Montreal and Southern Counties Railway Company

 

 

The M&SCRC was created as a result of a law passed by the Canadian Parliament on June 29, 1897. The service was inaugurated between Montreal and Saint-Lambert via the Victoria Bridge on October 30, 1909. The service was extended to Longueuil in 1910, toward Mackayville in 1912 and to Chambly, Richelieu and Marieville in 1913, Saint-Césaire in 1914, Saint-Paul-d'Abbotsford, Quebec in 1915, and finally Granby in 1916.

Absorbed by the Grand Trunk Railway, the M&SCRC became the property of CN in 1923.

The Montreal McGill Street Terminal was situated at the southwest corner of McGill Street and Rue Marguerite-d'Youville. The building that served as the station is still standing today.

The M&SCRC was managed under two divisions. The interurban division managed the traffic on the main line between Montreal and Granby, whereas the suburban division managed the branch between Saint-Lambert and Montreal South (Longueuil).

Service declined starting in 1951, when CN replaced the electric tramways with diesel trains between Marieville and Granby. In June 1955, CN decided to remove the streetcar rails on the Victoria Bridge and service was cut back to Saint-Lambert. The streetcar made its final voyage on October 13, 1956.

…to be continued.

 

©2017 Linda Sullivan – Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

Marie-Joseph Angelique: Remembering the Arsonist Slave of Montreal

 

Marie-Joseph was born in Madeira, Portugal, one of the most important cities of the Atlantic slave trade market. At the age of 15, she was sold and brought to the New World.

She first lived in New England, until François Poulin de Francheville, a French businessman, bought her and brought her to his home in Montreal. De Francheville died not long after her arrival, but Marie-Joseph was still owned by his wife, Therese de Couagne. It is she who renamed Marie-Joseph “Angélique,” after her dead daughter.

Unlike the common idea one might have of a slave, Marie-Joseph Angélique had a fiery temper, was stubborn and willful. Not long after her arrival in Montreal, she got involved in a romantic relationship with François Thibault, a white servant who also worked for the Francheville widow. The Montreal community disapproved of this union between a black woman and a white man.

In the midst of winter 1734, the pair intended an escape: they fled together, by night, across the frozen St. Lawrence River. They were hoping to get to New-England and, from there, back to Europe. But bad weather forced them to stop not far from Montreal, and they were quickly discovered by the militia and escorted back to town.

Angélique was sent back to the widow Francheville and her intended escape went unpunished. Thibault, on the other hand, was sent to prison. Angélique continued to visit him during his imprisonment, providing him food and support, despite her mistress’s disapproval. Thibault was released two months later, on April 8th 1734, two days before the fire of Montreal.

The Fire of Montreal

April 10th, 1734, was an exceptionally mild day in Montreal. Around 6:30pm on that Saturday, most of the community was attending the evening prayers. As they were making their way back to their homes, the sentry sounded the alarm: fire! A fire had started on the south side of rue St-Paul.

Chaos ensued. The military tried to tame down the fire, but it got so strong, so fast that it was almost impossible to get close to it. Montrealers, in panic, hoped to enter their burning houses so they could save furniture and belongings from the flames. But a strong wind propagated the fire and not much could be saved: in less than 3 hours, 46 houses were burned, including the hotel-Dieu hospital. Luckily, no one died.

Accusation of Marie-Joseph

Quickly, rumor started that the widow Francheville’s slave Marie-Joseph Angélique and her lover Thibault were responsible for the fire. Many people said that Angélique was in an agitated mood that evening. Others claimed they saw her going up the stairs of the Francheville house minutes before the fire was declared. And the coincidence of the release of Thibault, her lover whom she had tried to escape with not long ago, arose suspicions. Was the pair trying to create a diversion before they would flee again? Was an angry and rebellious Angélique trying to make a statement, because her owner did not accept her love with Thibault and refused to grant her freedom?

