Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

Dunkin is situated in the western quadrant of the Municipality, and was known from its founding as West Potton.  It was founded in 1796 by the arrival of Colonel Hendrick Ruiter and entourage, about whom more is written later.

Though Ruiter was West Potton's most famous settler, there seemed to have been no popular movement to name the place in his honour.  It was only in 1895 that some citizens petitioned for a name change from West Potton to Dunkin.  This was to honour one Christopher Dunkin, who, in the early 1860's, delivered a rousing and evidently, impressive, temperance speech in the Evangelical Second Advent Church of West Potton.  In 1864, Dunkin sponsored the temperance bill that was later known as the Dunkin Act.  Given the lapse of thirty years between speech and name change, the latter could hardly be called a spontaneous gesture!  Christopher Dunkin was a lawyer, politician, and judge who served as member for Brome County from 1862-1867.  He represented the riding both provincially and federally from 1867 until 1871, thus making him the first deputy from Brome County (which included Potton) after Confederation.  Incidentally, in that function, Christopher Dunkin was a strong opponent of Confederation and made one of the longest speeches in Canadian Parliamentary history, against it!

Nonetheless, the citizens of West Potton appeared to appreciate Mr. Dunkin's stirring speeches against demon liquor – far more than his political prowess or qualification as Queen's Counsel or Member of Parliament.  Christopher Dunkin was instrumental in bringing rail-lines to West Potton.  The South Eastern Counties Junction Railway was of great advantage to the burgeoning forestry industry once located in the Dunkin area.  Christopher Dunkin died at his home in Knowlton, Quebec, January 1881.  Dunkin was a bustling little town in which small businesses thrived, mainly relating to the lumber industry of the early 1900's, but also to the purchasing needs of farming families.  Three churches, a school, a post office, general stores and inns were all once found here.^[1] 

This place, like Highwater or South Potton, was the gateway to Potton for our earliest pioneers.  Rich flood plains of the Missisquoi River provided good land for growing crops, and the heavy forests gave wood for heating, building, and related commerce.  The Missisquoi River, though capricious, was of great advantage for the transportation of people and goods.  

Potton Heritage has published a folder on West Potton: Dunkin, which will provide supplementary information about this historical place.