An Easy-to-Research Place Name

Early in the summer, I received a call from Laurent Paquette, the president of Ste. Agathe’s heritage committee, asking me for my availability in September.

“What for,” I asked, “a discussion about the committee?”

“No.” he answered, “It is to commemorate the work bee that saved the railroad station 30 years ago.” I remembered it, of course, because I was the chief organizer of it. In the late eighties, Sheila and I had co-founded, with others, a committee to save the station and in 1990 that committee morphed into the Ste. Agathe Heritage Committee. I was still its president at the time of the work bee in 1995.

We pushed our privilege of being able to occupy the station and simply set a date when volunteers would join us to change the roof of the rather large building. Such a structure’s survival depends upon the quality of its roof. Aside from non-expert volunteers, contractors’ teams said they would be there and building suppliers, including nearby Lortie-Martin, donated the materials. We started very early on Saturday morning in September knowing that we had to be finished by Sunday night. I thought commemorating such an event would make for a good reunion but wondered how many people were still around who remembered.

“We want to name the station’s rotunda for you.” I was speechless for a moment. The Joseph Graham Rotunda? Named for the person who writes stories about place names? It was to be called the Salle Joseph-Graham and would eventually find its way onto Quebec’s Place Name site:

https://toponymie.gouv.qc.ca/ct/ToposWeb/recherche.aspx?s=salle

“Hang on – I’m not dead yet. Isn’t that a prerequisite?” Laurent laughed and told me there were precedents. I wondered idly to myself whether it was appropriate anyway, but I didn’t think it would jinx me. It would be fun, especially holding it at the railroad station itself.

When the invitation arrived, I happily confirmed that I would be there. I had gone over lists of people the organizers should invite, and I would enjoy seeing them again if they could make it.

The event was held Thursday evening September 4 as planned, but a few days earlier, Laurent contacted us and told us that they had to change the venue. The number of confirmations was twice the capacity of the station!

It was fascinating to see people who had participated in the work bee then, many of whom travelled great distances to come together again. Being a part of such a work bee is a memorable experience. I still recall that Saturday morning sunrise from the roof of the station with Dorcy Laroche’s professional construction team hard at work, walking along the roof in the heavy fog as casually as cats. I was anxious about whether all this effort would make any difference to the authorities who had not yet decided whether the building was worth keeping, but I got my answer early Sunday morning, walking to the edge of the roof to pick up another package of shingles for the contractors and receiving them from the mayor, Michel Charrette, who had climbed the ladder, like the others, a working man at a work bee, and swung the heavy bundle over to me.

There were eighty volunteers, and I think the whole experience stayed with each of us. This was community in action.

Left to right, Laurent Paquette, president of Ste Agathe Heritage Committee,

Sheila Eskenazi and Joseph Graham, Frédérick Broué, Mayor of Ste. Agathe des Monts.

Ste Agathe Railroad Station in the early 1900s

Ste. Agathe Railroad Station today