The barbers of Saint-Hyacinthe

If there is a place of sociability at the beginning of the twentieth century, it is the barbershop where news and the latest gossip are exchanged. This photo from the CH085 Studio BJ Hébert Fund was taken in 1926. We see two barbers with their clients. Who are they?

We consulted the 1915 Saint-Hyacinthe Guide for the number of barbers in our city a little over a hundred years ago. In this guide, the population of Saint-Hyacinthe is 12,000…more

(C)2018 The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

 

Provincial Dairy School – St. Hyacinthe

Postcard – c.1922

Click postcard for more.

©2018  The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

The Grand Hotel

 

Located in the heart of Saint-Hyacinthe, in the face of the city, near the Park Dessaulles Hall, Palace of Justice, not far from the train station, and within walking distance of the Cascades Street and market square, the Grand Hotel was, for almost 77 years an institution could not be Chateau. It was the chosen place to celebrate all kinds of social events: intimate dinners, wedding receptions, banquets, dinners of Christmas or the new year, where people are coudoyaient and exchanged vows, in an almost family atmosphere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We would sometimes go to buy cigarettes or use the public telephone, but when there were always greeted kindly by the owner, the old Mr. Michel Dion, who was the guiding spirit for more than a quarter of a century.

 

The good reputation of this hospitality extended to Quebec City, and I remember that, when I was an official at the Ministry of Agriculture and an agronomist, a veterinarian, or what other government official left for Saint-Hyacinthe, we were always told: 'if something happens, you can reach me at the Grand Hotel. Leaving not to flatter my vanity Maskoutain.

And for my part, I recall with emotion that it is there, at the Grand Hotel, my friends gave me a farewell dinner, when I left the city to live in Quebec in 1930. It is still there, that people of the school of veterinary medicine met, on September 30, 1955, to celebrate 25 years of service to the use of Ministry of agriculture of the province of Quebec.

Its foundation dates back to more than three quarters of a century, since the first assembled shareholders of the "company of the Grand Hotel" took place on April 4, 1895, while gentlemen Louis Côté, former Mayor, Eusebius Morin, the Vanderbilt Chateau, (cf.), Alfred Thibodeau, Alphonse Denis and B.C. Desautels in were elected directors, and that the following may 4 one charged Mr. Théo Daoust, Montreal architect, to establish the necessary plans for the construction of a building which will be built on the location of housing said Eusebius Morin, Girouard and Mondor angle, facing the hotel Yamaska.

The contract for the execution of the construction of this building was awarded to Mr L.-P. Morin of this city. Put a subcontract was awarded to Mr. h. Morin, tinsmith-roofer for installation of coverage and other works of galvanized sheet metal. Those heating, lighting and plumbing, were entrusted to Messrs. A. Blondin & Cie. Finally, Mr o. Bernard, also of St-Hyacinthe, took charge of the masonry.

All these work actively continued since October 30, is completed to ask the roof and that workers could move inside to work there during the winter. At the end of November, it proceeded to establishing a huge galvanized sheet metal cornice which measured well nearly four feet in height. Inside, the divisions was completed and asking reek with Celerity.

In March 1897, at the annual meeting of the company of the Grand Hotel, where the same directors were re-elected, it announced that the facilities would be completed soon and that everything would be ready for the opening of school, set on May 1.

The Grand Hotel indeed opened its doors to the public on May 1, 1897. Later, in February 1899, the hotel announced the opening of 'his new bar' (sic). CF. The Bugle, February 2, 1899. However, soon after, on 30 March of the same year, Eusebius Morin and Mr. Alphonse Denis surrendered hotel owners, which led to the dissolution of the company had Grand Hotel.

Unoccupied for a few years, this building will be restored in June 1903 and is open even a boarding house, which will be headed by a Mr w.. Lebel. However, on July 30, Mr. Eusebius Morin sold the property to Mr. Ovila Perrault, agent of the CPR to St. Joseph, who acquired him for the sum of $30,000, and in December, Mr J.-D.Gauthier, Manager of the hotel Yamaska, leased the hotel to Mr. Perrault and took over management of the two institutions, until March 1904, while he gave up management board from the Yamaska hotel to focus now on one of the Grand Hotel.

Incidentally, we see in the Bugle of November 7, 1905, that the Philharmonic Society rented the basement of this building that its owner, Mr o. Perrault was converted to a theater.

