HOTEL AND RESTAURANT HERITAGE FROM PALOMINO LODGE TO THE CAFÉ ROUGE $10 Quebec HeritageVOL 6, NO. 2 SUMMER 2011 News Steaming up the Lake Memphremagog’s Tour Boat Tradition Continues Boys of Summer Bill Young on the Integration of Baseball in Quebec Montreal’s Visual Artists above and below the Hill Louis Muhlstock, Emily Coonan and W. S. Leney QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS Quebec CONTENTS HeritageNews Editor’s Desk 3 EDITOR Counting the Peas Rod MacLeod RODERICK MACLEOD PRODUCTION Letters 4 DAN PINESE Memories of Marianna O’Gallagher Claudette Ledet Harmonious History John Morrissey PUBLISHER THE QUEBEC ANGLOPHONE Timelines 5 HERITAGE NETWORK The Sisters of Saint Anne 150 Years on Marjorie Deschamps 400-257 QUEEN STREET QAHN Honours Heritage Achievement 2011 Sandra Stock SHERBROOKE, QUEBEC J1M 1K7 QAHN’s AGM at the Morrin Centre Matthew Farfan PHONE Creating the Verdun Memories Website Celia Ste Croix 1-877-964-0409 Memphremagog Tour Boat Tradition Matthew Farfan (819) 564-9595 FAX Hitting the Heights 12 (819) 564-6872 Summertime in the Laurentians Sandra Stock CORRESPONDENCE Kaufmann’s Horses 14 [email protected] The Appeal of Palomino Lodge, Ste. Agathe Joseph Graham WEBSITES Quebec and the Integration of Baseball 16 WWW.QAHN.ORG Part I: Jackie Robinson in Montreal Bill Young WWW.QUEBECHERITAGEWEB.COM The Man Behind the Bistro 20 PRESIDENT Montreal’s Own Robin Hood Renee Giblin KEVIN O’DONNELL The Point’s Beaver Hall Artist 22 INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & Emily Coonan, 1885-1971 Fergus Keyes WEBMAGAZINES EDITOR Witnesses of Their Time 24 MATTHEW FARFAN Visual Arts in Quebec’s English-speaking Community Lori Callaghan OFFICE MANAGER Discovered by Descendants 26 KATHY TEASDALE William Satchwell Leney Susan McGuire Hatley’s Educational Jewel 28 Quebec Heritage News is produced four times yearly by the Quebec Anglophone The Founding of Charleston Academy Phyllis Emery Skeats Heritage Network (QAHN) with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage and Quebec’s Ministère de la Culture et Hindsight 30 des Communications. QAHN is a Rooms with a View Rohinton Ghandhi non-profit and non-partisan umbrella organization whose mission is to help advance knowledge of the history and culture of the English-speaking communities PUBLISHER’S NOTE : of Quebec. Readers will notice that with this issue of Quebec Heritage News the subscription Annual Subscription Rates: rate has increased to $30 per year (individuals) and $40 per year (organizations). Individual: $30.00 Organization: $40.00 This is a reflection of increased costs related to printing and mailing this magazine. Canada Post Publication Mail The good news is that henceforth our covers will be in full colour. We look forward Agreement Number 405610004. to making other improvements in upcoming issues. As always, your comments are ISSN 17707-2670 welcome. Cover: The Lady of the Lake, Perkins Landing, Lake Memphremagog, c.1910. Photo: Matthew Farfan Collection. 2 SUMMER 2011 EDITOR’S DESK Counting the peas by Rod MacLeod “Schwartz’s is not a historic monument, lived the bulk of its clientele, which is out soup for my mother, who was by but remove Schwartz’s and a whole saying something. My memory of Mur- then in very poor health. Not long after, piece of Montreal falls into the river.” ray’s from my youth, an image that I that Murray’s closed and another, infi- doubt differed much from that of previ- nitely more lucrative chain whose name hese wise words uttered by ous decades, was of genteel elderly I need not mention though it began with Dinu Bumbaru at QAHN’s ladies in hats, their fur-trimmed coats the same letter as Murray’s, moved into Ways of Memory conference peeled back over their chairs and their that choicest of locations. Sic transit, Tlast March came back to me a purses hanging from the hooks just un- etc. month later as I opened an envelope on der the table, conversing over sliced Murray’s was not always genteel, the morning of my birthday to find tick- turkey with mashed potatoes and peas – or not all of them. One branch down- ets to Schwartz’s: The Musical at the plus either rolls or muffins, greased town that my Mother “took from” ap- Centaur Theatre. It was a great gift, with those pats of butter that came sand- pealed to the late 1940s office crowd even though I’d been skeptical that a wiched between tiny squares of paper. seeking lunch and was often so busy at musical about a deli could work, espe- You ate with heavy, solid flatware and lunchtime patrons had to share tables. cially after hearing the experiences of a were served by women in light blue Normally my