History
The Township of Greater Madawaska is relatively recent history, having been created as a political entity, in 2001. It is made up of five former townships that had themselves been amalgamated, at various times, in their history. You will find them mentionned in the historical sketches that follow, but it is the towns and villages of the area that are the focus of these stories. One of these villages, Black Donald Village, no longer exists, as it is under the Madawaska River in 80-feet of water. History on the village of Springtown is currently not available but will be added at a later date.
This history and associated memories were published between October 2004 and the summer of 2005 in the Madawaska Highlander, which is a community newspaper located in and serving Greater Madawaska.
For the most part, this history is that of roughly 160 years of European settlement of the area, but in the section on the Madawaska River, attention is also paid to the original aboriginal inhabitants of the region.
The material is organized by locality as follows:
- The Madawaska River
- Black Donald
- Calabogie
- Mount St. Patrick and Dacre
- Griffith and Matawatchan
This material may be freely used, but acknowledgement of The Madawaska Highlander as its source would be appreciated.