History
The site of Chicoutimi was first settled in 1676 as a French trading post in the fur trade.
The city of Chicoutimi was founded in 1842 by Peter McLeod. Following the completion of a railway line to Roberval in 1893, Chicoutimi especially developed at the beginning of the 20th century as an industrial city based on pulp production.
Since the Great Depression, the city became an administrative and commercial center. The Conservatoire de musique de Saguenay was founded in Chicoutimi in 1967, and the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi was founded in 1969. The city also played host to the Quebec Summer Games in 1972.
In the municipal amalgamations of 1976, Chicoutimi annexed the neighbouring towns of Chicoutimi-Nord and Rivière-du-Moulin. In a later round of amalgamations in 2002, the cities of Chicoutimi, Jonquière, La Baie, Lac-Kénogami, Laterrière, Shipshaw and part of Tremblay merged to form the new city of Saguenay. Chicoutimi became a borough of Saguenay.
During the summer of 1996 a record rainfall in the region caused major flooding in the downtown, as well as outlying areas. The total cost of the disaster was recorded to be 1.5 billion Canadian dollars. It also claimed seven lives and destroyed many bridges.
Chicoutimi's sister city was Camrose in Alberta, which then became Saguenay's sister city.
Chicoutimi is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chicoutimi.
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