Nevertheless, the angry Montrealers, frustrated by their losses, were looking for a scapegoat. The day after the fire, Angélique was arrested, despite the fact that she had firmly denied causing the fire. The authorities searched in vain for Thibault: he had fled and was never seen again in New France.

Trial, Torture and Execution

The arrest of Angélique began an exceptionally long judiciary process. Her trial lasted six weeks, uncommon in New France, where trials lasted no more than a few days.

22 persons – rich and poor, men and women – testified against Marie-Joseph Angélique. All admitted that they did not see Angélique start the fire, but they were unanimously convinced of her guilt. Only her mistress, the widow Francheville, stood up for her slave, persuaded of her innocence.

Despite the fact that everyone wanted her to be guilty, the judge responsible for the case, Pierre Raimbault, reputed for his severe judgments, had nothing solid against Angélique. Nothing, until a new witness appeared out of nowhere, after six weeks of trial: Amable Lemoine Monière, the five-year-old daughter of Alexis Lemoine, a merchant. The little girl swore under oath that she had seen Angélique going to the attic of the Francheville house holding a shovel full of coals, just before the fire.

Amable’s testimony sealed Angélique’s fate: although she kept claiming her innocence, she was condemned to death. She was submitted to the torture of the boot – wood planks bound to the prisoner’s legs, squeezing them and crushing the bones – before her execution, in order to make her name her accomplices. Under torture she admitted the crime, but, begging for mercy and for a quick death, she maintained she was acting alone.

Marie-Joseph Angélique was hanged on June 21, 1734, in front of the burned buildings of Old Montreal. Her body was then burnt and her ashes scattered.

 

©2017 Linda Sullivan – Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

Oh Canada! 150 Years of Confederation

 

January 1, 1947

Under Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, the Canadian Citizenship Act becomes law. Now all residents can have Canadian citizenship, whether they were born in Canada or elsewhere.

To learn more:

Library and Archives Canada

• Watch Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becoming the 1st Canadian citizen during the 1st citizenship ceremony in January 3, 1947.
• Consult citizenship and naturalization records
• Listen to the podcast “Yousuf Karsh: Pursuing Greatness”
• Read “A Real Companion and Friend: The Diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

• Consult the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1947

Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21

• Canadian Citizenship Act, 1947

 

courtesy Library & Archives canada

 

©2017 Linda Sullivan – Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

Dow Brewery

 

984 - 1000 Notre-Dame, 333 Peel Street

image courtesy – Griffintown Tour

The former brewery complex consists of many buildings. On Montfort we find the oldest building at the site; formerly a refrigerated warehouse, it is built in the vernacular style with 'porteur' walls in stone. The brewery's large warehouse and fermention buildings were constructed between 1924 and 1929 the length of Colborne Street (now Peel), between St. Joseph (now Notre-Dame) and William.

In 1929, a garage for the brewery's delivery vehicles, designed by architect Louis-Auguste Amos (1869-1948), was erected at the southeast corner of William and Peel. In 1930-1931 an administration building, designed by Harold Lea Fetherstonhaugh (1887-1971), was built at 984-990 Notre-Dame.

Constructed in the art deco style, this building, which served as head office for The National Breweries Limited consortium, boasts a rich interior decor of various marbles and precious woods, bronze and brass and an exterior ornamented with pilasters and bas reliefs showing elements and symbols of the brewing process and of the consortium members.

The first brewery at this location, owned by Thomas Dunn, moved to Montreal from La Prairie in 1808. In 1920 Dunn hired recent immigrant William Dow, son of a Scottish brewmaster, to assist with the brewing. By 1829, Dow was Dunn's partner and the brewery name was changed to Dunn & Dow.

Dow's younger brother Andrew eventually joined the company and, after Dunn's death, the name was changed to William Dow and Company and became Molson's main competitor. By the mid-1960s the Dow brand was outselling every other beer in the province and their slogans, such as: "Wouldn't a Dow go good now?", "Now for a Dow" or "Dis donc Dow" were ubiquitous.