Around 1910, the Grand Hotel was not yet strictly speaking an Inn: the Knights had their premises and the insurance company mutual trade, founded in 1907 by Sir T.-A. St. Germain was staying at this place as well as the company Union Saint-Joseph, who for some time was its offices.

Daigneault ladies held a restaurant that had enough look. This restaurant where we were going to eat ice cream in my younger years. Was decorated many Palm trees, here and there, arranged in large planters. It was located on the ground floor, Mondor and William corner (Calixa Lavallée now), almost ' at the same place where later, they opened the 'Grill' and, in recent years, the "wine cellar".

Almost all of the rest of the building was made up of small apartments rented to private individuals.

The tenants had access to the large superimposed galleries on each floor there and I remember is sitting often, time that the notary Horace Saint-Germain and his wife remained: were the father and the mother of my childhood friend Jean Saint-Germain.

Today, this building, passed from the hands of Mr. Aurèle Gaudet and his son Gilles, to those of Mr. Osias Lemieux, had been converted into small apartments and goes back, under the name of Grand Castle, to its role in the past. "There is also a restaurant named"The Auvergne"as well as a lounge bar: the Red pig."

The Grand Hotel was closed permanently March 1, 1974 and was literally ransacked by a gang of young thugs. 

A text of Camille Madore published on February 2, 1977 in Le courier de Saint-Hyacinthe .

Photos:
The Grand Hotel in 1927.
Collection History Center, CH119.

Staff of the Grill of the Grand Hotel, year unknown.
Collection History Center, CH116.

Translation may contain errors.

©2017 The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 10) April 7, 1992

Fire College Saint-Maurice and the Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary

Text from the Clarion Saint-Hyacinthe , Wednesday, April 8, 1992, page 19. By Michel Lamarche

Losses of 40 to 50 million dollars

For Maskoutains, Tuesday, April 7, 1992 will go down as the one of the saddest dates in the history of their municipality, the City of Saint-Hyacinthe has lost a significant part of its heritage, when a huge fire devastated yesterday morning, the Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary and the school of Collège Saint-Maurice, a facility built on Girouard Street since 1876.



This disaster has caused consternation among religious, student and alumni that could see the scene of the blaze.
While many religious and students can not hold back their tears, some former students ressassaient all kinds of memories of their passage within the prestigious academic institution.
Even Maskoutains less concerned with the history of the Collège Saint-Maurice were nostalgic watching the events and many seniors this fire compared to those that hit the Seminary of Saint-Hyacinthe, in 1927 and 1963.



Rapid spread
According to what stated Mrs. Céline Dion Desjardins Director responsible students of the 2nd cycle of the College is to say the grades 3, 4, and 5 side, the fire started at 7 am, a room on the 4th floor of the Mother House, which had over for minor renovations. At the time of writing, no one has confirmed if such works were the direct cause of the fire.



If the disaster first hit for the most part in the center of the venerable building, it spread very quickly throughout the establishment, including the part called the Normal School, and in the afternoon, the gymnasium, a much more recent construction located at the east end of the College could be saved.

We were faced with a horizontal and vertical flame spread very fast and more, so around 8 am, 15 minutes after my arrival, we can already say that the fire was out of control, to tell the head of the fire Department of the City of Saint-Hyacinthe, Jacques Desrosiers, at a conference organized at the scene of the disaster Tuesday afternoon.

Mr. Desrosiers has also had to defend himself before a heavy fire of questions that have questioned the work of his team.



There is not a leader of a team of firefighters who may be happy to see a building fall under the flames. However, I do know how our men gave a superhuman effort to save the building, but because of the age and the strong wind that blew eastward, the task was impossible, "Mr. Desrosiers to trump that led a team of 90 firefighters not only from Saint-Hyacinthe, but seven other municipalities either Beloeil, Saint-Bruno, Granby, Saint Thomas Aquinas, St. Rosalie, St. Dominic and St. Helena, the staff last two teams remaining on hold.

The incident had reached such proportions that at 8 am, the Desrosiers chief had decided to evacuate the building in which were some 175 nuns including several bedridden permanently and fifty students residents, who in the late morning were back in their family home.

The phase of evacuation was strong efficiently d`environ over half an hour. It involved many resources including Ambulances BGR, Hôtel-Dieu, the Centre hospitalier Honoré-Mercier, the Seminary of Saint-Hyacinthe, the Sisters of Charity and the Sisters of St. Joseph, who have all contributed to one way or another to the welfare and security of the nuns.



