j4W SIGHTS &. SHRINES OF MONTREAL Complete Guide to the City ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAP Price 30 cents * * * * * a|c s^c J|C F. E. GRAFTON & SONS Publishers - - Montreal CANADIAN NORTHERN STEAMSHIPS LIMITED HOLDERS OF ALL NORTKf ATLANTIC RECORDS The Royal Line s "Royal Edward^:;ht%t ^: ''Royal George" FORTNIGUJ WEDNESDAYS From MONXR*JALag><FlftHE<F» BRISTOL in Summer ^* HALIFAX in Winter X \bsolut/ly the most perfect Steamships in the worth Atlantic tradcKaking jtou fMM,C(y^;£to03£stol, thé;most interest­ ing pljrt in ^|fanff, ltTThe shortest time bi' the shortest route\\ Tickets and information from jiea^est Steamship City [fice : 226-230 ST,.JAME S MONTREAL. CANADIAN NORTHERN QUEBEC RAILWAY THE SCENIC ROUTE TO Shawinigan Falls, Grand Mere, Quebec, Ste Anne de Beaupré, Lake St. John, and the Laurentian Mountains. CHARLES M. 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"NIAGARA TO THE SEA' The Unrivalled Scenic Route of the American Continent — — #]" Palatial steel steamers from Montreal to Thousand Island Points, I Kingston, Rochester and Toronto, running all the rapids, also east- bound to Quebec (American Gibraltar), Murray Bay and Tadousac, and up the famous Sagueuay River. SUMMER RESORT HOTELS : "MANOIR RICHELIEU" "HOTEL TADOUSAC" Murray Bay, P. Q. Tadousac, P. Q. Charmingly situated and replete with all modern facilities. Immunity from Hay fever and Malaria. JOS. F. DOLAN, City Passenger Agent. THOS. HENRV.Traffic Mgr S Victoria Square. Montreal. Pictorial Post Cards and View Books ON BOAT OR TRAIN, CITY OR COUNTRY, YOU WILL FIND "Valentine's Series" .... THE POST CARD OF PERFECTION MONTREAL FROM MOUNT ROYAL PARK SIGHTS AND SHRINES OF MONTREAL BY WILLIAM DOUW UGHTHALL M A. A GUIDE BOOK FOR STRANGERS AND A HAND BOOK FOR ALL LOVERS OF HISTORIC SPOTS AND INCIDENTS MONTREAL F E GRAFTON & SONS, PUBLISHERS 1911 DEDICATED TO THE Numismatic and ^nticjuavian J^ocicîij of piDtitreal MY FRIENDS AND FELLOW-STROLLERS IN PLEASANT FIELDS 92116 ENTERED accni'iling to the Act of Parliament of Canada i» the year Eighteen hundred and ninety-two, by F. E. GRAFTON & SONS, in the office of the Minister of Agri­ culture. a^3^HE present description of Montreal was T & written in view of the erection, by the <§• Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, of ^;r^3^3 a number of historical tablets of marble, marking spots of special connection with the past. As a setting, a general account of the city was thought desirable, both for the information of strangers and to act as a record for the citizens. The text of the chief tablet incriptions is given, and the object has been to make a readable volume, not too heavily encumbered with statistics, and presenting particularly the romance and interest of the town. îk\$t aï (Hmttntta. CHAPTER I.— History ot the Site. II.—General Descriptive Outlines of the City. III.—Squares, Parks, and Cemeteries. IV,—Public Buildings and Churches. V.—Charitable and Religious Institu ions, Universities, Sports, Theatres, Clubs, etc. Historical and Legendary. General Information for Tourists. Index. Authorities Consulted. Map of City, with complete fndex. iEntttrral. CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF THE SITE. jpj^G^IEDRICH KNICKERBOCKER approaches » p. P the subject of the Dutch history of New y ]) York with such respectful awe, that he ^^O^îa-sP commences his narrative at the beginning of the World! We, too, will go far back, and say that the original site' of Montreal, some hundred million years ago, was the muddy bottom of a wide gulf of sea ; of which mud, and of the fishes swimming above it, the crisp grey stone of her public buildings, her warehouses, and her residences is the twentieth century form Her next shape was that of an immense and lofty volcano-peak.energetically puffing out its thick smoke, its molten lava, and its showers of cinders—a busier spot than it has ever been since, yet an excellent ad­ vance notice of the ihanufacturing metropolis it was •2 SIGHTS AND SHRINES OF MONTREAL its intention to be, after getting duly pared down to a mere core by the great ice-movements of glacial ages, and then covered over with grass, trees, Indians, white men and real estate agents. From time immemorial there was a town here. History opens with one in full view. When Jacques Cartier, the Columbus of Canada, sailed up to the Island in 