Evangeline Regional 
     
     High School, 1962. 
     
     When the school opened 
     
     in 1960, a total of 96 
     
     students were enrolled in 
     
     Grades IX, X and XI. The 
     
     building was enlarged in 
     
     1964 and an elementary 
     
     school was built in 1967. 
     
     The two schools were 
     
     joined together by an- 
     
     other building in 1977. 
     
     This school complex is 
     
     now called the Centre 
     
     d’éducation Evangéline. 
     
     (Francis Blanchard 
     
     Collection) 
     
    
   
   
    
     Why is the Region 
     
     Named after Evangeline? 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Evangeline Region was founded in 1812 by Acadians 
     
     who had originally settled near Malpeque Bay on the north 
     
     shore of Prince Edward Island. These early settlers established 
     
     two parishes which, for a long time, were called La Roche 
     
     (Egmont Bay) and Le Grand Ruisseau (Mont-Carmel). The name 
     
     “Evangeline” was not used until 150 years after the arrival of 
     
     the first settlers. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The year 1960 is an important date in the history of the 
     
     Evangeline Region. It was in 1960 that this region obtained 
     
     its first secondary school. At that time, there were twelve 
     
     small school districts: eight in the parish of Egmont Bay, 
     
     three in the parish of Mont-Carmel and one in the village of 
     
     Wellington. Each district had its own little school but none 
     
     of the schools went beyond Grade X. Students who wanted 
     
     to continue their studies were thus forced to leave the area. 
     
     The ratepayers throughout these school districts decided to 
     
     unite in order to have a regional school built in Abram’s 
     
     Village that would include Grades IX to XII. Not only was 
     
     this one of the first regional high schools on the Island, but it 
     
     was also Acadian and French-speaking. To stress this cultural 
     
     uniqueness, the school and its school board were named 
     
     after Evangeline, the famous Acadian heroine created by the 
     
     American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Over the next 
     
     several years, the area served by the school became known as 
     
     the Evangeline Region.