Thanks to the evacuation, no one has been killed or injured as a result of the fire.
The nuns were received byvarious institutions in the region, the Seminar and the Houses of the Sisters of Charity and the Sisters of St. Joseph.
Obviously, at the time of writing, it was unclear where, when and how to reorganize the school year, some 450 students attending the College Saint-Maurice.

(Translation may contain errors)

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 9) August 2, 1981

 

 

The worst fire in a long time, damage estimated at $7 million

Text from the Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe , Wednesday, August 5, 1981, page 4.

For those who walk in downtown Saint-Hyacinthe the last few days, and there are many, the scene of desolation that reigns in the quadrilateral formed of Des Cascades, Saint-Antoine and Hotel-Dieu, St. Anne and St. Francis seems unreal but nothing can relive the intensity of the fire of August 2, when in a few quick hours, the destructive element, ignited by a criminal hand, would reduce to rubble no less than twenty stores and dwelling houses.

It was around 5 pm that the first alarm was sounded and when the first firefighters arrived on the scene, it was obvious that they would have to fight a major disaster already, flames crackled on both sides of the Sainte-Anne, at the height of the brewery of the old Saint-Antoine.

That is why, from the first moment, the possibility of a criminal hand was not ruled out, rightly elsewhere as it was to be demonstrated later.

This is also why he was called Sorel including firefighters who hurried towards Saint-Hyacinthe with a scale of 100 feet, as well as those of Saint-Hilaire, with a scale of 75 feet.

 

The flame intensity was such that the windows would burst under the effect of heat on the Rue Sainte-Anne. In addition, high voltage forced firefighters to exercise caution to avoid electrocution. The time required to remove power would have seemed significant to certain risks and were taken by the magnitude of the disaster.

With the arrival of the volunteer firefighters of Saint-Damase Saint-Dominique, La Presentation, St. Rosalie and St. Thomas Aquinas, not less than one hundred firefighters were on hand with a major equipment.

A very large crowd was also on hand and special measures had to be adopted so that everything happend in conditions as safe as possible. One of the first arriving on the scene was to evacuate the house and it is thanks to this intervention no lives were reported. At most, two firefighters were injured by smoke and burn.

Lit from the back of the brewery in Old San Antonio probably in the debris of a house demolition, the fire crossed the Rue Sainte-Anne, in the direction of the market, while continuing its destructive work between rue Sainte -Anne and Hotel-Dieu. 

Many questions remain unanswered at the time of writing, while two individuals appearing in connection with the fire, including the fact that the fire is found on both sides of the Rue Sainte-Anne as quickly. Answers should be obtained during the investigation that will follow.

It only took a few hours for the flames leave behind rubble and millions of gallons of water were dumped. More than forty hours later, firefighters continued to stir debris with a backhoe to water possible homes. The destructive element seems to have been stopped in its course by the arches of the house Laflamme (at least on the side of the Rue Saint-Antoine), while elsewhere the work of firefighters focused on protecting a perimeter to contain flames.

 

(Translation may contain errors)

©2016 Linda Sullian-Simpson

10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 8) February 2, 1963

Fire in the seminary of Saint-Hyacinthe

Saturday, February 2, 1963, a massive fire broke out in the central part of the Seminary of Saint-Hyacinthe. It took three warnings before control the flames.
Firefighters, under the command of Director Lionel Left worked in difficult conditions, under the cold and snow, over 32 hours to master the elements and then make sure the fire would not resume in the smoking ruins. Apparently, the flames would have originated in the premises reserved for the edition of the newspaper Le Collégien . After a brief investigation, the authorities are lost in conjectures about the precise cause of the fire.



The central part of the minor seminary built 150 years ago was completely destroyed by fire while the adjacent wings, newer and better protected building, suffered only damage by water and smoke.



Firefighters went immediately to the scene and, upon arrival, firefighters worked to make rescues using the aerial ladder and removing six priests threatened with suffocation.Fortunately, the institution's authorities had already taken steps to evacuate students and much of the teaching staff.



However, the flames quickly spread to the point that a few minutes later, the upper floors were inaccessible and dense smoke prevented firefighters and volunteers to fight the seat of the fire from the inside. It is believed, for a time, they maîtriseraient flames without much difficulty. They seemed to subside, then resumed in various places so it was soon impossible to circumscribe, and efforts soon tended to preserve the two new wings, which date also more than thirty years.

