Grenville is a village municipality in the Argenteuil Regional County Municipality of the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada. It is located opposite Hawkesbury, Ontario, on the Ottawa River. History Although Grenville was already shown on the Gale and Duberger Map of 1795, it was not until January 28, 1808, that Grenville Township was officially established; the township's name commemorated Lord George Grenville. Two years later, in 1810, the first French and English settlers arrived in the area. Its strategic location on the Ottawa River and the construction of the Carillon Canal in 1819 led to the town's real growth. In 1826 the first general store opened and in 1828, the first school. In 1830 "Kingsey" sawmill was built, and a flour mill was added in 1838. In 1857 construction began on the Carillon and Grenville Railway, which was completed six years later. In 1861 the village and its surroundings had about 900 inhabitants. On January 1, 1876, the Village Municipality of Grenville was formed at which time it exceeded one thousand persons. In 1910 the Carillon and Grenville Railway was abandoned and later on dismantled. Grenville Canal The Grenville Canal, the Chute-à-Blondeau Canal, and the Carillon Canal were built to navigate the Long Sault Rapids on the Ottawa River which stretched for from Carillon to Grenville. The impetus for these canals was the War of 1812. During this war, attacks along the Saint Lawrence River jeopardized the communication lines between Kingston and Montreal, the two main military positions of Upper and Lower Canada. The Ottawa River Canal and the Rideau Canal were thus designed as an alternative military supply route in the event of war with the Americans. Work on the canal began in 1818 with the construction of a storage warehouse. In 1819 Captain Henry Vernet of the Royal Engineers arrived from Britain to lead the construction of the project. Hundreds of Irish immigrants and French Canadians were used to excavate the canal under the direction of a hundred British soldiers. In 1833 the Grenville Canal was completed with an original length of and the entire network on the Ottawa River, including the 11 locks, was not fully completed until about 1843. The military requirements decided all aspects of the canal. The size of the locks were set to long, wide, and only deep at the thresholds. These dimensions, standards adopted for military use, were insufficient for any commercial