The sport of curling has an extensive history in the Townships, with references of the sport existing within the very first edition of the Sherbrooke Record.
The Record spoke with Allan Rowell, a member of Lennoxville Curling Club who is also well versed in local curling history, to elaborate on the history of the sport in the Townships.
The first curling rink that made its way into the Townships was the Sherbrooke Curling Club, the third curling club to be founded in the province. Established in 1880 by a group of passionate residents, the club originally held its games in an old drill shed on the corner of Montreal Street and Winter Street. The curling club later moved in 1909 to a property on what is now Abenaki Street, undergoing various renovations and rebuilds over the years.
“The only other club that was in the Townships during the early days was Granby, and they started up in 1905,” Rowell explained. The clubs became the sport’s foothold in the area and as interest grew, more clubs were established, including the Thetford Mines Curling Club in 1921, the Lennoxville Curling Club in 1923, Drummondville’s Club Sportif Celanese in 1935 and Magog Curling Club in 1937.