Only the central part of the facade where the great parlor were, prefecture offices and procures and floors, the rooms of twenty professors who are in fact the most affected by the fire, was destroyed . A little before eight, the building was a huge inferno. Around 8:15, the dome collapsed noisily, falling in the courtyard of the seminary.



Before the menacing proportions of the element, the City of Saint-Hyacinthe appealed to municipal services surrounding communities including St. Joseph and Providence Douville. The protection of Casavant Frères service was also mobilized to lend a hand to Maskoutains firefighters.

A crowd of onlookers visited the scene causing traffic jams in many places. The stewards of the Civil Protection Corps was also mobilized to assist municipal officials. It is estimated that nearly 3,000 people massed near the seminar to monitor the progress of the fire and the work of firefighters.



It is not known the extent of damage but there is reason to believe that the material losses will amount to more than a million besides the majority of seminarians and priests have lost their belongings.

Fortunately, thanks to the diligence of the authorities of the seminar and fire Saint-Hyacinthe, there were no injuries. However, we dare not think about the consequences of such a disaster if the fire had started later in the evening or at night. Indeed, some 500 students and priests live permanently in the seminar during the school year.



Painful as the situation in the aftermath of a disaster that affects the whole population of the city, it remains that we saved the chapel, the rich library of the house and pupils, the museum and laboratories, academic hall, the pavilion from 1911 where there are number of classes. Study rooms and recreation suffer considerable damage, as most rooms of the staff in the north wing. They are due mainly to water and smoke, but there is nothing that is beyond repair. In the south wing, the priests who lived there returned to their premises, once restored heating.



A thick layer of snow on the roof of the factory would have saved Casavant & Frères Ltée, during the fire. At least that is what a spokesman for organ builders told the result of the fire. The Casavant & Frères Ltée factory is located a few hundred feet away from the seminar. During the height of the fire, the wind blew sparks on the buildings of the factory. The brigade against fires of the company, consisting of seven men, was constantly on alert.

(Translation may contain errors)

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 7) January 21, 1944

 

They let it burn!

January 21, 1944, a major fire broke out on the rue des Cascades, opposite the fire station of Saint-Hyacinthe.

In the space of a few hours, seven shops and five homes were razed to the ground; the quadrilateral formed Cascade streets, St. Mary, Calixa-Lavallée and Duclos is in ruins.

Yet the Fire response time is almost nil and they are helped in their efforts by the Navy School of the fire.

And that's what makes this particular disaster.In the edition of January 28, 1944 the Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe , Harry Bernard asks in an editorial why firefighters were so helpless. The answer takes the form of a lack of water, a drop in pressure and inadequate machinery at the aqueduct.

The plot thickens the following week when Bernard returned to the charge by saying simply: they let burn! He even adds that the refusal of the city to accept the help of the Southern Canada Power for powering the pumps is largely responsible for the disaster; that do not agree to recognize the municipal authorities, including the mayor, Télesphore-Damien Bouchard in mind.

 

(Translation may contain errors)

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 6) January 18, 1938

Fire At Sacred Heart College
The fire of the Sacred Heart College, which occurred January 18, 1938, in addition to completely destroying the building, resulted in the death of forty students, five teachlng brothers and caused injuries to twenty others.
But, anyway, what was this college? Where was it located? What congregation of religious teachers was in charge? And what do we know of the fire?



First, what was this college? It was a school where students received extensive instruction in mathematics, physics and chemistry, to be able to upgrade their education in higher spheres. In early 1930, the college began to emphasize the teaching of the English language: mathematics and geography, among others, there were taught in that language. Where was it located? The Sacred Heart College was located in Bourg-Joli, on Laframboise street, which was erected in 1946, the church Sacred Heart of Jesus, so in the northeast of the city of Saint-Hyacinthe. Following the fire, the Sacred Heart Brothers decided not to rebuild the college and divided in 1945, their vast property into lots, thus promoting residential development in the neighborhood.
According to the newspapers, that night was particularly cold, we speak of -18 degrees Celsius which would hinder the work of firefighters.



Returning newspaper articles recount the testimony of the night of the college keeper, Marcel Quesnel, before the inquiry we read the morning of the fire, I had done my tour and everything was normal in the building. Suddenly, at 1 am or so I do not know exactly, I heard a great noise and was shaken by a violent explosion that shook the whole building, I looked outside and saw flames coming through the windows. Also, it was established that the first call to the fire station was housed in 2 hours?

