La Minerve (French pronunciation: [la minɛʁv]) is a village and municipality in the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada, part of the Les Laurentides Regional County Municipality.

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La Minerve
Municipality
Lake Marie-Louise in La Minerve
Location within Les Laurentides RCM
La Minerve Location in central Quebec
Coordinates: 46°15′N 74°56′W[1]
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Laurentides
RCM	Les Laurentides
Settled	1885
Constituted	December 30, 1892
Government [2]
• Mayor	Jean Pierre Monette
• Federal riding	Laurentides—Labelle
• Prov. riding	Labelle
Area [2][3]
• Total	328.10 km2 (126.68 sq mi)
• Land	274.92 km2 (106.15 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[3]
• Total	1,421
• Density	5.2/km2 (13/sq mi)
• Pop 2016-2021	17.9%
• Dwellings	1,638
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)	J0T 1S0
Area code	819
Highways	No major routes
Website	www.municipalite. laminerve.qc.ca

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Located in the Laurentian Mountains, La Minerve is still fairly forested and covered with many lakes, notably Chapleau, Désert, and La Minerve Lakes. Its southern portion is part of the Papineau-Labelle Wildlife Reserve. The area is popular for cottage vacationing. In the summer, the small local population swells with nearly 15,000 tourists.^[4]

Before the arrival of missionary colonizer Antoine Labelle, journalists of the Montreal newspaper "La Minerve" explored this region between 1880 and 1885. At that time, the Club Island was known as "Governor Island" and belonged to Sir Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau, controller of the newspaper.^[4] Afterwards, employees of La Minerve began to strongly encourage the settlement of the area which came to be named after this newspaper.^[5] The 30 January 1886 edition of La Minerve reported:

"From Iroquois Chute, you can go on a good road to Minerva Township, where there are several inhabitants and where the chapel, the sawmill needs to be built soon. The site of the village is wonderful. At two miles away, opposite Lake Desert, is Chapleau Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes in this region. There is a beautiful island of 3200 acres of land, fertile and well wooded, which belongs to the Honorable Secretary of State. There is enough to make a princely mansion and enjoy in summer all the benefits of country life and the most beautiful lakes."^[4]

During the years 1880 to 1890, the government granted the first land concessions. The first settler, Isaac Grégoire, arrived in 1885, and in the fall of the same year, notary Joseph Lefebvre, from Waterloo in the Eastern Townships, and some of his friends came to the area taking possession of some lots in La Minerve. Lefebvre opened a flour mill and a sawmill on the shores of Lake Desert.^[4]

In 1892, the Township of La Minerve and its township municipality were formed. In 1896, the post office opened, named Minerve (but renamed to La Minerve in 1949).^[5] In 1897, there were 331 acres (1.34 km²) under cultivation, 13 houses, 4 barns, 40 arpents of fencing (about 2.34 km). Twenty years later in 1917, there were 125 families with a total of 677 inhabitants.^[4]

On January 1, 1995, La Minerve absorbed the unorganized territories of Lac-Marie-Le Franc and Lac-aux-Castors located in the Labelle and Gagnon townships, but subsequently lost about 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi) to the Municipality of Labelle. In 1998, the Township Municipality of La Minerve obtained a new legal status and became the Municipality of La Minerve.^[5]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2017)

Sainte Agathe Academy (of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board) in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts serves English-speaking students in this community for both elementary and secondary levels.^[11]