In 1863, Thomas-Léandre Brassard settled near the falls of Pine Lake (Lac des Pins) where he built a mill and a manor.

The name Saint-Michel-des-Saints, chosen by Ignace Bourget at the suggestion of Father Brassard, honours Michael de Sanctis who lived from 1591 to 1625.

This reservoir drowned the neighbouring village of Saint-Ignace-du-Lac (founded in 1877) and so that municipality was annexed by Saint-Michel-des-Saints in 1931, thereby increasing its territory by about 15 square kilometres (5.8 sq mi).

The village itself is located at the northern end of Quebec Route 131 along the Matawin River, near the south-western corner of Taureau Reservoir.

[5] Statistics Canada subsequently amended the 2011 census results to a population of 2,436 living in 1,084 of its 1,990 total dwellings, a -10.2% change from 2006.