This is a tremendous explosion and a mournful whistle that I was awake. I made the light and foreseeing a misfortune, I clothe myself in gear and out of college by the door. The thick smoke that filled the college prevented me to see anything inside. On leaving, I looked around the chapel where everything was normal and went to the alarm box, but firefighters were already on the scene. The whole wing of the side was like burning but the fire seemed to come from the cellar. Such is the tetimony of brother Lucius, college director.



The fire began following a gas explosion produced by the incomplete combustion of coal in one or more of the five furnaces that provided heating the facility. For their part, the testimony of the first firefighters arrived at the scene say they have toured the building to see if they could help some people who would be in the windows or on the roof. The only person who has been seen is a Brother who was in a first floor window at the end of the north-west wing of the building on fire. When the brigade arrived on the scene the flames were coming through all the windows of the right wing and passed over the building, and this is what explains that if he were still children on the roof, they had been pushed back by the flames to the center of the roof where nobody could see them ... Even if the brigade had lifesaving nets at its disposal, it could not be used.Besides, it was impossible to approach the building, as the heat from the fire was intense.

Arriving at the scene, firefighters were quick to help the religious and the students who had escaped the burning building and waited in sleepwear to come to their aid. Taxis and auto citizens who had been awakened by the general alarm, carried the survivors, as ambulances St. Charles Hospital were not enough to collect the injured. The cries of students gathered on the roof and shouted for help, mingled complaints of those who were thrown from the upper floors and already lying in the snow with horrible burns and multiple fractures. That's the horrible spectacle that presented rescuers.

Of course, all kinds of rumors, probabilities or outcomes about this slaughter were conveyed before, during or after the inquest. What you need to remember is the perfect abnegation religious to rescue the students and the great charity Maskoutains to gather and help the survivors, not to mention the attentive care given to victims, either at the hospital Saint-Charles, at the Hôtel-Dieu or by doctors of Saint-Hyacinthe.



In the early days that followed, intensive research to find the bodies of missing or unaccounted for continued to finally establish the exact number of deaths is: 5 and 41 religious students. The remains of forty-six victims, found in the rubble, charred and mutilated could not be identified, except those three students, demanded that parents; others were placed in fifteen coffins.

A solemn service was celebrated at the Cathedral in the presence of an emotional and sympathetic crowd. Then fifteen beers were brought to the grave of the cemetery, waiting for the thaw allowed digging a mass grave in the small cemetery of the monks, near the stricken college.This transfer took place in the following May current. In May 1948, during the sale of land belonging to the Sacred Heart Brothers, the remains of the victims and the magnificent monument to the victims, which serves as the foundation for the statue of the Sacred Heart, the sculptor Emile Brunet, were transferred the Cathedral's cemetery.

(Translation may contain errors)


(c)2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 5) November 28, 1917

The Hôtel-Dieu in flames!

In one night, the entire central part of the building is razed.

Here is what Mgr Charles-Philippe Choquette in History of the City of Saint-Hyacinthe  : "It has been said that all the people of Saint-Hyacinthe witnessed on site of the calamity of November 28, 1917. During half hour, the bells of the churches and chapels sounded the alarm and called for help college students were allocated the task of saving the furniture;. citizens gathered the old men while the ladies seized the children and gave them asylum and several nuns. compassion was general and expressive. It is claimed that a smoldering match thrown by a smoker would be the cause of the fire.



All parts of the stone building was engulfed in flames within hours, it remains now only rubble.Hundreds of people were in the building at the time of the fire, namely the elderly, infirm children stalked by a terrible death. It is estimated that between five and six hundred people were hospitalized.
In fact, after the fire, the sisters settled temporarily in both wings intact. There remains only the orphanage.

When it was learned that the Hotel-Dieu was in flames, the bells tolled in churches and chapels of the city for half an hour. A special train transported to Saint-Hyacinthe twenty firefighters and steam pumps to contain the fire. According to some historians, the last words of chef Pierre-Agapit Foisy, while fighting the destructive element on the third floor of the Hotel-Dieu, were said in this context: it departed somewhat from the heart of the disaster to go to the kitchen in a state of weakness and extreme fatigue caused by superhuman efforts posed to contain the fire. He asked that he be paid a coffee and even before he could pour a cup, he exclaimed, turning pale: Please, give me a chair, I am dying! These were his last words, for just sitting, he gave up the ghost in a last breath. "

The funeral of the chief Foisy were no less friendly. Mgr Choquette: "The city made ​​fresh with extraordinary pomp Never perhaps one lives scroll the center of the city such a large procession the first songs of the.. office resounded under the vault of the cathedral and hundreds of protesters were still waiting at the door of the funeral home to take rank in the procession this highlighted the following order. led the Philharmonic and fire cars charged floral tributes, the fire chief Adjutor Bourgeois, the hearse escorted by six regular firefighters and six volunteer firefighters acting as porters, the family of the deceased, the city Council in full, municipal employees. school children, the judiciary, professionals, industrialists, labor organizations, crowd the choir, several ecclesiastical dignitaries. in the nave, the staff of teaching communities and their schools reflected the universality of grief ".



