Baie-Comeau and its history

Colonel McCormick and Mgr Labrie or Baie-Comeau and Hauterive

In the 1910s, Colonel Robert Rutherford McCormick, owner of the Chicago Tribune (and later the New York Daily News), was a major American industrialist. Wishing to cut production costs by building his own newsprint mill, he turned to the Manicouagan River's timber reserves to supplement his supplies. 

In 1937, after months of construction, a real town took shape: Baie-Comeau!  By the end of the year, there were already over a hundred houses, a church, even a hotel... and of course: a paper mill!

At the end of the 2nd World War, the bells of Sainte-Amélie church heralded the end of the war and, in April 1948, Monseigneur Napoléon-Alexandre Labrie founded the town of Hauterive near the Amédée River. He built a hospital, a seminary and established his bishopric. A twin town is born!

 

Electricity and aluminum at the heart of economic life

A few years later, the hydroelectricity and aluminum industries also found a home in the surrounding rivers and our deep-water port. 

Hydro-Québec began construction of a series of new dams... The now-famous name “La Manic” would stick to the Manicouagan region for generations to come. It's sure to inspire many, including Georges Dor...though we locals don't know what we're talking about!