Sherbrooke (pop. 172,950) is the trading center of a rich agricultural and industrial region in southern Quebec. It lies where the Saint Francis and Magog rivers meet, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Montreal and about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of the Canada-United States border. Sherbrooke factories make clothing, electronic and medical equipment, food products, furniture, iron and steel products, jewelry, lumber, machinery, rubber goods, and textiles. The region is the world’s largest manufacturer of wooden hockey sticks.
Gilbert Hyatt, the first settler, built a homestead in 1796. The settlement was called Hyatt’s Mills until 1818, when it was renamed in honor of a former governor general of Canada, Lord Sherbrooke. The city was incorporated in 1875. In 1896, it became one of the first Canadian cities to be provided with electric power. It has a mayor-council form of government.
