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Glen Taxi originated in the early 1950s and disappeared in the late 1970s. The company was named after the Glen Yard located west of Saint-Henri, on the edge of Notre-Dame- de-Grace. Listed in the Lovell directories from 1951 to 1978. Initially at 4635 West Sparks, and then at 5010 Notre-Dame West.
The company mainly served the Saint-Henri and Petite Bourgogne districts. Their telephone number was WE7-1441 (937-1441). The photo comes from a documentary filmshot for the NFB in 1962 by Hubert Aquin.
My cousin, Roger Mailhot drove for Glen Taxi back in the day.
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1919
The first buses appeared in America and Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. Initially, the Montreal Tramways Company (MTC) preferred tramways to buses, since buses were less comfortable and could not carry as many passengers. However, the company needed to replace several parts of the rail crossing on Saint-Étienne Street (now Bridge Street). Given the significant costs involved, the MTC opted to replace the tramway with buses. Two White trucks were converted into buses at the company’s Youville repair shops and the new service was launched on November 22, 1919. In 1921, two more trucks were converted into buses and assigned to the shuttle between Berri Street and St. Helen’s Island.
1925
After these test runs, the time had come for the MTC to give a real chance to the bus, which had continually improved over the years. In 1925, the company created a bus division and launched three new routes in quick succession: Lachine-Montreal-West (August 6), Lachine-LaSalle (August 15) and Sherbrooke Street (August 19). This time, the MTC didn’t build its own buses, turning instead to American suppliers. New routes were quickly created on Saint-Hubert Street, in Outremont, in Verdun, and between the Bordeaux and Cartierville areas. The number of buses increased from 24 to 55 and the company opened its first bus garage in Saint-Henri, which had a capacity of 85 vehicles.
St. Henri Bus Garage – 1926
St. Henri Bus Garage – 1926
©2017 Linda Sullivan – Simpson
The Past Whispers
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CYR, LOUIS (baptized Cyprien-Noé, which he used until about 1880), farm-hand, lumberjack, weightlifter, policeman, and strong man; b. 10 Oct. 1863 in Saint-Cyprien (Napierville), Lower Canada, second of the 17 children of Pierre Cyr, a lumberjack and farmer, and Philomène Berger; m. 16 Jan. 1882 Mélina Comtois in Saint-Jean-de-Matha, Que., and they had a daughter, and a son who died in infancy; d. 10 Nov. 1912 in Montreal and was buried 14 November in Saint-Jean-de-Matha.
A quick-witted child, Cyprien-Noé Cyr was wilful yet gentle by nature. From early on he was endowed with exceptional strength, apparently inherited from his paternal grandfather Pierre Cyr, a coureur de bois, trapper, and hunter, but also from his mother, a woman of imposing stature and physical power. The young boy’s unusual ability soon attracted the admiration of his family, who were keenly interested in the strong men and feats of strength popular at the time.
After attending school in his village between the ages of 9 and 12, Cyr began working in a lumber camp in the winters and on the farm the rest of the year. In those places he performed his first feats of strength in public, impressing his fellow-workers with his prowess. According to one of his biographers, his mother then decided he should let his hair grow, like Samson in the Bible, and she herself curled it regularly.
In 1878 the Cyr family emigrated to the United States to seek their fortune and settled at Lowell, Mass. While living in Lowell, Cyprien-Noé changed his name to Louis, which was easier to pronounce in English. He worked in a textile mill, on a farm, in a machine shop, and at various other jobs. There, too, he soon became famous for his prodigious strength. At 17 he weighed some 230 pounds. He was carefree and chubby, and his pink cheeks and long blond curls gave him a babyish look that made him the butt of many jokes. He enjoyed playing the violin, dancing, working out with weights, and showing off his strength. When he was about 18 he entered his first contest of strong men in Boston and succeeded in lifting a horse off the ground. The big baby was then taken seriously and held in respect by the community.
In 1882 the Cyr family returned to the province of Quebec. Louis was married that year and went to work as a lumberjack. At the camp there was little in the way of entertainment, and his demonstrations of strength were among the most popular events. He undertook one feat after another, which soon became widely known for their unusual character. Hoping to improve his financial situation, Cyr moved back to Lowell with his wife in the spring of 1883. He was warmly received by Franco-Americans, who were already familiar with his exploits. A man named MacSohmer offered to organize a tour for him in the Maritime provinces and Quebec, where he would perform feats and challenge other strong men. It began in New Brunswick, but lasted only a few months. Cyr got nothing from it and had to part company with MacSohmer, who was a swindler.
Cyr then went to the Quebec village of Sainte-Hélène (Sainte-Hélène-de-Bagot), where his parents were living. He persuaded his family to organize a tour of shows in which he would present his own acts. His father took charge of it. The Troupe Cyr, as it was called at the time, gave performances throughout the province and met with tremendous success. A natural showman, Louis easily convinced the public that he fully deserved the title of strongest man in Canada.
