Located on the mountainous borders of the three oldest parishes of the county of Deux-Montagnes, the village parish of the patronage of Saint-Joseph evokes the city located on the mountain. This corner of paradise, because of its fruits and its water sources, and today by its blossoming orchards in the spring, is one of the most endearing and picturesque places north of Montreal. At 600 feet above sea level, the striking panorama allows you to contemplate Mount Royal and some twenty villages with their bell towers. The proximity of the Agricultural Institute of Oka, established in 1893 by the Trappists, at the request of the Government of Quebec, helped the parish find its way into the cultivation of the fruit which is now its wealth and its reputation.
The territory of the municipality of Saint-Joseph-du-Lac was part of the seigniory of Lac des Deux-Montagnes for over a hundred years. This seigniory was granted on October 17, 1717 to the Ecclesiastics of the Séminaire de Saint-Sulpice in Paris, already seigneurs of the island of Montreal. The primary goal of the Sulpicians was then to settle the Amerindians of Sault-au-Récollet in the north of the Island of Montreal in order to keep them away from fur traffickers. The Mission du Lac, located on the tip of the current village of Oka, thus monopolized all the energies of the lords, which delayed the arrival of the settlers.
From 1782, the Sulpicians conceded the first lands on the territory called Côte Saint-Joseph. Joseph Turpin Jr., originally from Sainte-Geneviève on the Island of Montreal, and Pascal Carrière each obtained land three acres deep.
In 1783, the Sulpicians signed a total of 25 concessions. The land was then distributed on either side of a 24-foot-wide path, called Côte Saint-Joseph. This communication route is known today as the Main Road. In ten years, from 1782 to 1793, the 81 lands on the Saint-Joseph coast were thus granted to settlers. In 1803, the Côte Saint-Joseph road was extended north to allow settlers to reach Saint-Benoît.
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