La Boutique de Forge Bourgeois / Bourgeois' Blacksmiths

Just sixty years ago, Montebello had three fully working ironworks run by the Bourgeois, Cadieux, and Périard families, practicing a craft that had almost completely disappeared from the community. The Grant family had a blacksmith shop before 1872, and Cyrille Bourgeois purchased the ironworks in 1874, but died soon afterward. His eldest son, Ovila, who had worked alongside his father as a blacksmith, died in 1894. The two other sons then carried on the business by specializing, with Onésime as the blacksmith and Médard as the carpenter. Their trades were distinct but complementary, one working with metal and the other with wood, and together they made sleds and carriages. The blacksmith shop remained in operation until the beginning of the fifties, stood next to the Cadieux family's ironworks, and the Bourgeois descendants later established many businesses in Montebello.

Quebec · Canada