mother sat with friends friend who had (unsuccessfully) audi- dresses with enormous white bib-fronts and they liberally sampled each other’s tioned for the part of a pickle. The show who moved at great speed carrying huge fries while they gabbed, but on one in- did work; it’s fun – although you leave and often groaning round pewter trays. famous occasion she went in alone and the theatre not so much humming the The menu never changed, the portions was seated at a small table across from tunes as, well, hungry. Of course we were identical. My older cousin, for an unfamiliar gent whose open Gazette went to Schwartz’s for the birthday sup- whom lunch at Murray’s with Grandma gave her some privacy. Her mind on per, which says something for product was a much-dreaded occasion for in- something else, my mother suddenly re- placement. struction in ladylike behaviour, main- alized that, force of habit, she had But I thought of Bumbaru’s com- tained that the staff counted every pea reached out and seized one of this gent’s ment mostly because I realized how on your plate before serving it. fries – and was immediately so horror- small a role Schwartz’s has played in I have good memories of Murray’s stricken that she froze in mid-seize. my life – even though I call myself a – really, I do. Grandma lived across the Luck being what it was, the gent chose Montrealer. Our family patronized street from the flagship Montreal restau- that moment to lower his Gazette and Ben’s – or rather “took from” Ben’s, to rant in Westmount, and it was a nice peer down at her outstretched hand. use one of my father’s idioms. (He place to take her for lunch; by that time Their eyes met briefly, hers agape. would also say they “took from” the she was in her nineties and was beyond “Help yourself,” the gent said, and re- United Church.) In their courting days, instructing in ladylike behaviour – sumed reading. She did – and beat a he and my mother saw Ben’s as a great though I suspect my 1970s long hair of- hasty retreat back to work. No, nothing late-night food stop, its downtown loca- ten tempted her to try – but she still romantic came from that encounter, but tion perfect for after theatre or clubs. I flipped her coat backwards over the it proves that even Murray’s had the po- know there are plenty of things, good chair and kept her hat on while she ate. tential for danger. and bad, to say about Ben’s, one of I liked these occasions, mostly because Research reveals that the interior of which is that there will surely never be I could usually order pancakes – al- each Murray’s restaurant was designed a Ben’s: The Musical, and another is though my mother always insisted I to match a uniform, vaguely Art Deco that its recent removal did not result in a have them with sausages, “for my model designed by architect C Davis whole piece of Montreal sliding into the health.” Years later, when my parents Goodman, who was also responsible for river – but I mourn its passing and re- had moved into that same building, we the Laurentian Hotel and, curiously, flect that no popular food spot deserves would cross the street to Murray’s with Ben’s. On those grounds alone, one the long and ugly death that Ben’s en- my young son, and he would charm the might have made a strong case for the dured. waitresses with his placemat drawings. Heritage merits of Murray’s, as many If Ben’s did not go gently into that During the Ice Storm, we stayed a few did for Ben’s. No matter now – Mur- good restaurant night, another Montreal days with my parents even after they ray’s, too, is gone, fallen into that river institution did: Murray’s. To be honest, lost power; luckily, Murray’s across the from which no restaurant returns, every when I heard not too long ago that the street was an island of warmth, and al- last pea of it. last Murray’s had closed, I was sur- though it was packed with storm prised it had lasted so long. It had out- refugees I would go down to buy take- 3 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS Letters Memories of Marianna O’Gallagher On February 26, 2005, she gave a con- cise yet very informative overview of the historical context of the presence of the Irish in Quebec City. Those who knew her can imagine that she regaled us with a few gems of personal reminis- cences as well. After this much-appreci- ated contribution to our afternoon, she asked to borrow our notes since our archives often mention the county of origin of the sisters. When she returned our notes, she included two pages of ad- ditional information on the families of fifteen sisters -- a touching proof of her desire to share her many years of re- search.