CHAPTER XLIII

1841-1867

CITY IMPROVEMENT AFTER THE UNION

UNDER THE MUNICIPALITY

GREAT STRIDES AT THE UNION--THE EARLY MARKET PLACES--THE BONSECOURS MARKET--OTHER MARKETS--PUBLIC PLACES--THE EARLY SQUARES--PRESENT PARKS--THE EARLY CEMETERIES--THE FIRST JEWISH CEMETERY--THE DORCHESTER STREET PROTESTANT CEMETERY--DOMINION SQUARE--MOUNT ROYAL--COTE DES NEIGES--OTHER CEMETERIES--GENERAL CITY IMPROVEMENT--AREAS OF PUBLIC PLACES.

The advent of the Municipality saw great strides in city improvements, especially in laying out of public places, such as markets and parks.

MARKET PLACES

The first market place was held in the first public square or Place Royale, opposite the little river, the landing place of Champlain and Maisonneuve, and on the site occupied by the custom house and the present inland revenue office. The date of this first market goes back as far as 1680. Under the English régime with the growth of the city the provision of further markets was further foreseen. The second market, between Notre Dame Street and St. Paul Street, was placed on the site originally occupied by the Château de Vaudreuil, which became the Collège de St. Raphaël, burnt in the great fire of 1803. An ordinance of 1807[1] (47 George III, Chap. VII) gave authority to borrow to the amount of £2,500 for construction of the market, which, however, was delayed for a time. In 1821 a new wing was added. The building was in wood and was demolished to be replaced by the Bonsecours Market in 1843, and its site, the Jacques Cartier Square of today, served for a public place.

The “new” market, Bonsecours, was established under the regulation of the city council of 1841 (May 22d). It was designed also to be the seat of the Council. It is in the Grecian Doric style of architecture. Its site is partially that of the intendant’s palace and that of the house of Sir John Johnson, commander of the Indians in the American Revolution, and son of Sir William Johnson, the Indian warrior. In 1845 the market at St. Lawrence and St. Dominique streets was also built. Other markets have followed in the following order:

1830--The first St. Ann’s Market owed its origin to the initiative of some private citizens who furnished the capital to the amount of nearly fifteen thousand pounds. It was afterwards leased to the government and became the house of parliament.

1830--About 1830 the market of Près de Ville on the north of Coté Street, near Chenneville and Vitré streets, was erected, but abolished in 1839.

1840--Viger, in St. James ward, bounded by Campeau, Craig, Dubord and St. Hubert; constructed in 1861; demolished in 1893.

1845--Papineau Market, on Papineau Road, between Craig and Lagauchetière; reconstructed in 1855; demolished in 1890.

1851--St. Ann’s Market, built on the site of the old parliament house, burnt down in 1849, in the rebel losses riots. It was demolished in 1900. Its site is now preserved by the gardens of Youville Square.

1860--St. Gabriel, bounded by Centre Street, Richmond, Richardson and Montmorency streets; abolished in 1900.

1865--St. Antoine, bounded by St. James, Mountain, Aqueduct and Adeline streets.

1865--The Haymarket, bounded by St. Paul, Inspector, William streets and Nolan Park.

1870--St. Jean Baptiste, bounded by St. Lawrence, Rachel, St. Dominique and Market streets.

1871--St. James, bounded by Ontario, Amherst, Wolfe and Houle.

1885--Cattle Market (East), at the head of Frontenac Street.

1885--Cattle Market (West), originally situated at St. Henri and removed in 1902 to St. Etienne Street (Point St. Charles).

1890--Weighing Station (Papineau), corner of Craig and Notre Dame streets.

1890--Weighing Station (St. Denis), corner of Carrière and Berri streets.

1890--Weighing Station (Hochelaga), on Desery Street between St. Catherine and Notre Dame Street. (In 1896 this became a fire station and later a repairing shop for fire appliances.)

In 1810 the regulations enforced by the magistrates concerning trade were reunited and sanctioned by the court of king’s bench. It is there decreed, among other things, that leathers, shoes, fish, meat, sugar, tobacco, cloths brought in by the “cultivateurs” should only be sold at certain places in the town under penalty of 5 shillings. The sale of fruit and vegetables was permitted on the streets. Other merchandise was forbidden to be sold on the street in order to prevent the obstruction of passage and the sale of them by auction which was reserved for market days. The slaughtering of animals was forbidden and there are other regulations pertaining to the cleanliness of the streets. That part of the water front from the northeast limit of the Montreal bridge to about opposite St. Victor Street, near the church of Bonsecours was declared the port for building and fire wood, with the exception of 100 feet reserved at the entrance of the new market for the bateaux, chaloupes, barges, and canoes bringing provisions to the markets.

