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The agricultural crisis and the restructuring of the economy: 1870-1931In the beginning of the 1870's, the United States refused to import Canadian agricultural products, and at the same time competition created by cereals from Western Canada became a factor. Those two factors and the weaknesses of regional agriculture brought about a general crisis that persisted until the beginning of the 20th Century. With a population of 3,287 inhabitants in 1861, the old parish of Saint-Eustache experienced a decrease in population to 1,699 inhabitants in the 1911 census. Fortunately, to remedy the situation, several farmers in the Saint-Eustache region gave up farming cereals and turned to horticulture and fruit tree farming, particularly orchards. In the urban zone, or the village, a few small industries were established, among which were a Windsor preserves factory in 1890, the food preserves company in 1899 and later, the David-Lord preserves factory.
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The creation of new municipalities: 1921-1961In 1900, in the area where the Great Mill had been built, at the outfall of the Lac des Deux-Montagnes, there was a small core of the population. Around 1915, the building of a railway that linked that territory to Montreal led to the development of a significant residential area, without counting the visits by numerous vacationers. Attached to the Municipality of the parish of Saint-Eustache until that time, a village by the name of the Village de Saint-Eustache-sur-le-Lac was erected on that territory in 1921, and became, in 1958, the Ville de Deux-Montagnes.
To the west of Saint-Eustache-sur-le-Lac, the sandy beaches bordering the Lac des Deux-Montagnes began to attract numerous vacationers beginning in the 1930's. In 1958, the territory included between the Ville de Deux-Montagnes and the limits of the parish of Saint-Joseph-du-Lac was detached from the Parish of Saint-Eustache and formed, in 1961, the Ville de Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac.
In 1948, the village of Saint-Eustache obtained the status of city. Its land, surrounded by the ladn belonging to the Corporation of the parish, did not favour its expansion. At the beginning of the 1960's, the building of Highway 640 seemed to separate even more the urban sector from the rural section. Finally, in 1972, the City and the Parish merged to become the Ville de Saint-Eustache. The population increased from 15,000 in 1971 to 44,000 in 2000. This unprecedented demographic expansion, coupled with industrial growth and a very competitive agricultural sector made Saint-Eustache the largest urban agglomeration in the Lower Laurentians.
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