Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

The term hôtel de ville simply means Town Hall in English.  In Quebec, it designates the building where municipal authorities are housed.  Other designations are also used: mairie, maison du peuple.

In the case of Potton's Town Hall or Mairie, the following is recorded: “(…) the first old Town House (…) burned in 1910.  Another one built on the same site by David Manson burned in 1923.”^[1]  (Plates 24 and 25 depicted in Potton d'antan, Yesterdays of Potton show the Manson Block – before the 1923 fire.)  Both of these fires destroyed many archived municipal records, a reality which still elicits painful grimaces from the researcher.

The following information regarding our Town Hall is reprinted from information kindly provided by Mrs. Mary Cowan Bailey in September 2013.  Mrs. Bailey is the daughter of R.F. Cowan and Edith Aiken Cowan:

“The "Manson Block", which included the Town Hall, burned in late January, 1923.  R.F. (Frank) Cowan, who lost his business - a general store in the same Block at the time of the fire - was chosen as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Muncipality of Potton later in 1923. The Town Office was in his home (Cowan House) for several years until a new Town Hall was constructed in 1931. The following is extracted from Edith Aiken Cowan's diaries of 1931, the originals of which are now housed at the Brome County Historical Society, in Knowlton.

• "Feb. 10, 1931 - The Council met to meet the architect to talk about the Town Bldg.
• Mar. 16, 1931 - Council meeting. Tenders rec'd for the new Town Bldg. Accepted one for $12,475."

Mary also quoted from an article reprinted in an issue of the Stanstead Journal in April, 2006, under the heading of '75 years ago, April 13, 1931'

• "Work on the new town building in Mansonville is going forward with a swing and a bang under the direction of Mr. J. A. Jacques.
• The Cement foundation was being poured on Friday and everything is moving like clock work."

Architectural plans respected the style of the original, and the building is built on the same location. All municipal offices are located here.

In the 1950's and 1960's, half of the lower floor of the Town Hall was rented to Georges Hamelin, where he operated a grocery store with a butcher shop. 

At one time, Mansonville had its own police to keep order amongst the natives!  A holding cell, or jail, was located in the basement of the Town Hall  – just in case the offence warranted some reflection time in isolation!

The Town Hall in Mansonville was entirely renovated in 2003.  Main floor office space was redesigned, an elevator was installed and the Council Chamber moved to the second floor.  In 2007, an addition to the rear of the main building was constructed to accommodate the Fire protection and First responder vehicles and equipment.  The floor above houses our municipal library.

The Town Hall, according to the Bergeron evaluation, has strong heritage value.