Saint Agatha developed as a farming community in the mid-nineteenth century as settlers moved outwardly from the St. John River surrounding Frenchville. Alexandre "Menon" Ouellette was one of the first, such that Long Lake has also been known as "Lac à Menon." In 1889, Bishop James A. Healy assigned a French priest to the predominantly Catholic community, and founded a parish.

The first church of Saint Agatha was built in 1890. It appears on the right. The large four-story building near the center of the photograph is the convent of the Daughters of Wisdom (Filles de la Sagesse). Built in the first decade of the twentieth century, it served as both a day school and a boarding school for Saint Agatha and neighboring communities. The church succumbed to fire in 1940; the original convent was later demolished.

The photograph was taken from a point of land across the small bay near the present-day town hall.

There is no publication date or postmark. Due to the presence of the convent and the first rectory, the photograph was likely taken between 1905 and the early 1920s. Other cards with similar print in this collection date from the 1910-1915 period.