In the weeks that followed, a public fundraising campaign was launched to collect more than $ 25 000.00. The City of Saint-Hyacinthe offers for its part: $15 000,00.
The name of the subscribers appear for several weeks in the mail with the amount they give. The reconstruction began in 1922.

(Translation may contain errors)

(c)2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 4) May 20, 1903

The weather is dry and sunny. A strong western wind raises dust in the unpaved streets. About noon, fire broke out at the factory side, at the corner of Saint-Antoine and Saint-Hyacinthe (Hotel-Dieu). The alarm is given by an employee of the foundry Dussault and Lamoureux.
Immediately, the nine regular firefighters and 15 volunteer firefighters who make up the fire brigade are on the scene. Already, the fire crosses the Hotel Dieu Street and Dussault foundry and Lamoureux is on fire to spread to neighboring houses.



The unique steam pump is not sufficient to the task. At two o'clock the factory Hudon and National laundry, on the rue Saint-Antoine, burn. The St-Jacques mayor seeks help firefighters arriving to Montreal 2 h 45.

Realizing immediately that the situation is totally out of control because of the wind, they post on the rue Saint-Antoine with the intention of saving the sewing room Sainte-Geneviève. At that moment, two hundred houses blaze and others are endangered. The hustle is scary. In addition to the crackling fire, the noise of collapses and cries of people means the neigh and cries of death of many horses, chickens and pigs are the only victims.

About five o'clock the wind decreases. We begin to count the losses, seven factories, the sewing Sainte-Genevieve Girouard academy and 29 square homes on four streets in height and eleven cross streets.

.

(Translation may contain errors)

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on the Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 3) November 3, 1876

 
Two months to the day, of the great fire of September 3, 1876, another great fire raged in Saint-Hyacinthe. Let's see what the edition of November 4, the Mail had to say.

"It was not quite the terrible fire of September 3 that devoured in a few hours, most of our city. Two months apart yesterday, November 3, at nine in the morning the tocsin was heard and a thick column of smoke rose into the air, to the horror of everyone. The fire had just taken from the great body of Larivière establishment  the wind was blowing furiously and Saint -Hyacinthe was besieged with a new misfortune.
The fire broke out on Cascades street in the small portion of the city that the fire in September was spared, that is to say in the manufacturing part.On one side there was fear for the great



brick factory known as the shoe factory name "McMartin, Hamel. "In front was the mill shop and forges owned by Olivier Chalifoux. Then  the fire was heading towards the big manufacturing company of shoes in Saint-Hyacinthe and efforts were made to preserve this wonderful establishment and safes factory FX Bertrand.

In an hour's time the square of houses between the streets Cascades, Saint-Joseph, Saint-Dominique street and the river were reduced to ashes, with the exception of two houses near the brick factory. A house belonging to Lady Labatte, on St. Joseph Street, the only one that was spared two months ago in this place, was also reduced to ashes. The fire threatened so the establishment of our newspaper we were forced to move our things. Fortunately this time we have no losses reported.

The loss is estimated at $ 50,000. The areas ravaged by fire were a condom for new homes that are built in two months. Many believe that if the city had not burned at the end of the summer it could not escape this time to the destructive element.

All citizens competed with zeal in efforts to reach the flames and Seminary students rushed to the scene with the teachers have rendered great services. We had to find a lack of organization in the fire department, and the aqueduct, we do not know for what reason, did not respond to the expectation of the public. At the place where we were we found that the water could not reach the top of a wooden house with one floor. "
 
(Translation may contain errors)
 
©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 2) September 3, 1876

 

"Those who have learned the terrible misfortune that has befallen on Saint-Hyacinthe in which The Courier was one of the many victims of yhis horrific fire. On September 3rd all our equipment burned, as well as our presses, sheets of Agriculture Journal and Farmer's Journal and we could not save our account books, some volumes of mail , a few boxes, and a small part books from our library.

