallest building in Hérouxville is the church Saint-Timothée.
The municipality extends around the northern part of Lac-à-la-Tortue, a lake surrounded by cottages and residences. This lake is home to the first seaplane base in the civil history of Canada, which has now developed into a large tourist resort for hunting and fishing stays in the northern regions.
Despite its proximity to the Saint-Maurice River, Hérouxville is drained by three sub-basins: South Mékinac River, Rivière Noire (Black River), and Rivière à la Tortue. The territory of Hérouxville is mainly part of the watershed of the Rivière des Envies, a tributary of the Batiscan River.
A sector of wetland covering three municipalities is southeast of Lac-à-la-Tortue, head of water between the watershed of Lac-à-la-Tortue, the rivière à la Tortue, and Rivière des Chutes.
The name "Saint-Timothé" was assigned to this Catholic mission, as Tite, Thècle, and Timothé were disciples of St. Paul in the first century. The name "Hérouxville" was a nod of respect to Father Joseph-Euchariste Héroux, founder of this Catholic parish. To avoid toponymic confusions, the municipality adopted the designation "Saint-Timothé de Hérouxville" in 1983. The "Commission de toponymie du Québec" (Geographical Names Board of Québec) formalized the toponym "Hérouxville" on January 9, 1986.
The proximity of Hérouxville with the Saint-Maurice River had a major impact on its economic development from 1850 to the end of the nineteenth century. The village was founded in 1897 by Father Joseph Euchariste Héroux and became the Catholic parish of Saint Timothy as of September 15, 1903. Agriculture has played an important role in the history of Hérouxville, including providing supplies for missions and projects of the St-Maurice Valley.
In January 2007, Hérouxville received international attention when its town council passed measures concerning practices deemed unsuitable for life in Hérouxville for potential new immigrants. The code was widely criticized as being premised on racist and insulting cultural stereotypes. The town later revised the standards after a delegation of Muslim women from the Canadian Islamic Congress came to meet townspeople.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Hérouxville had a population of 1,367 living in 626 of its 685 total private dwellings, a change of 7% from its 2016 population of 1,278. With a land area of 54.72 km2 (21.13 sq mi), it had a population density of 25.0/km2 (64.7/sq mi) in 2021.
Several publications delve into the rich history of Hérouxville, including "Tavibois, 1951-2009: l'héritage d'Albert Tessier aux Filles de Jésus" and "De fil en famille — cent ans de l'histoire de Hérouxville".
Directories such as "Répertoire des baptêmes, marriages et sépultures de la paroisse de Saint-Timothée d'Hérouxville, 1897-1999" provide a detailed record of the parish's history.