PUBLIC PLACES

The movement for public squares was encouraged by His Excellency, Governor Lord Dalhousie, in 1821, when he gave the piece of ground on which Citadel Hill had so long stood, with its powder magazine. It was called Dalhousie Square. It is now covered by the Viger station tracks. The earth from the citadel was carted to the Champ de Mars to increase its size and to build it up.

The municipality, after the reestablishment of the corporation in 1840, turned its attention to the acquisition of more public places to meet the growth in population. The following is the history of the present parks or squares under the régime of the corporation of Montreal:

Custom House Square, now called Place Royale, the original Place d’Armes, Market Place and meeting ground of Montreal, was bought from Mr. William Dow on the 4th of April, 1845, at the price of $2,400.

Jacques Cartier Square, between Notre Dame and St. Paul streets, originally given to the city by virtue of an act of 1808 for the establishment of a market which was built and afterwards was taken down when Bonsecours Market was completed, was first used for its present purpose about 1845. The Nelson Monument was erected on this square in 1809.

Place d’Armes Square, opposite the Notre Dame Cathedral, had always been used as a public place from the early days of the French régime. In 1836 it was purchased by the city from the Gentlemen of the Seminary. In 1845 the city inclosed it and leveled the ground and paved the street around it. It has undergone several changes. The Maisonneuve Monument by Philippe Hébert was placed in the centre on June 24, 1895, and the railings have been removed and the whole square cemented during the last three or four years. This monument was erected to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the city by Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve. On the question of a statue being raised, a delegation from the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, consisting of de Léry Macdonald, W.D. Lighthall, D.J. Beaudry and the Vicomte H. de la Barthe, presented to Mayor James McShane on April 23, 1891, a detailed scheme of placques and bas-reliefs for a great monument. This was ratified by the council. The Maisonneuve Committee, presided over by Judge Pagnuelo, eventually adopted with slight modifications, the scheme of designs suggested by the above Archaeological Society.

Champ de Mars belongs to the Imperial government for military parades. It was originally but a small piece of ground situated in one of the bastions of the old town walls; when these were pulled down it was enlarged. In 1839 it formed a space of 227 by 114 yards and was one of the fashionable promenades. The parapet stone railing overlooking Craig Street was erected in 1913.

Victoria Square was bought in 1841 to increase the Haymarket then held there. It was then called Commissioner’s Square. It received its present name in 1860 on the occasion of the visit of Prince Albert Edward (Edward VII). The southern portion situated between Craig and St. James streets belonged to the city since 1825, except the strip on the west side, which was expropriated in 1888.

Phillips Square and Beaver Hall Square were ceded to the town in 1842 by Mr. Alfred Phillips. In September of 1914, the Statue of King Edward the Peacemaker, designed by Philippe Hébert, was unveiled by his brother, the Governor General of Canada, H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught.

Viger Garden, or Viger Square, was ceded to the city gratuitously in 1844 by Jacques Viger and P. LaCroix. It has been added to since. The site of this garden was originally a swamp or marsh and on an old map of 1758 it is marked as such. A portion of the square was used as a cattle market for many years. For years after its establishment as a public garden it was the principal square of the city where people congregated to hear the military bands two or three evenings every week.

Richmond Square has belonged to the city since 1844.

Parthenais Square was established in 1845 on a portion of ground belonging to the city. It was added to in 1858 by a piece purchased by Mr. McGill.

Papineau Square, established before 1845, was at first called Queen’s Square. Its new name was given by the council in 1890.

Lafontaine Park was bought by the Federal government on October 29, 1845, from Mr. James Logan, a merchant who had it from his father. This land was made part of the property commonly called Papineau or Monarch Farm. This property, owned by the federal government with the exception of a little strip, bounded by Rachel and Lafontaine Park, and a piece situated in the east of the Jacques Cartier Normal School has been left to the city for ninety-nine years on certain conditions for $1.00 a year. One of these is that the government can end the loan at any time, and another is the right to reserve for military purposes that part of the park situated to the north of Sherbrooke Street and to the east of Panet Street. The city conservatories originally erected on Viger Garden in 1865 were reconstructed on Lafontaine Park in 1889.

Wellington Square was bought from the Gentlemen of the Seminary in 1856.

St. Gabriel Square was bought in 1862, but its history as a public garden does not begin till 1893.

Western Square was bought as a public park from the gentlemen of the Seminary on December 31, 1870.