Having to buy presses and other new hardware, is very difficult, it will take a few weeks; before we can resume the regular course of our publication and we are counting on the sympathy of our subscribers.

We have the courtesy of our colleague Union to offer our subscribers the sad story of the terrible conflagration Sunday and he please accept our thanks.

We are overwhelmed by fatigue and pain in the soul that we draw these lines.

Alas, our charming little town of Saint-Hyacinthe has just suffered a terrible misfortune, that Divine Providence spreads over an entire population at the least expected moment. Quebec suffered terrible setbacks, St. John was partially destroyed, but the fire we suffered is the most disastrous ever seen in the history of the country, given the population and extent of Saint -Hyacinthe. The fire has swept in and devoured all before it and we do not exaggerate by saying that nine-tenths of our city is a heap of ashes.

The fire broke out Sunday at two o'clock in the afternoon, in a building leased by Magloire Blanchet , on Des Cascades, back to the printing of the Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe.

The weather was fine and a light breeze helped to spread the flames further. At the time of the fire water from the aqueduct was lacking as in Saint John since the morning, the ducts had been closed, in order to effect certain transactions.  instant was  Like all the surrounding houses were wooden, the water was missing and  the organization of the fire was very incomplete, it became impossible to put out the fire and when the water was finally available the devastation was too expanded to isolate. Then we can say it was a stampede. The wind having risen carried the flames, a great distance.

Archambeault the house, the beautiful block Kéroack, touts our stores around the market, the market itself disappeared in a cloud of smoke.Despite vigorous efforts, the house rented by Bank of Saint-Hyacinthe offices was also devoured by fire, as the Post Office. The further Merchants Bank suffered the plight of others. The magnificent homes of Girouard were not spared the elegant villa that Dr. St. Jacques had just erected in front of the bishop, the lovely home of Mr. Sheriff Taché, as Mr. LG de Lorimier, prothonotary, the offices of Messrs. Bernier, Bachand and Richer RE Fontaine, the notary Guertin, were swept away in a few hours.

About four o'clock a steam pump arrived by special train to Montreal and Montreal brave firefighters were pressed into service. Their efforts were first directed to the great factory of shoes Compagnie de Saint-Hyacinthe and Mr. Mills. Langie and Fréchette. They managed to control the flames that consumed the surrounding houses. Fortunately they preserved this great building, as if it had burned, establishing Larivière & Frère body going there, and maybe the mills and cloth factories and manufacturing company of shoes Saint- Hyacinthe.
We are only three stores and no resources to feed all these people who is in the streets, homeless and without food. Oh how great is our pain and that Providence was severe in punishment that was inflicted. Already blacks were well tested by the financial crisis in the country; our brave working population had, it seems, enough days of trials and tribulations. At the approach of winter here it was reduced to poverty and no shelter.

It is not without tears we see the poor suffering mother with the most cruel anguish, the child ask the food she can not give him the honest and private workers the fruits of his savings. Doubtless God who so distressed we find consolation for our misfortune and we will send the help of generous hearts.

Fortunately, our communities were spared. Also do we see with our recognition Grey Sisters, sisters of the convent of the Presentation be the first to provide assistance to transport objects, and comfort the afflicted. It was beautiful to watch the dedication and efforts of these holy women in the midst of danger, and last night our religious houses received all these people who came to beg for shelter. Many found refuge for the night in churches. Do not forget the priests of our seminary and the diocese and the Dominican fathers who multiplied to assist the population. May God give them a hundredfold what they have done for the needy.

The streets where the fire has passed are the St. Joseph streets, Saint-Hyacinthe, Sainte-Anne, Saint-Denis Mondor, Piety, Holy Mary, Concorde, St. Paschal, Williams, Cascades, Saint-Antoine, Saint Marguerite du Bord-de-water, St. Francis, St. Simon, St. Louis, St. Michael and St. Casimir.
On St. Simon Street stood only four houses near the river; street Bord-de-water the two houses, the Saint-Louis Street, 4 houses, St Mary Street 9 houses. In the beautiful Concorde Street, in the space between the Rue Saint-Antoine, and the bridge from the center, there are only 5 houses. The Saint-Antoine Street only four houses standing. The fire stopped at the Yamaska ​​avenue, near the river, for lack of homes to power it.

Many houses and households were insured, but we can not specify an amount. It is difficult to give the amount of losses. Some believe the one million and a half dollars.

