page_title: Shawinigan
section_title: Urban Growth
hierarchical_section_title: Shawinigan / History / Urban Growth
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Hôtel de ville de Shawinigan, Québec (Canada)
context_page_description: Shawinigan is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 50,060 as of the Canada 2011 Census.
  Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality and census division of Quebec, coextensive with the city of Shawinigan. Its geographical code is 36. Shawinigan is the seat of the judicial district of Saint-Maurice.
  The name Shawinigan has had numerous spellings over time: Chaouinigane, Oshaouinigane, Assaouinigane, Achawénégan, Chawinigame, Shawenigane, Chaouénigane. It may mean "south portage", "portage of beeches", "angular portage", or "summit" or "crest". Before 1958, the city was known as Shawinigan Falls.
context_section_description: For decades, the local pulp and paper, chemical and textile industries created thousands of jobs and stimulated city growth (see Sketch Map of Urban Neighborhoods [sic] in Shawinigan, 1899-1951).
  Urban development steadily increased in Downtown Shawinigan.  By 1921, this sector was densely filled with commercial buildings on Fourth and Fifth street, as well as Station Avenue, one-family residences along the Riverside corridor (current-day St-Maurice Drive) and multi-story tenements elsewhere.
  The Olmsted Brothers design firm was hired by the city to implement a beautification program.  By the late 1920s, Downtown Shawinigan was home to a public market, a fire station, a technical school, several church buildings and two landscaped public parks, including the St. Maurice Park.
  Many of the opulent uphill homes located in the somewhat secluded areas of Maple Street and Hemlock Avenue were occupied by more affluent people, many of whom happened to belong to the once vibrant English-speaking community, which at times comprised more than 30% of the local population.
  As industrial plants began operation eastward and northward, neighbourhoods were established in Uptown Shawinigan.  The emergence of these new districts was defined by and intertwined with the parish structure of the Roman Catholic Church.  The Saint-Marc neighbourhood, originally known as Village St-Onge, was annexed in 1902, extending the city limits to Dufresne Street.  The uptown presence of the Canadian Carborundum and Alcan no. 2 plants favoured the foundation the Christ-Roi neighbourhood, which was annexed in 1925 extending the city limits to St-Sacrement Boulevard.  The land now occupied by the section of town currently known as Shawinigan-Est was annexed in 1932.
  Uptown Shawinigan had its own fire station by 1922 and its own landscaped public park and swimming pool by 1940.
  Westside near the Shawinigan River, the existence of the pulp and paper Belgo plant attracted enough residents to form a small, yet stable independent urban community called Baie-de-Shawinigan.
  Across the St-Maurice River, Shawinigan-Sud (then Almaville) maintained home-rule and developed as a residential hub.
caption: Shawinigan City Hall
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