In 1732,
Jean-Pierre Roma, an Acadian French merchant, settled a site a few miles east of present-day Montague that he called Trois Rivieres, now
The Three Rivers. It is now a designated historic site, which brings to life his story and how he established there an international trading post. Its interpretive centre is open from the last week of June to the last week of September each year. Unfortunately for him and his business, the French Army on
Ile St. Jean were to be defeated by the British in 1745, in an act of ethnic cleansing in which the Acadian population was deported and lost all their earthly goods. At the time of
Samuel Holland's survey in the 1760s, Georgetown was designated as the
shire town of Kings County. The Montague River was the southernmost of three rivers draining the area. Eventually Lower Montague, Montague Road and Montague Bridge were named after the river. The river itself traces its name to either
George Brudenell, 4th Earl of Cardigan (later
George Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu),
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, or
Montague Wilmot,
Governor of Nova Scotia (which then included St. John's Island - present-day Prince Edward Island) at the time of Holland's survey. The Garden of the Gulf Museum (c. 1887 to 1888) is on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.
Recent events Montague is notable as the first community to combine a
Wendy's restaurant and a
Tim Hortons franchise under one roof. In 1992, the owner of both franchises in
Prince Edward Island, Daniel P. Murphy, opened a new outlet for both brands in the same building in the community. He invited
Ron Joyce and Wendy's chairman
Dave Thomas to the grand opening, where the two executives met for the first time and established an immediate rapport. Murphy's success with the combined operation led to an agreement resulting in a merger of Wendy's and Tim Hortons (TDL Group) in 1995. Montague has had several modest property developments in recent decades, consisting of several subdivisions, as well as new big box retail and institutional buildings. The bridge carrying
Route 4 across the Montague River was replaced in December 2007. The Cavendish Farms Wellness Centre opened in 2009 on the southern edge of the community beside the existing Atlantic Fitness Centre East complex. This facility includes an Olympic sized hockey arena, municipal offices, meeting rooms, two indoor walking tracks and the local library. In early 2010, the provincial Department of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Rural Development relocated from Charlottetown to a new building in downtown Montague. Montague Regional High School opened for the 2010–2011 school year at the southern edge of the community on Valleyfield Road. In 2011, the intersection of the Wood Islands Rd (
Route 4) and the Valleyfield Rd (Route 326) was replaced by
Kings County's first roundabout. In 2014, the 30-room Riverhouse Inn hotel opened, and Aspin Kemp & Associates' world headquarters relocated to Montague, along with the relocation of a construction facility for the marine supply company to nearby Poole's Corner. The same year, Montague also received $320,000 of federal and provincial funding for cultural development, which was used in the construction of a waterfront art gallery, park construction, and the installation of several historic murals throughout the community. In July 2016, the Montague local council elicited controversy when it voted 2-4 against a request to fly the
pride flag during
pride month. On September 28, 2018, the Town of Montague amalgamated with the Town of Georgetown, five nearby rural municipalities – Brudenell, Cardigan, Lorne Valley, Lower Montague, and Valleyfield, and portions of three adjacent unincorporated areas to form the
Town of Three Rivers. == Demographics ==