"Memphremagog" comes from the Abenaki word mamhlawbagak, which means "large expanse of water" or "vast lake."[5] "Magog" is believed to be a truncation of the lake's name. However, it could also come from namagok and namagwôttik, which means "the lake where there is brook trout." Others have theorised that the name has Biblical origins in Gog and Magog, or that it refers to an ancient city by the same name.[1]
History
This section needs expansion with:
Amerindian presence in the region
Details about Lake Memphremagog
Foundation and loyalist immigrants
Church development and the Saint Patrick mission
Recent history. You can help by adding to it. (July 2014)
The Abenaki were the first to inhabit the region[citation needed] and had long visited the Memphremagog and its waterways.[5] White settlement began in 1776, when Loyalists emigrated from nearby Vermont. They called it The Outlet, referring to the flow of water emptying into the Magog River from the lake.[citation needed]
Ralph Merry, who is considered the founding father of Magog, was an American Revolutionary who immigrated to Lower Canada in 1799 and settled in Bolton, to the west of the lake. He bought up all the neighbouring lots, including The Outlet village, where he went on to act as its mayor, judge, and developer. In 1821, he built a house there, which is the oldest standing house in the city.[6]
It was formally named Magog in 1855.
At the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th, the city's economy was dominated by the textile industry, most notably by a cotton mill operated by Dominion Textile. It was only in the 1960s and the 1970s that the city's economy would achieve desperately needed diversification through tourism, services, and the development of an industrial park.[7]
Magog is a city in southeastern Quebec, Canada, about 120 kilometres (75 mi) east of Montreal at the confluence of Lake Memphremagog, the Rivière aux Cerises, and the Magog River. The city of Magog is also in close proximity, 35 km (21.8 mi), to the Derby Line–Stanstead border crossing station at the Canada-United States border.[13]
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Magog had a population of 28,312 living in 13,439 of its 15,009 total private dwellings, an increase of 6.2% from its 2016 population of 26,669. With a land area of 144.26 km2 (55.70 sq mi), it had a population density of 196.3/km2 (508.3/sq mi) in 2021.[15]
For several generations, it was a one-industry (textile) manufacturing town, where Dominion Textile made cotton goods. The main plant is still there. However, the plant has considerably reduced its activities to a few employees, who mainly making pillows.
Tourism
Magog is in a resort area, with shops and services catering to vacationers and tourists. Tourism is related to the lake and the nearby Mount Orford.
^Binkley, Alex (February 25, 1976). "National Volleyball: Men Stepping Out Of Shadows". The Golden Star. Golden, British Columbia, Canada. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.