Brief History
Westville is older than Reynoldston and almost on the Canadian border. Unlike Reynoldston, Westville is and was primarily a farmcommunity, with flat tillable fields and rich soil. Westville is in the St. Lawrence Valley. The Salmon River runs through Westville fields, where it widens as it approaches the St.Lawrence River in Quebec. Westville was in no way a traditional village, with a church with two town center: Westville Center and Westville Corners Westville still exists, today. We are fortunate to have a group of Westville interviews that detail life in a place very
different than Reynoldston, but perhaps more typical of northern Franklin County than the temporary logging town developed by the Reynoldses. Our informant Orville Langlois took us back further into the 19th century than any of the Reynoldston interviewee could do; George Russell also talked extensively about early days in Westville, whileOla Stockwell, a well-known historian in the Westville community, talked about the difficulties and rewards of being a country school teacher. George Chapman was a farmer and Katherine Cushman Chapman, a school teacher. Both came from farm families that had farmed and settled in the community in the early 19th Century. Daily life for many of the interviewees centered on the Presbyterian Church, the Grange and the general store, which was initially built and operated by W. S. Ordway.
Mr.Langlois’s grandparents operated farms and subsequently the general store in Westville from 1952 until 1963. Mr. Langlois lived in Westville as a child, in one of the apartments aboe the store and spent time
with his grandparents at the Store.