The name, which dates to the eighteenth century, originates from a nearby rock formation which resembles a French-Canadian knitted cap known as the tuque.

")[2]The hat-shaped mountain which gave its name to the town of La Tuque is located between the Saint-Maurice River (left bank) and the WestRock paper mill.

The La Tuque Post Office opened in 1887, but the area remained isolated from the rest of the Mauricie until the early 1900s when the National Transcontinental Railway was built, prompting industrial development and the growth of a community on the east bank of the Saint-Maurice River where there was a large set of falls.

[2][7] In the 1940s, the hydro-electric generating station on the Saint-Maurice River was built, resulting in the partial destruction of the rock formation that gave the town its name.

[8][9] Smoke from these fires reached portions of Eastern Ontario and southern Quebec, including the cities of Ottawa and Montreal, as well as the northern US states.

[10][11][12] In 2011, the 100th anniversary of La Tuque was celebrated with various cultural activities,[13] including a large parade held on June 25[14] as well as the creation of a recipe book made by local residents.

It consists of almost all the entire former regional county municipality of Le Haut-Saint-Maurice, and includes the settlements of Carignan, Clova, La Croche, Fitzpatrick, Kiskissink, Oskélanéo, Parent, Rapide-Blanc, Rivière-aux-Rats, and Sanmaur.

As the gateway to the upper Mauricie, La Tuque's economy also offers outdoor tourism opportunities and caters to hunting and fishing trips in its large hinterland, which is partially regulated by the following zone d'exploitation contrôlées: The main highway is Quebec Route 155 that connects La Tuque with Shawinigan to the south and the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region to the north.

While it was intended to ship grain from the prairies to the Port of Quebec and to open up virgin territories, it never carried much rail traffic.

La Tuque is a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division of Quebec, with geographical code 90.