The very beginning of the town of Lebel-sur-Quévillon dates back to the mid-40's when the first lumberjacks arrived in the region and set up camp about 30 kilometres north of Senneterre.

   
  

Canada Paper and Howard Smith, two companies integrated to the Domtar Group, received forest concessions a few years earlier and, in 1943, began to cut pulp wood at Rapide-des-Cèdres. This location mainly served as a base for the Department of Lands and Forests and also accommodated a few Indian families. The river in summer and the sled and snowmobile in winter were the only means of communication with the other localities. And thus the first forest camps were set up. All supplies - food, material and equipment -, were sent in by barge from Senneterre via Parent Lake and down the Bell River to mileage 35. From there, they were portaged on a ten- kilometre trail to Rapide-des-Cèdres.

One of the first pioneers to arrive there was a forest contractor from Clova by the name of Jean-Baptiste Lebel, also called "le Père Lebel" (Old Man Lebel). He opened the first sawmill at Rapide-des-Cèdres, operating it with about 1,200 men and 22 sub-contractors who were cutting from 50,000 to 100,000 softwood stacks per year. The timber was hauled by winter roads to the Canadian National railroad at Beattyville from where it was routed to different companies.

Lebel-sur-Quévillon owes its birthright to the Old Man Lebel who, seeing the vast black spruce forests spreading on thousands of square kilometres, had this fantastic dream of "building modern installations in the heart of this huge forest to process the raw material here on the spot".
  

An the early 60's, after many years of relentless efforts and discussions with politicians, financiers and companies about his dream, Domtar finally became interested in his project. After a thorough forest inventory and assessment of the quality of the wood, Domtar decided to build a modern "Kraft" pulp mill on the shore of Quévillon Lake.

   
  
Consequently, in the fall of 1963, Domtar began to work on the land they had chosen, preparing it for the construction of the plant. In April 1964, the site of the future town was cleared and in November of the same year, Ministers Cliche and Courcy and Old Man Lebel held the sod-turning ceremony on the site of the mill. Started in 1965, the construction of the mill was completed by 1966.

  

As the mill was taking shape, a small town was developing on the Quévillon Lake peninsula. Lebel-sur-Quévillon was incorporated into a municipality on August 6, 1965. It was named after two significant men, Old Man Lebel for the first part, and Louis Quévillon, an artisan sculptor from Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, whose name had already been given to the lake and who has left several art works in churches around Montreal.

   
  

On July 24, 1966, the first citizens of Lebel-sur-Quévillon arrived in the new town from all parts of Quebec. With great determination and energy, these pioneers developed the town at a fast and steady pace.

Lebel-sur-Quévillon is considered as the natural child of Domtar Pulp and Paper Company. The way the urban development was planned, the town spreads out following a typical design giving, when viewed from an air plane, the image of a tree with its streets branching out. The residential areas represent the branches growing out on each side of the trunk which is the vital centre of business and education. Further on, the mill brings food to the branches and the whole tree. This image is a symbol of the resources Lebel-sur-Quévillon is built upon. The town was created because of the mill and for the forest workers, bearing in mind their stability and an excellent family life.

Lebel-sur-Quévillon is above all a forest town. Over the years, it has diversified its economy by exploring potential resources in mining, business and tourism.