Cherrier Square, known under the name of St. Jean Baptiste Square, was acquired in 1870 and became a public park in 1875.

Dufferin Square, which had been a Protestant cemetery since 1799, was expropriated as a public park in 1871.

Mount Royal Park, the property of several owners, was originally expropriated at a cost of $1,000,000 in 1872. In 1875 Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted, a landscape architect from the United States, was entrusted with the preparation of a general plan for Mount Royal.

Fletcher’s Field, attached to this site, also dates its history to this period.

Dominion Square, hitherto the Catholic cemetery, was similarly expropriated in 1873.

St. Helen’s Island, in the St. Lawrence, and so named after his wife, Helène Bouillé, by Samuel Champlain, was established as a public park in 1874. Its extent is 128 acres.

Bellerive Square, established in 1880, became the property of the city definitely in 1893.

St. James Square, up to 1886 part of the St. James Market, became a public place in this year.

Nolan Square (Haymarket Square) was established as a park in 1896 on a part of the second Haymarket. This land was originally bought from the seminary in 1865.

Gallery Square was established as a public place in 1898.

Youville Square, so called from Madame d’Youville, who founded the Grey Nun’s Hospital originally adjacent, was transformed into a public space on the site of the old parliament building and afterwards St. Ann’s Market.

In 1913 parks were ceded to the city at Rosemount, Longue Pointe, and in 1914 in the St. Marys, Hochelaga, St. Denis, Notre Dame de Grâces, and Bordeaux Wards.

CEMETERIES

In the first volume the origin of the earliest cemeteries of Montreal has been traced. To resume; the first cemetery was established in 1643 at the southeast corner of the fort inclosure, known later as “Pointe a Callières,” today commemorated by a tablet on the present custom house building. The second was established in 1654 in the vicinity of the grounds of the Hôtel Dieu on St. Joseph Street (afterwards St. Sulpice Street), and was called the “Hospital Cemetery.” It occupied part of the ground occupied by the Place d’Armes and the present Notre Dame Cathedral. There was a mortuary chapel to receive the bodies which stood on the present site of the Bank of Montreal, and although the hospital cemetery had ceased to be in use in 1799 the chapel was not destroyed till 1816, when it was given over by the Fabrique of Notre Dame to the commissioners of fortifications of the city for the enlargement of St. James Street. Meanwhile a subsidiary cemetery, the third, was acquired about 1749 “on a site belonging to Mr. Robert near the powder magazine, containing about a quarter of an arpent in superfices.” It was granted at the request of the curé and the church warden of Notre Dame by the Marquis de la Galissonière, governor, and François Bigot, the intendant, as follows:

“Vue la requête, nous autorisons le curé et les marguilliers de la paroisse de cette ville (Montréal) à faire l’acquisition des terrains ci-dessous désignés pour servir à inhumer les pauvres de la dite paroisse.

“(Signé) LA GALISSONIERE BIGOT.”

By 1751 it was resolved to inclose it with a stone wall and to build a mortuary to house the bodies during the winter. In 1799 the hospital cemeteries and the powder magazine were discontinued. At this period the grand juries, recognizing that these cemeteries so near to the dwellings were unhealthy and a menace to the public health, addressed a report to the Procurator General Sewell asking for their removal. The latter approached the Fabrique and it was resolved to seek for other lands. An old plan of the powder magazine cemetery shows that it ran from St. Peter Street, taking in a portion of St. James Street, and the block of buildings occupied by the Canada Life Building and the Canadian Bank of Commerce and terminating in Fortification Lane at the city wall.[2] This cemetery was that used by Protestants and Catholics alike. Historically it may be called the first cemetery for Protestants.

At this same period there was already a Jewish cemetery in a lot on St. Janvier Street, near the present Dominion Square. The deed of sale was signed by the congregation of “Shearith Israel” in 1775, and the first interment was that of Lazarus David on October 22, 1776.[3] This was the first Jewish cemetery on the American continent.

The more remote site chosen for the next cemetery was that belonging to Pierre Guy in Coteau St. Louis and the St. Antoine suburbs, and covered four arpents. St. Anthony cemetery, as it was called, occupied a part of Dominion Square of today. An increase of ground was subsequently added on the part now occupied by the Archbishop’s Cathedral. This cemetery was used till 1854, when again its nearness to dwellings caused its removal to the slopes of Mount Royal.