In 1883 Cyr was offered a position involving less travel, as a policeman in Sainte-Cunégonde (Montreal). He held it until December 1885, and then went on tour again with a troupe of athletes recruited by Gustave Lambert, a Montreal wrestler, boxer, and weightlifter. In March 1886 he competed at Quebec with David Michaud, who was acknowledged as the strongest man in Canada. Cyr won an easy victory, lifting a 218-pound barbell with one hand (to Michaud’s 158 pounds) and a weight of 2,371 pounds on his back (to his opponent’s 2,071). The title of strongest man in the country now belonged to him.
Around 1888 Cyr bought a tavern on Rue Notre-Dame in Montreal, where he did a few feats of strength to amuse his customers. But he felt most at home on stage, and within a year he resumed touring with his own show, which included his wife and his brother Pierre. He travelled across Canada and the United States. In 1890 he joined an American troupe and he earned a growing reputation as the strongest man in the world. In the autumn of the following year he left for Europe, where he wanted to defend this title. He performed mainly in England, but the great champions did not dare challenge him and conceded him the title.
When Cyr returned to Canada in March 1892, he and strong man Horace Barré signed a one-year contract with the Ringling Brothers Circus of the United States. In 1894 the two men started their own circus, which had athletes, jugglers, acrobats, and strong men. It performed on Canadian and American stages for five years.
In 1900, however, Cyr’s health began to fail because of his weight, overeating, and inactive lifestyle. The onset of Bright’s disease put an early end to competitions and public displays of strength. He moved to a farm in Saint-Jean-de-Matha, where he received his friends and told stories of his triumphs; occasionally he took on competitors, such as Beaupré the giant [Édouard Beaupré*] in 1901, who wanted to claim the championship for themselves. The last of these was Hector Décarie, who in February 1906 met him in Montreal’s Parc Sohmer but could not strip him of his title. Well aware of his limitations and the precarious state of his health, Cyr used the occasion, however, to confer the honour on his young challenger.
Louis Cyr died at his daughter’s home in Montreal on 10 Nov. 1912 at the age of 49. The news appeared in the press the following day.
Le Soleil and La Presse, among others, announced his death on the front page and, like Le Devoir andLa Patrie, devoted several columns to an account of his life and exploits. According to Le Soleil, “His glorious athletic career . . . helped shed on [the French Canadian] race the lustre of a reputation for strength and uncommon physical vigour.” His contemporaries immortalized their hero with an impressive statue, now held by the Musée de la Civilisation at Quebec; it keeps alive in the province the memory of Louis Cyr, whose feats are still said to be unequalled.
-courtesy Dictionary of Canadian Biography
©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved
This was home of Berliner Gramophone Company. Note the sign showing Nipper the dog, the Berliner logo, followed by The Home of the Victrola.
(photo dated approx 1912)
The building now known as the RCA Victor building on Lenoir Street was originally built by the Berliner Gramaphone Company between 1908 and 1921 for the production of gramaphone equipment. Emile Berliner was born in Germany, moved to Washington, and finally settled in Montreal. He invented the telephone microphone, the gramophone and the flat record. When construction was completed in 1921, Berliner Gramophone possessed one of the most modern factories in Montreal. The 50,000 sq. ft. plant made both players and records.
The Gramaphone Company bought the now-famous painting of Nipper the Dog from the English painter Francis Barraud in 1896. Barraud had first offered the painting to representatives of the Edison-Bell Company who turned him down telling him that "dogs don't listen to phonographs".
This trademark first appeared in 1900 in Montréal on the back of record # 402 - "Hello My Baby", by Frank Banta. This classic logo has adorned millions of Gramaphone, RCA, and RCA Victor recordings over the last 100 years.
©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved
St Henri Train Station on the Grand Trunk Railroad
The Champlain & St. Lawrence Railroad, Canada's first railway trunk was built in 1836 between Montreal's South Shore and St. Jean-sur-Richelieu. This 26 km long link was a considerable shortcut since the initial waterway route (St. Jean - Sorel - Montreal) was more than 150 km long.
St. Henri Train Station
The Montreal and Lachine Railroad was inaugurated several years's later in 1847 to provide a land link to bypass the treacherous section of the St Lawrence before the Lachine Canal was built. This railroad went through the middle of through St Henri and stopped near the corner of St Jacques and St Henri. Other stops included Bonaventure, Montreal West, and Beaconfield.
In 1853, the Grand Trunk Railway was formed from an amalgamation of several smaller rail companies including the Montreal and Lachine Railroad. The first part of this line extended from Sarnia to Toronto and then Montreal. The second part ran from Montreal to Levis (on the South Shore of Quebec City) and then to the border of New Brunswick (then a separate British colony) where it met with the Intercolonial Railway.
Rapid expansion and heavy competition resulted in The Grand Trunk's bankrupcy in 1919. The Federal Government took over the railway that year, placing it under the management of the Canadian National Railways in 1923.
©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved
