It was around 1853 that Anthony MacEvilla, a wealthy Scottish merchant from New York, built a flour mill on the site now known as the Domaine de la Dame de Coeur. As economic activities were prosperous, Mr. MacEvilla also built a saw mill.
In 1875 followed a decline due to the combined effects of an increased competition, the arrival of electricity and the moving of Upton’s economic activity to a Montreal-Portland railway depot. MacEvilla’s heirs had to sell the domain, keeping only a house where they came to spend their summers.
The Mills passed through the hands of many owners until the entire field was sold, in 1922, to Mgr. Desmarais, who in turn sold it to the Department of Public Instruction.
The area became a school for housewives. Then, following the school reform of 1968, the site was leased to the Conseil Régional des Loisirs Richelieu-Yamaska, who installed an outdoor recreational park. In 1975, the area was abandoned and suffered from attacks by vandals for three years, until TDC finally settled.