Background
Joseph Armand Foucher was born in 1898 in Saint-Paulin, Mauricie. He was the youngest son of Joseph Foucher and Herménégilde Leblanc. In 1921, he married Estelle Frigon (daughter of Joseph-Auguste Frigon).
Joseph Armand Foucher was born in 1898 in Saint-Paulin, Mauricie. He was the youngest son of Joseph Foucher and Herménégilde Leblanc. In 1921, he married Estelle Frigon (daughter of Joseph-Auguste Frigon).
He was the 14th Mayor of Shawinigan from 1957 to 1963. The family lived in the village of Sainte-Flore, then moved in 1929 to the neighboring city of Shawinigan Falls. In 1938, he began the publication of the small weekly newspaper Les Chutes de Shawinigan, which he published for 30 years, until 1968.
He also published six other weekly newspapers in as many cities, including Grand-Mère, Louiseville and Louisiana Tuque.
In 1949, he started his own printing business. He independently owned a service station in the Christ-Roi neighborhood, at the corner of boulevard Saint-Sacrement and avenue Street-Prosper (across from Alcan"s #2 aluminum plant), and was an advocate of buying locally.
Foucher would use his newspaper to advertise lower prices on gas. He was re-elected as mayor in the regular election of November, 1957.
He ran unopposed in the election of November, 1960, but resigned in August, 1963 before the end of his second term.
The city council appointed Henri Désaulniers to succeed him. The federal Post Office (395, avenue de la Station);
The Shawinigan Bridge, dedicated on Sunday, September 2, 1962, in the presence of Premier Jean Lesage and Roman Catholic Bishop Georges-Léon Pelletier;
The Marc-Trudel Bridge (another link between Shawinigan and Shawinigan-Sud across the Saint-Maurice River);
Several playgrounds. He died in 1976. Rue Foucher in the Shawinigan-Nord neighborhood was named to honor him.
The Parc industriel J.-Armand-Foucher was also named after him in 2008.