In 1883, Télesphore Bédard, a blacksmith from Saint-Esprit, opened a smelter in L’Assomption producing farming tools and stoves. In 1944, Édouard Roy bought Cie Bédard Ltée, and in 1961, Hupp Canada, manufacturing Frigidaire’s appliances,replaced Mr. Roy’s company. The plant located in L’Ange-Gardien Boulevard changed name and owners through the years (WCI, Frigidaire and Electrolux), but the employees mostly stayed the same. In the 1980’s, globalization began to make its presence felt and the Swedish appliance manufacturer moved to Memphis, Tennesse. The plant in L’Assomption shut its doors in 2014, at a cost of 1,300 jobs.
L’Assomption is starting to become a bedroom community, as the long line of cars on Highway 343 at rush hour will attest.
