Farnham is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality in the

Estrie Estrie () is an List of Quebec regions, administrative region of Quebec that comprises the Eastern Townships. ''Estrie'', a French neologism, was coined as a derivative of ''est'', "east". Originally settled by anglophones, today it is about 90 pe ...

region of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. The population as of the

Canada 2021 Census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, whic ...

was 10,149, making it the second most populated community in the RCM.

History

The city of Farnham takes its name from the historic Township of Farnham. The latter is one of the few townships established before 1800, and was named in remembrance of

Farnham Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tributary of the ...

, UK. The first "Farnhamiens", mostly Loyalists from the United States, arrived in 1800. On December 28, 1876, Farnham got the status of "town". On March 8, 2000, the town of Farnham and the municipality of Rainville merged to form the new "City of Farnham". The total population is now numbered at 8,000 inhabitants. Farnham is also the site of an important military training camp, used primarily by the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School and local militia.

Geography

Built on the shores of the

Yamaska River The Yamaska River (, ) is a Drainage basin, river in southern Quebec, Canada. Sourcing water within the Eastern Townships, it ends its journey in Lake Saint Pierre, Lake Saint-Pierre where it is a tributary to the Saint Lawrence River; altoget ...

, at the border of the Saint-Lawrence lowlands, the city of Farnham is located in the center of important cities such as

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu () is a city in eastern Montérégie in the Canadian province of Quebec, about southeast of Montreal, located roughly halfway between Montreal and the Canada–United States border with the state of Vermont. It is sit ...

(West) and Granby (North-East).

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Farnham had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Attractions

Petite Église - once an old church, the newly renovated building is now a fully functional recording studio, owned and operated by

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

-based

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara. The band's touring line-up includes former core ...

. The band announced on January 18, 2013, that they are selling the church they had been using as a studio. Other notable bands to have recorded at Petite Église include

Wolf Parade Wolf Parade is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2003 in Montreal. The band released three full-length albums before taking a five-year hiatus in 2011. They announced their return in 2016, releasing a self-titled EP in May of that year, and ...

and

Hot Springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

. The church is now owned by Emery Street Records, and continues to be used as a recording studio.

Activities

Located in Farnham is a skydiving school, Nouvel Air. Farnham has an arena named in honour of Madeleine Auclair. Since the 1990s Farnham has had a skate board park, which hosts an annual festival every August named "Skatefest de Farnham". Southeast of Farnham is the golf course "Club de Golf de Farnham". Farnham is on the route of both the Montérégiade Farnham/Granby and Route verte bicycle paths.

Transportation

Farnham is home to Farnham railway station, a disused station belonging to the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

Notable people

* In 2006, the members of the group

purchased the Petite Église, an old church that was renovated into a permanent recording studio for the band. After recording the albums '' Neon Bible'' and ''

The Suburbs ''The Suburbs'' is the third studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on August 3, 2010. Coinciding with its announcement, the band released a limited edition 12-inch single containing the title track and "Month of May".

'' at the location, the band put the studio up for sale in 2013 citing "roof problems" as the cause for the sale. * H. H. Bennett, photographer, was born in Farnham. * William Bourque, racing driver, was born in Farnham. * Sylvain Charlebois, researcher and expert at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

, was born in Farnham. He is the son of Farnham's first woman mayor, Lyse Lafrance-Charlebois (1991-2000). * Simon Durivage, a known journalist in Province of Québec, was born in Farnham. *

Alain Forand Major-General Joseph Robert Alain Pierre (Alain) Forand, CMM SC MSC CD (born January 27, 1944) is a Canadian infantry officer and the former Colonel of the Royal 22e Régiment. Early life Alain Forand was born in Farnham, Quebec, Canada on ...

, commanded the southern

UNTAES The United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) was a UN peacebuilding transitional administration in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, in the eastern parts of Croatia (m ...

forces in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, and the

Land Force Quebec Area Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of Earth not submerged by the ocean or another body of water. It makes up 29.2% of Earth's surface and includes all continents and islands. Earth's land surface ...

during the Saguenay Flood operation and the

Ice Storm of 1998 The North American Ice Storm of 1998 (also known as the Great Ice Storm of 1998 or the January Ice Storm) was a massive combination of five smaller successive ice storms in January 1998 that struck a relatively narrow swath of land from eastern ...

. *

Ludger Lemieux Ludger Lemieux (February 9, 1872 – October 27, 1953) was a Quebec architect who designed a number of notable Art deco structures in Montreal's Saint-Henri district. While he often worked in partnership with Joseph-Honoré MacDuff, his best ...

, architect, was born in Farnham. *

Yvan Ponton Yvan Ponton (born 22 October 1945) is a Canadian actor, commentator and television host. Ponton has had a lengthy acting career which includes roles in a variety of major French-Canadian television shows and movies. He is most well known to En ...

, a known comedian in Province of Québec, was born in Farnham. *

Yves Rodier Yves Rodier (born June 5, 1967) is a Québécois comic strip creator known for his many pastiches of ''The Adventures of Tintin''.List of cities in Quebec This is the list of municipalities that have the Classification of municipalities in Quebec, Quebec municipality type of city (Quebec), city (''ville'', code=V), an Administrative divisions of Quebec, administrative division defined by the Minist ...

Municipal history of Quebec The municipal history of Quebec started in 1796 with the creation of administrations for Montréal and Quebec City, but it really developed immediately prior to the creation of the Province of Canada in 1841 with the formation of municipal dist ...

References

External links

Official web site

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Quebec Incorporated places in Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality