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'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.

Contents

Geography

History

Economy

Demographics

People born in Lévis

See also

External links

Geography

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. Previously, the former cities of Lauzon and St-David-de-l'Auberivière were merged to Lévis in 1989. 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 Chaudière 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.

History

Native Americans are said to have favored the Pointe-Lévy (actually named 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 Pointe-Lévy 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. Pointe-Lévy was mainly an agricultural domain in which several lords ("Seigneurs") controlled their part of land in a medieval feodal way.
The land of the Lauzon seignory remained unoccupied until 1647, when Guillaume Couture became the first European settler. Couture was at the time first Chief Magistrate, Captain of the Militia, member of the Sovereigh Council and was widely considered a hero in New France. Couture was however not the first Lord of the Lauzon Seignory, as the land was owned by Jean de Lauzon.
During the Seven Years' War in the summer of 1759, General James Wolfe established a camp in the territory of Pointe-Lévy 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, Pointe-Lévy served as the main camp to sustain the British army in the Quebec area. The constant cannon firing between Quebec city and Pointe-Lévy 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. In 1763, Marie-Josephte Corriveau was hanged in Quebec City for killing her husband, and, in accordance with English practice, her body was displayed in a cage for several weeks in Pointe-Lévy. This was an unusual punishment unknown during the French regime and reserved in England for persons found guilty of particularly heinous crimes.
Many years later, between 1865 and 1872 while the city was still under control of Britain, a series of three forts were built to protect Québec and the surroundings from the American invasion. They were never really used. One of this forts (Fort no.1) still remain today and can be visited.

From 1854, the railroad appeared in Pointe-Lévy making the city a major transportation centre for commerce and immigration. Being on the south shore of the St-Lawrence river, Pointe-Levy could be connected through rail to Ontario, Maine (and from there the whole United States) and the Maritime Provinces.
Many cities were created and Pointe-Levy became the City of Lauzon in the 19th century. The City of Lévis was born in 1861. The creator of this new city was Mgr. Joseph-David Déziel (1806-1882). Many municipalities were merged between 1961 and 2002 in the actual territory of Lévis.
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.

Economy

Although a relatively small city, Lévis is not a typical suburb. The presence of several large employers has allowed many citizens to both live and work in Lévis. It is home to the Ultramar refinery, one of the largest in eastern Canada, Frito-Lay, Davie Shipbuilding 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 Populaire'' from their home. The city is also a major agricultural business research and development center.
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.

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.

People born in Lévis

★ Céline Bonnier - actress

★ Raymond Bouchard - actor

★ Marcel Leboeuf - actor

★ Vincent Bolduc - actor

★ Julie Perreault - actress

★ - baseball player

See also

★ Municipal reorganization in Quebec

External links

★ Lévis official website

★ Tourism in Lévis

★ thecanadianencyclopedia.com Information page