Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

The building in which the Soleil Rouge is housed has had an interesting past, with vocations from bakery to restaurant, and much in between.  According to our records, the building dates from about 1870 and was built by the Perkins family.  A Mr. E. Dean, a tinsmith, established himself here in 1876.  A Mr. George Bracey continued in the same field.  Ed. Daine and Archie Sisco later began manufacturing caskets at the location, although it is not known if these enterprises were concurrent! 

In 1930, Wilfrid Chicoine bought the establishment and made some radical changes, it might be said.  He turned the place into a restaurant with a bakery located at the rear of the building!  A post card of the time indicates the presence of a tea room, an ice cream parlour and gas pumps, obviously in an effort to lure the Route 39 south trade!  Messers Dupont, Dubuc, Racine (who closed the bakery), Couture and Mrs. Gisèle Marcoux have been succeeding proprietors of this building.  It was Gisèle Marcoux who named her restaurant and bar, the Soleil Rouge in 1980, and so it has remained!  It has subsequently changed hands.^[1]

Plate # 23 of Potton d'antan, Yesterdays of Potton shows this building opposite Giroux's store, circa 1915. 

This building, according to the evaluation of Claude Bergeron, possesses strong heritage value.  Its distinguishing elements include its moderately pitched roof, as well as the clapboard siding and distinctive window frame on the porch above the main entrance.