Alice Lane

Alice Lane

Alice Grace Axelson-Lane was born in Moline, Illinois, in 1893. She arrived in Baie-Comeau in October 1937 with her husband, George James Lane, newly appointed mill manager of the Quebec North Shore Paper Company. At the time, the town was a fledgling emerging from the boreal forest, as less than a year earlier, no one would have found a city there.

The couple would have only one child, a daughter named Nancy (Maurice Quinn). During their early years in Baie-Comeau, he lived at 72 Champlain Avenue, known as the Manager’s House. Indeed, the majestic home belonging to the Quebec North Shore Paper Company was always assigned to the mill manager. In 1959, her husband retired, and they moved to 76 Champlain Avenue. The couple left Baie-Comeau in 1965. She died in Niagara-on-the-Lake in 1980.

A learned, cultured, active, and sociable woman, Alice was highly respected within the Baie-Comeau community. Involved with the Ladies Guild, she was one of the founding members of the Côte-Nord Historical Society and the Baie-Comeau Music Club. It was through her hard work and dedication that the city acquired its first public library. In 1998, it was renamed the Alice-Lane Library.