Then, in 1966, as a result of poor public relations handling of the tainted beer scandal in which 16 deaths were attributed to the use of cobalt as a heading agent, Dow's popularity dropped overnight and the company suffered a decline in sales from which it never recovered. In 1968, the Dow name, by now representing a national consortium, was changed to La brasserie O’Keefe du Québec Ltée. O’Keefe closed the plant in 1991 and in 1996, École de technologie supérieure (ETS) recycled the O’Keefe building at the southwest corner of Peel and Notre-Dame into an engineering school and is currently at work repurposing portions of the buildings on the east side of Peel into a Centre of Innovation for the technology sector.

Sadly, while renovating to accomodate the new Centre of Innovation, ETS had the top portion of the brewery’s chimney removed: where it used to read “Dow Brewery”, it has now been reduced to “Brewery”. According to local property owner Harvey Lev, Normand Proulx at the borough’s permit department asserts it will be restored.

The garage at Peel and William was renovated in 2003 and currently houses the offices of the Board of Montréal Museum Directors as well as ETS’s AÉROÉTS and Centre de technologie thermique.

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan – Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

Westmount Conservatory To Be Restored

 

 

When the city of Westmount restored its public library in 1995, it faced the challenging task of modernizing the building while respecting its historical look and feel.

To do so, it pored over historical photos to find matching chandeliers and wallpaper and sought out the original manufacturer, located in Waterloo, Ontario, that had supplied the library with wooden oak armchairs nearly 100 years earlier.

When the city expanded the Victoria Hall Community Centre building next to the library three years later — it had been rebuilt in 1925 after initially opening in 1899 — it had the same goal in mind: restore, but respect the building’s historical character.

The architect in charge managed to find limestone and sandstone from the same quarry the building’s original materials came from to ensure the extension matched the rest of its facade.

Now the city hopes to do the same as it undertakes major restorations at the Westmount conservatory and greenhouse complex, closed since a pane of glass fell and nearly injured a man below in September 2015.

But the project has already proved to be challenging. Some of the materials used to build the complex back in 1927, such as cypress wood, are no longer commercially available, and architects, engineers and construction companies with experience in building large and historical greenhouses aren’t easy to come by.

“If it were a more standard building, we probably would have been in construction by now,” Westmount Mayor Peter Trent said on Wednesday. “But we have to approach this extremely carefully, while keeping the same goal in mind — bringing it back to its former glory.”

Working with engineering firms, the city is looking into equivalent materials — including British Columbia fir — that could resemble the wooded purlins used when the building was initially built.

The city used a drone to photograph the exterior and interior of the greenhouse and document the extent of the damage after the glass pane collapsed last year. A structural assessment completed afterward led it to believe a complete restoration was a better option than partially fixing the failing structure.

According to Benoit Hurtubise, Westmount’s assistant director-general, the building’s infrastructure is sound; it’s the glass and wooden envelope above it that’s at risk of collapsing.

“One way or another, eventually we would have to do a complete restoration,” Hurtubise said, “so we rather bite the bullet and do it now.”

Hurtubise said a growing impatience among residents could be felt after the complex was first closed in 2015. It’s the only nearby indoor botanical garden and is often visited by people trying to escape the cold for a couple of hours during winters.

According to early estimates provided, Trent said on Wednesday, completely restoring the building could cost roughly $3.2 million.

“But really, we will spend whatever is required to bring it back to what it was,” Trent said. “This is a piece of Westmount architectural history, but it also serves a purpose and is a beautiful building in its own right.”

The city has put aside $1 million in its 2017 budget for the project, and expects to have a call for tenders early next year. But it’s unlikely the greenhouse complex will be completely restored and reopened until 2018.

Paul Marriott, president of the Westmount Municipal Association, a nonpartisan community organization, said despite some initial doubts about why the complex was closed for so long, overall, most residents agree the city should take the time required to restore it properly.

