Grand-Mère

Town in Champlain County, south-central Québec, Canada; population (1991) 14,300. It is located 35 km/21 mi north of Trois-Rivières, on the River Saint-Maurice. Founded in the 1890s around a hydroelectric plant, it became a paper and pulp production centre. Lumber, textile, clothing and shoe, and service industries have also been important to the regional economy. The town's name is derived from a rock in the shape of an old woman's profile, found in the falls and since relocated to a city park.