For long the Protestant community had been desirous of its own exclusive burial ground. In 1799 a meeting was held in the courthouse on the 21st of June, when for the purpose of purchasing a piece of ground on Dorchester Street for a Protestant burying ground, Messrs. Edward W. Gray, Isaac W. Clarke, Arthur Davidson, John Russell, and William Hunter were chosen trustees. On the 15th of June, 1811, an order was issued for all bodies to be removed from the old cemetery before the 7th of July. In 1824 a considerable addition to the cemetery was made. The site is preserved today as Dufferin Square. It continued to serve its purpose as the “old” Protestant cemetery till about 1847. Many prominent Englishmen were buried here, such as the Hon. James McGill, whose body was afterward transferred to McGill College grounds. In 1871 it was expropriated as a public place.

The transition of the Protestant cemetery from Dorchester Street to Mount Royal may be now briefly told. Somewhere about 1845 or 1846 it was felt that the Dorchester Street burying ground was becoming overcrowded and a body known as the Montreal Cemetery Company incorporated with a charter granted in 1847 obtained some land at the top of Coté des Neiges Hill on property belonging to a Mr. Furness. A few burials only took place here as circumstances rendered it unsuitable. The project was then abandoned, and public meetings were held to obtain a more appropriate site. The Montreal Cemetery Company was succeeded by another incorporated by 16 Victoria, Cap. 56 (1852) under the name of the Mount Royal Cemetery Company. This company of stockholders has developed a beautiful mountain cemetery so that it may be considered one of the parks of Montreal and its garden of sleep.

The first interment in the Mount Royal Cemetery was that of the Reverend Mr. Squires, who died of cholera in 1852. Since 1910 an additional cemetery has been added in connection with the Mount Royal Cemetery Company, situated at Hawthornedale on the road to Bout de l’Ile.

The purchase of Mount Royal cemetery for the various Protestant denominations of Montreal was followed, by that of Notre Dame des Neiges adjoining, by the Catholic community. A committee of five appointed on July 17, 1853, to find a suitable location for a cemetery reported to the Fabrique of Notre Dame Cathedral on July 31st the desirability of acquiring 115 arpents of land on Coté des Neiges Road belonging to Dr. Pierre Beaubien at the price of £3,000. This land was bought, but the project of finally settling it as a cemetery was not executed till the next year, since in the meantime a counter proposition had been gratuitously offered by the Sulpicians at Coté St. Luc. The original recommendation, however, being ratified, work was begun and the cemetery was opened to the public in 1855. The cemetery was enlarged in 1865, 1872, 1907 and 1909, and now covers over four hundred arpents of land.[4] It is being constantly beautified, adding a beautiful garden to the adjoining mountain park. The name of Notre Dame des Neiges was chosen in remembrance of the little chapel built on the Mountain Mission under that title to be a souvenir of the placing of the great cross which Maisonneuve planted in 1643 on the day of the Epiphany, but which the Iroqouis afterward destroyed. There is no doubt that this name for the chapel was chosen by Marguerite Bourgeoys, who had a special veneration for the shrine of that name in France. Three of her Iroquois maidens were called by her Marie des Neiges. The neighbourhood has borne the name of Coté des Neiges for the same sentimental reasons, it being said that several of the first farmers settling there came from the district of the same French shrine.

The oldest Protestant cemetery in the city still existing is that on Papineau Road, where in 1816 land was purchased at a cost of £500 and was known as the “new” burial grounds. A portion of the latter, known as the military burial grounds, still exists as such and, owing to the efforts of the “Last Post” Association, the federal government has lately renovated it with needful repairs. Here there are several interesting monuments, among them being that of Sir Benjamin D’Urban, the first governor of Natal, who was sent out here to take command of the troops when the friction caused by the Oregon question threatened to bring on a war between Great Britain and our neighbours to the south.

There is also a military burial ground at St. Helen’s Island. It was discontinued in 1825. It is said to have been used for a hundred years and to contain between one thousand five hundred to two thousand remains. A further burial ground is preserved in memory by the great boulder of Point Charles at the north end of the Victoria Jubilee bridge, where the fever-stricken Irish emigrants were hurriedly buried in 1847.

OTHER IMPROVEMENTS

Beyond the establishment of the public places and cemeteries during this period other civic improvements have to be accredited to this period before Confederation.

In 1852 the laws against wooden buildings were enforced. At this time St. Lawrence Main Street was the fashionable boulevard for the French citizens.

A review of the year 1856 says: “There has been an intense energy manifested during the year and is still visible. The business streets are being paved in the most substantial manner; the avenues to the city and the roads in the outskirts are graded and macadamized; handsome fountains have been erected, trees are being planted out, rows of dwelling houses of elegant and substantial descriptions are going up in various quarters; a number of stores and warehouses of the largest, most substantial and at the same time most elegant kind are approaching completion. The great wharf for ocean steamships is finished as are the railway buildings at Point St. Charles. Labourers, mechanics, manufacturers and merchants--in a word all classes are at work with all their might and the results make their appearance with almost magical celerity. Nor in all this material advancement are the pulpit, the press, the college, or the school neglected.”