“Essentially we’re custodians of the architectural heritage for future generations. You can’t just say ‘it’s too expensive, I’m going to abandon it.’ You have a certain responsibility,” Marriott said. “It’s been there for almost 100 years. There’s no reason to believe it couldn’t be there for another 100 years.”

courtesy Montreal Gazette

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan – Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

Silent Night

 

 

Silent Night Chapel at Oberndorf, Austria

The song was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Empire on the Salzach river in present-day Austria. A young priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before. He had written the lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" in 1816 at Mariapfarr, the hometown of his father in the Salzburg Lungau region, where Joseph had worked as a co-adjutor.

The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster and organist in the nearby village of Arnsdorf. Before Christmas Eve, Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the Christmas Eve mass. Together they performed the new carol during the mass on the night of December 24.

The original manuscript has been lost. However, a manuscript was discovered in 1995 in Mohr's handwriting and dated by researchers as c. 1820. It states that Mohr wrote the words in 1816 when he was assigned to a pilgrim church in Mariapfarr, Austria, and shows that the music was composed by Gruber in 1818. 

In 1859, the Episcopal priest John Freeman Young, then serving at Trinity Church, New York City, wrote and published the English translation that is most frequently sung today, translated from three of Mohr's original six verses. The version of the melody that is generally used today is a slow, meditative lullaby or pastorale, differing slightly (particularly in the final strain) from Gruber's original, which was a "moderato" tune in 6
8 time and siciliana rhythm. Today, the lyrics and melody are in the public domain.

The carol has been translated into about 140 languages.

Mohr's German lyrics

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
Nur das traute hochheilige Paar.
Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar,

Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Hirten erst kundgemacht
Durch der Engel Halleluja,
Tönt es laut von fern und nah:

Christ, der Retter ist da!
Christ, der Retter ist da!

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Gottes Sohn, o wie lacht
Lieb' aus deinem göttlichen Mund,
Da uns schlägt die rettende Stund'.

Christ, in deiner Geburt!
Christ, in deiner Geburt!

Young’s English lyrics

Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant, so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born!

Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love's pure light;
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus, Lord, at thy birth,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan – Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

The First Christmas Lights

 

One would think that Christmas lights have been around for as long as Christmas itself. Can any of you imagine Christmas without lights? How would the children find their way in the dark, so early on Christmas morning without them? The history of Christmas lights is intricately tied to the dawn of the modern era, when houses began to be supplied with electricity.

As you are likely aware, Thomas Edison invented the first functioning light bulb back in 1879. A few years later, in 1882, an associate of his first employed the use of lights on his Christmas tree. Edward Johnson was the first to electrically light his family Christmas tree in his New York home. His home was located in one of the first sections of the city to be wired for electricity.

A visiting reporter from Detroit reported the following in "The Detroit Post and Tribune": "Last evening I walked over beyond Fifth Avenue and called at the residence of Edward H. Johnson, vice-president of Edison's electric company. There, at the rear of the beautiful parlors, was a large Christmas tree presenting a most picturesque and uncanny aspect. It was brilliantly lighted with many colored globes about as large as an English walnut and was turning some six times a minute on a little pine box. There were eighty lights in all encased in these dainty glass eggs, and about equally divided between white, red and blue. As the tree turned, the colors alternated, all the lamps going out and being relit at every revolution. The result was a continuous twinkling of dancing colors, red, white, blue, white, red, blue---all evening."

In 1890, Edison published a promotional brochure which may have been the first mention of commercially available electrically powered Christmas lights. It stated that "There are few forms of decoration more beautiful and pleasing than miniature incandescent lamps placed among flowers, or interwoven in garlands or festoons; for decorating Christmas trees or conservatories..."

From there, the popularity of Christmas lights exploded. Before long, every family had them and they became synonymous with the Christmas tree. It's hard to imagine Christmas without Christmas lights. 

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan – Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved