Abercorn is a village municipality located in the Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality in the Estrie region of southern Québec, Canada. It lies on the Canada-United States border, about 10 km (6.3 mi) south of Sutton, Quebec. The municipality had a population of 341 in the 2021 Canadian census.
Abercorn covers 26.73 km² (10.32 sq mi). Sutton, Quebec lies to the north and east, Frelighsburg, Quebec to the west, and Richford, Vermont immediately across the international border to the south.
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Toponymy
The settlement was originally known as "Shepard's Mills", after Thomas Shepard, a settler from New Hampshire who arrived in the area in 1797. The name "Abercorn" was adopted by the local post office when it opened in 1848 and was later used for the railway station.
The origin of the name Abercorn is uncertain. According to the Commission de Toponymie du Québec, it probably refers to James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn (1811-1885), whose title derived from Abercorn, West Lothian, a village in Scotland.
History
Settlement in the area began in 1792, when Thomas Spencer and Alexander Griggs established themselves near the present village. Thomas Shepard arrived several years later and built a grist mill and sawmill. The settlement subsequently became known as Shepard's Mills.
A store opened in 1820, followed by a customs house in 1845, and a post office in 1848. The settlement remained part of Sutton until 1929, when Abercorn was incorporated as a village municipality.
Union Church was built in 1870 near the centre of the settlement. It was used by Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Congregationalist congregations before becoming an Anglican church and taking the name All Saints Church in the 1920s. The former church was acquired by the Centre culturel d'Abercorn in 2021 for use as a cultural and community centre.
Rail service had reached the area in 1871, with the opening of the South Eastern Counties Junction Railway through Sutton and Abercorn. Abercorn station was the last station on the Canadian side before the United States border. The railway provided the village with direct connection to Montreal and the United States.
Geography
Abercorn lies in the Sutton Valley near the northern extent of the Green Mountains. Mont Pinacle rises to the west and the Sutton Mountains to the east. The Sutton River crosses the municipality, while Quebec Route 139 passes through the village and continues south to the Canada-United States border.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Abercorn had a population of 341 residing in 180 of its 240 total private dwellings, a change of 2.1% from its 2016 population of 334. With a land area of 26.72 km2 (10.32 sq mi), it had a population density of 12.8/km2 (33.1/sq mi) in 2021.
Population trend:
Mother tongue (2021)
Government
List of mayors