1535, having heard reports of a great Town and Kingdom of Hdchelaga, he found a race of Indians living by a rude agriculture and fishing, who dwelt in a walled village containing some 1,500-souls. These facts, taken with their language, of which he gives a list of words, and with their condition of peace, tend to show that they were" of a race which at some time split into those two bitterly hostile nations, the Hurons and the Iroquois. The latter are better known outside of Canada as the Five Nations of New York, or, with the Tuscaroras of Florida afterwards added, the Six Nations. There appears to have been more than one Indian village on the Island. Besides the cultivated space noticed around the Town of Hochelaga by Jacques Cartier, Champlain found about sixty acres which had once been tilled in the neighborhood of the present Custom House. It is recorded also that in il^i certain Indians, called by the writer Algonquins (but who were probably not), exclaimed, with a kind, of- melancholy pride,to the French of Ville Marie, during SIGHTS AND SHRINES OP MONTREAL J a pilgrimage to the top of Mount Royal: " We are of the nation of those who formerly inhabited this isle. Behold the spots where there were once towns filled with many Indians. Our enemies drove out our forefathers, and so this Island has become desert and without inhabitant." The original descriotion by Jacques Cartier of what he saw is as follows : " How the Captain and the gentlemen, with tu'C7ity- five men, well armed and in good order, 7i>cnt to the Town of Hochelaga, and of the situation of the said place. " The next day at early dawn the Captain arrayed himself and put his men' in order, to go and see the town and dwelling of the said people, and a mountain which is adjacent to the said town, whither went with the said Captain the gentlemen and twenty mariners, and left the rest for the guard of the barques, and took three men of the said town of Hochelaga to take and conduct them to the said place. And we being on the road found it as beaten as it was possible to cee, in the most beautiful soil and the finest plain: oaks as fair as there are any in forest of France, under which all the ground was covered with acorns. And we, having gone about a league and â half, found, on the road one of the principal Lords ôPthe said'Town of Hochelaga with several persons, who made sign to us that we must rest there near a fire which they had made on the said road. And then commenced the 4 SIGHTS AND SHRINES OF MONTREAL said Lord to make a sermon and preaching, as herein­ before has been told to be their way of making joy and acquaintance in making that Lord dear to'the said Captain and his company, which Captain gave him a couple of axes and knives, with a Cross and a reminder of the Crucifix, which he made him kiss and hung at his neck; whereof he returned thanks to the Captain. That done, we walked on further, and about a half league thence we commenced to find the lands tilled and fair large fields full of corn of their lands, which is like Brazil rice, as large, or more, than peas, whereof they live as we do on wheat. • And in the midst of those fields is situated and fixed the said Town of Hochelaga, near and joining a mountain which is in its neighborhood, well tilled and exceeding fertile ; therefrom one sees very far. We named that mountain Mont Royal. The said town is quite round and palisaded with wood in three rows, in form of a pyramid, interlaced above, having the middle row in perpendicular, then lined with wood laid along, well joined and corded in their mode, and it is of the height of about two lances. And there is in that town but one gate and entrance, which shuts with bars, on which and in several places on said palisade is a kind of galleries, with ladders to mount them, which are fur­ nished with rocks and stones for the guard and defence thereof. There are in this town about fifty houses each at most about fifty paces along and twelve or fifteen paces wide, all made of wood, covered and furnished SIGHTS AND SHRINES OF MONTREAL 5 in great pieces of bark as large as tables, well sewed artificially after their manner, and in them are several halls and chambers; and in the middle of said houses is a great hall on the ground, where they make their fire and live in common; then they retire to their said chambers, the men with their wives and children.