The year 1864 marked great building operations. No less than seven church edifices were commenced, viz., Trinity church on Viger Square; the Church of the Gesu, Bleury Street; three Wesleyan churches; the American Presbyterian church; Knox church on Dorchester Street, and Erskine church on St. Catherine Street. The Protestant House of Industry and Refuge, Dorchester Street, and the Molson Bank, St. James Street, complete the list of public buildings, while in addition to these 1,019 dwelling houses were erected.

The extension of Notre Dame from Dalhousie Square to McGill Street was made from 1864 to 1868. Ontario Street was opened in 1864 and at the same time St. Catherine Street was extended between St. George and St. Lawrence streets.

PUBLIC PLACES, SQUARES AND PARKS

Wards. Names. Areas. Notre Dame de Grace Vaillant 2-9/10 acres MacDonald 8-3/10 acres Trenholme 13-3/5 acres Notre Dame de Grace 10-9/10 acres Windsor 20,900 square feet Emard 1-3/10 acres Saint Denis Crémazie 26-1/2 acres Lamoricière 1/10 acre Molson 4-2/5 acres Laurier Lahaie 1-1/10 acres St. Mary and De Lorimier Baldwin 28-3/10 acres Saint Mary Parthenais 1 acre Bellerive 1-4/5 acres Lafontaine, Papineau and Duvernay Lafontaine Park 95 acres Lafontaine Saint Jacques 3/5 acre St. Joseph and St. Andrew Richmond 2/3 acre St. Joseph Victoria 1-3/10 acres Papineau Papineau 2.84 acres St. Louis Viger Square (a part) 1/4 acre St. Louis 2-9/10 acres Place St. Jacques 2/5 acre St. Louis and St. Jacques Viger Square 6-3/5 acres Hochelaga St. Joseph 1/4 acre A Square 6-7/10 acres Déséry 3/4 acre A Square 3 acres Hochelaga St. Joseph 1/4 acre A Square 6-7/10 acres Déséry 3/4 acre A Square 3 acres Mount Royal Mount Royal 18-2/5 acres Troie 1-9/10 acres Saint Henry Sir Geo. Etienne Cartier 6 acres {1 4-1/2 acres Playgrounds {2 1-1/5 acres {3 16,380 feet St. Henri 1-1/3 acres Jacques Cartier 1-2/5 acres West Youville 3/4 acre Centre Place Royale 1/11 acre Place d’Armes 1/3 acre East Champ de Mars 3-2/3 acres Jacques Cartier 1-1/5 acres Saint Gabriel Monaghan 12-9/10 acres Saint Gabriel 3-9/10 acres De Lorimier Fairmount 1-3/5 acres Saint Cunegonde Iberville 1/3 acre Saint Laurent Dufferin 2 acres Mance 1/5 acre Saint George Dominion 6-1/4 acres Phillips 1/2 acre Beaver Hall 1/9 acre Victoria 1-1/3 acres St. Jean Baptiste Vallières 1/3 acre St. Ann Haymarket 3-1/5 acres Gallery 1-1/4 acres St. Patrick 2-1/2 acres Tausey (Alma) 10,000 feet Saint Andrew Western 1-2/5 acres Mount Royal Park 708-1/2 acres Saint Paul King Edward 1-7/10 acres Rosemount Drummond 29 acres Longue Pointe Thibaudeau 1/2 acre St. Helen’s Island 135 acres Ile Ronde 34 acres Ile Verte 16 acres A total of seventy-five parks and public places.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] In 1815 (55 George II, Chap. 5), the justices of the peace regulated the price of bread and enforced the stamping of it.

[2] Mr. G. Durnford, who gives me this memory sketch of the plan, adds that evidence of this cemetery has been found from time to time when excavating for foundations, when skeletons and parts of skeletons have been dug up.

[3] The remains of Lazurus David were subsequently removed to the present cemetery when the first was closed. Cemeteries were afterwards purchased at the “Back River,” but of late years a portion adjoining the Protestant cemetery of Mount Royal has been used for Hebrew burials.

[4] A table of Catholic burials in Montreal from 1642 to 1910 prepared by Simeon Mondou, ex-secretary-treasurer of the Fabrique of Notre Dame, reaches the total of 362,315.