C his week, we learned the site cyberpresse of the neighborhood Saint-Roch Quebec "lose" one of its most venerable commercial institutions. Indeed, with businesses such as pharmacy Brunet (based in 1874) and Sutton furs (first settlement founded in 1867), the funerary complex Lépine-Cloutier of the Rue Saint-Vallier was a witness to the golden age of industrial and commercial center of Saint-Roch. Here is a brief history.
Source: Jean-Pierre Forest (photographer). View of the current headquarters Lépine-Cloutier. Online Consultation , November 6, 2010.
The founder of this house is Germain Legris said Lepine (1821-1899). Manufacturer of wooden furniture, Lepine moved into the current residence of St. Roch in 1844. In 1845, he began making wooden coffins and funeral organizing. This service clearly meets a need. Quebec City had already experienced major epidemics, but these outbreaks since 1830 have made it a more "modern" with death rates in very difficult conditions, dignity in death becomes a real consideration. Moreover, trade openness coincides with the great fire of 1845, fire that spares buildings Germain Lepine. Furniture manufacturers are generally not contractors who specialize in making coffin, but Mr. Lepine made a different choice. For about $ 2, you can buy a casket manufactured to a size suitable for the deceased, with each difference of three inches (five-foot three, five feet six, five feet, nine, etc.).
Source: Amélie Breton (Perspective), Museum of Civilization, Quebec Seminary Collection, 1991,168, Joseph Légaré 1845-1848. Online Consultation , November 6, 2010.
Germain Legris said Lepine launches as quickly in the organization of funerals. Around 1860, we bought the first hearses and 1865, the family abandons its trade Lépine furniture and now specializes solely on the coffin and funeral. And professionalism shown by the family brought in customers. This is why trade is growing rapidly and Elzéar Lepine and Germain, the son of the first, joined their father in managing the family business. The son will help open two new places in Saint-Sauveur and Saint-Jean Baptiste. And they will allow the company to stay abreast of the latest techniques and practices in this area.
Source: "The company Lepine storefront on the Rue St. Vallier as it was in the 1900s, " online consultation , November 6, 2010.
For example, in 1896, the grand-son of Germain Legris said Lepine, Lepine Adelard, became the first embalmer in Quebec City, a practice until then banned by the Catholic Church. The first "balmy"? Archbishop Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau (first Canadian cardinal) for which the church organizes funeral pomp (here below) which will cost over 680 dollars in 1898, which also includes the construction of a special custom hearse. But also, the company Lepine is known to have embalmed several victims of the sinking of the Empress of Ireland 29 May 1914. Since the early twentieth century, the home of Germain Lépine is certainly one that makes the largest proportion of municipal funeral personalities, political and religious in the city of Quebec.
Source: Museum of Civilization. Online Consultation , November 6, 2010.
In parallel, in 1856 that Charles Cloutier, large- Cloutier's father Arthur, founded his first funeral home in the Saint John the Baptist (see here below). The company survives long after the founder, but the name Cloutier, who will join that of Lepine is not directly that of Charles. Arthur Cloutier is set up in 1928, the first real laboratory embalming of the city even founded his funeral home a bit earlier, Arthur Cloutier & Fils enr. Although Arthur Cloutier died in 1942, his family still owns establishments in the region of Quebec and became the competitor certainly the strongest and most ferocious of the Lepine family.
In Lepine, the building of the Rue Saint-Vallier remains the headquarters of the company until 2010. And it's also long been the family home. Thus, customers were received on the ground floor of the residence. In the lounge, we had a series of traps in the walls that could be opened to see the different styles of coffins. These traps were open for customers and then closed so that family life will continue normally. From 1917 to 1937, is the widow of Germain Lepine, Malvina Racicot, who runs the family business. In the 1950s, the family business Lepine ( like the Cloutier family) is being modernized at the same rate as large businesses in this industry. We offer pre-arrangements, in particular. Lepine home will be the first in Quebec to offer cremation services in the region of Quebec in the early 1970s.
In 1975, the funeral home Lepine amalgamates with Arthur Cloutier. In 1988, while Lepine-Cloutier is one of the major funeral homes in Canada, the group Urgel Bourgie, Montreal acquired the company from Quebec. Having been briefly then sold to American interests in 1996, the band returned under the control of house workers Homes, both of Montreal and Québec City in 2002. Today is the consolidation of the company's services under one roof invoked by administrators to justify the move. Nobody knows yet what will happen to the building of the Rue Saint-Vallier.
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