Pincourt | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Pincourt

The name Pincourt goes back to the days of the fur traders and voyageurs who, on seeing the pine forest which at that time covered most of the western half of the island, described the trees as being rather short and dwarf-like in stature. They called the place Pins courts, that is, "short pines.

Pincourt

 Pincourt, Qué, City, pop 11 197 (2006c), 10 107 (2001c), inc 1959. Pincourt is one of the 4 municipalities covering the territory of L'Île-Perrot, an island located off the western end of Île de Montréal, at the mouth of the OTTAWA RIVER, between lakes Saint-Louis and Deux-Montagnes. The 3 other municipalities are l'ÎLE-PERROT, Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot and Terrasse-Vaudreuil. Pincourt, some 40 km west of MONTRÉÉAL, occupies the western portion of the island. Across the channel is the city of VAUDREUIL-DORION.

The name Pincourt goes back to the days of the fur traders and voyageurs who, on seeing the pine forest which at that time covered most of the western half of the island, described the trees as being rather short and dwarf-like in stature. They called the place Pins courts, that is, "short pines." The name stuck and the abridged, singular version was adopted.

The locality was built up around a Roman Catholic mission church, Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, after 1890. With no major industry, growth was slow, so it was not until 1950 that the locality was incorporated as a village. Town status came soon after in 1959. Pincourt is a typical residential suburb of Montréal, well-served by the Rigaud-Montréal commuter train.