In 1832, Barthélemy Joliette built a sawmill and a flour mill on the banks of the l'Assomption River. He was soon followed by pioneers from
Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare,
Saint-Paul, and
Sainte-Mélanie, who began to clear the area. In 1840, the parish Saint-Charles-Borromée was founded, and its canonical occurred in 1843. Two years later was founded the parish municipality of Saint-Charles-Borromée-du-Village-d'Industrie from Joliette, which decided to separate from the rest of the town in 1864 and was first named L'Industrie. It ceased to exist in 1847, and its territory became part of Berthier County. The parish municipality of Saint-Charles-Borromée was created in 1855. In 1864, when Joliette was erected, Saint-Charles-Borromée lost an important part but still covered a large area. In 1870, the parish of Saint-Alphonse-de-Liguori took a small part of the west. In 1915, Joliette decided to explain its territory from Saint-Charles-Borromée toward the north and the south. In 1956, the area east of the l'Assomption River decided to separate from Saint-Charles-Borromée, and it became Nortre-Dame-des-Prairies. In 1957, the south of Saint-Charles-Borromée decided to also separate itself and became the parish municipality of Saint-Charles-Borromée-Sud, which later merged with Joliette and became known with the name of "Quartier Base-de-Roc" and "Carrefour du Vieux-Moulin". That section also included the current location of the Galleries Joliette. Finally, the rest of Saint-Charles-Borromée, commonly known as "La Cité de Joliette," merged with Joliette in 1963. The town became the municipality of Saint-Charles-Borromée in 1986 because Barthélemy Joliette's wife, Marie-Charlotte Tarieu Taillant de Lanaudière, had been largely implied with the construction of the local church. The town was supposed to be named after her, but there was no Sainte-Charlotte so they decided to masculinize the name to that of Saint-Charles-Borromée. == Demographics ==