Turning 100 in a trade war, a Quebec aluminum town makes a wish

The Globe and Mail · Eric Andrew-Gee, Photography by Charles-Frederick Ouellet · 2026-11-06 11:00 UTC

Americans built Arvida, Que., into a powerhouse of industry. Now Trump’s tariffs cloud its future

When the American tycoon Arthur Vining Davis built a company town for his aluminum plant in the Saguenay region of Quebec in 1926, he left his imprint on every part of it. Arvida would even be christened with the first syllables of his three names.

The community was a marvel from the beginning, known as “the City Built in 135 Days” after Mr. Davis’s firm, Alcoa, flung up hundreds of houses for workers almost overnight.

The speed of Arvida’s construction belied its humanity, with attractive homes in a variety of architectural styles that labourers could eventually own, large plots without fences to encourage fraternization, and winding, tree-lined streets that evoked a commuter-train suburb.

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