The city map we publish our readers will be aware of fire disasters.
Yesterday morning the post office opened in the registration office and two banks have also started their operations: The Bank of Saint-Hyacinthe, on Girouard Street in the house once occupied by the judge Chagnon, and the Merchants Bank in the part of the remains of Mr RP Duclos facing on Girouard street. All papers and bank values ​​were saved.

A convoy was shipped from Montreal yesterday morning with bread and other provisions for the suffering population. It circulates a rumor going to say that there had been loss of life, but that is not true.
We do not believe the attack on the Herald to belittle our people, by insinuating that innkeepers retailed liquor while their house was on fire.

(Translation may contain errors)


(c)2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

10 Part Series on Major Fires of Saint-Hyacinthe (Part 1)

The first big fire was on 14 May 1854

The first great fire which firefighters were faced occurred on May 14, 1854 in the kitchen of a brewery on the corner of Bourdages and Cascades. The results of this fire does not indicate any loss of life, but destroyed part of the city center, a brewery, two hotels, 40 homes and the College of St. Hyacinthe.


The circumstances of the fire are really unfortunate. A servant of the hotel was browning meat in the kitchen becomes distraught when the fire was lit in the stove. She spills all the grease on the wooden floor which immediately catches fire and no one can extinguish that fire, and in no time the fire spreads to the building.

The fire quickly spreads to the other institutions on both sides of the streets of Bourdages and Cascades. In no time, all the houses in the square formed by Cascades, Bourdages, Girouard and St. Dominic are in ashes. And that's not all, the flames, fueled by very strong winds, try to spread to the north side of Girouard, but fortunately the fire only did light damage on Girouard; but again, it was reduced to ashes, before dying, the former College of St. Hyacinthe, at the precise spot where we find today the bishopric.

(Translation may have errors)

(c)2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

ET Corsets Saint Hyacinthe 1892 - 2015

The days are numbered for the building that once housed the Eastern Township Corset, located at the corner of Laframboise and Delorme streets in the Sacred Heart area of Saint-Hyacinthe.

The demolition of the building which was established in 1892 would be a loss to the industrial heritage of Saint-Hyacinthe as it is the oldest industrial relic still standing in the city.

Developers want to demolish this building in order to build a new one, so much for the sense of belonging to our city and its heritage. Instead, why not give it a restoration and claim the charm of yesterday year for generations to come.

Industrialization appeared in Saint-Hyacinthe in the last decades of the nineteenth century, the promoters set up their factories near the Yamaska River to use the driving force of the water. It was the first industrial park in Saint-Hyacinthe.

The second Maskoutan industrial pole was installed near the station and the railway to be able to facilitate the carriage of manufacturing. Thus, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the city has a policy to encourage the establishment of factories near the railway. The textile industry has long been the trademark of our community with its many factories and school on Laframboise street.

c.1909

The Guide to Saint-Hyacinthe from 1894 tells us more about the Eastern Township Corset Co. This company was founded in 1880 by O. Gendron in Sherbrooke. In 1892, then moved to Saint-Hyacinthe. The owners then erected "the largest factory Dominion corsets. "Importantly, the City of Saint-Hyacinthe gave a" bonus "to  plants that moved here. At that time, the Corset employs between 175 and 200 employees.

In 1909 the activity of the corset company makes changes to the neighborhood. Indeed, Mr. J N Dubrule, CEO of the company Eastern Townships Mfg.Co. sends a request to the City of Saint-Hyacinthe April 23, 1909 on the public opening of the Delorme Street located on the property of Georges Casimir Dessaulles.

"At his Worship the Mayor and gentlemen Aldermen of the City of Saint-Hyacinthe.

Gentlemen,

Whereas our employees responsible for "carting" of our own materials to manufacture, have been denied by the employee of the Honourable Mr. Dessaulles, the transition path between the Laframboise and rue Ste Anne, the latter claiming that this path was private and, in addition, as we know that at this place, a street named Delorme was verbalized, so please make your kindly Council open this street immediately in order to avoid us trouble. "

In 1948, nearly 125 people specializing in women's clothing lingerie worked at this plant, which was closed in 1979.

Hundreds of men and women have worked in the sweat of brow to improve their lot. They left their mark in this building.

My three eldest paternal grand-aunts, Adrienna, Evelina, and Amelia worked at ET Corsets while still living at home in Saint-Hyacinthe.

(c)2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson