Sunday, June 17, 2007

Biginnings of the City of Verdun

Since some members showed interest in the creation of Verdun, I have done my homework and did some reading at the SHGV. Here is what I came up with:
 
1846: Municipality of Hochelaga wich was distinct from the City of Montreal is divided into the following municipalities:
C척te des Neiges
Hochelaga
La Visitation
Saint Henri
Saint Pierre*
*The minicipality of Saint Pierre (Rivi챔re Saint Pierre) boundaries consisted of:
         East: Montreal
         South: Saint Lawrence River including Nun's Island
         West: Parish of Lachine
          North: Municipalities of  Côte des Neiges and Saint Henri 
Today the territory would group more or less Verdun, Côte Saint Paul and ille Émard.
 
1847: Legislature abolishes these municipalities and attaches them to Montreal.
 
1855 Saint Pierre and the other 4 municipalities are attached to the parish of Notre Dame de Montreal.
 
1874: Petition circulates to favor Rivière Saint Pierre becoming an autonomous municipality. The government of the province of Quebec declares on the 23rd of December 1874, the village of la Rivière Saint Pierre becoming an  independant municipality according to the municipal code of Quebec.
The city limits:
      East: Montreal
      South East: Saint Lawrence River
      North East: Aqueduct of Montreal
      South West: Parish of Lachine
 
1875:
      These City Limits become effective the first of January 1875. The council forbids the use of alcool beverages and establishes a $50.00 fine or a maximum of 3 months in jail.
During this same period, another municipality is born, the village of Côte Saint-Paul wich corresponds today to Ville-Émard and Côte Saint Paul.
 
1876: City council limits implantation of factories or other enterprises. Name changed on 28th December 1876 to Village of Verdun.
 
1907:
      Verdun becomes a City.
 
This information is very condenced and anybody wanting to have more details would be advised to consult such works as Verdun, 125 ans d'histoire (French) by Denis Gravel or Fighting from Verdun by Serge Durflinger. (English).
I have also included 2 maps of Verdun, 1879 and 1900.
 
Guy
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

16 comments:

les__f MSN said...

Hello Guy ,.by this information,.it shows Verdun becomming a City of it's own in 1907,....... So is there some Centenial Celebrations going on this year?? I have not heard of anything as of yet,..but I would imagine there must be some sort of Verdun Day or Festival,.if not a Summer long one...?                        1907   ------   2007  Would this right?                                   Happy Birthday Verdun                                Have Fun & Remember Verdun                                                                                                   Merci Guy

guy5479 MSN said...

Les, Yes, there are various activities going on in Verdun this year. I already posted one activity going on along the boardwalk this summer wich I previously posted. Our society is again involved with the Maison Saint Dizier. The president of our society, Denis Harton along with Denis Gravel, historian will be receiving visitors beginning the end of June to the month of October, on Wenesday evenings, 6 to 8 pm as well as on Sundays, 11.00am to 1.00pm. I have already posted activities going on this summer along the boardwalk. If you find it, could you repost it. However, I will  post any other activities as I recceive them. Also, please consult The Messenger web site wich should have this information. Guy  

guy5479 MSN said...

Maggie, Please refer to my message in response to your September 15th 2006 message regarding the beginnings of the City of Verdun in the Verdun History Section. Guy  

edbro68 MSN said...

Guy, I remember a large mansion at the corner of Church and LaSalle called the Pavillion. It's supposed to be where the city Fathers had their first meeting. I seem to remember a 'Chevalier de Colombe' sign on the building. Perhaps the Chevalier de Colombe a Verdun might have some interesting information about this.            Ed

guy5479 MSN said...

Ed Here is the Pavillion you are talking about, of course, not to be confused with the  Pavillion  wich was at the foot of Woodland. Guy    

edbro68 MSN said...

Guy, That's the one. I clearly remember the large veranda going all the way around reminded me of my Grandfather's house in N. B.      Ed

guy5479 MSN said...

Wanting to know more about the Rivière St Pierre, I did some research of old maps at the SHGV and made the following discoveries. The river started at the St Lawrence river apposite between Regina and Strathmore. It snakes through Verdun at two points on the left and goes towards Montreal in the north-east app. where St Jacques street is situated.. It then goes north-west and follows the north side of the Lachine Canal. Notice that there was a small lake called Lac à la Loutre also Lac St Pierre wich eventually dried up. This lake was situated between Angrignon Boul., Turcot interchange, upper Lachine road and the Lachine Canal. I have always been curious about this river and intend to pursue my research on the subject. I hope other members are also interested in the subject. Guy 

guy5479 MSN said...

Correction: Beginnings of the City of Verdun.   Continuing my research on the Lac and Rivière St Pierre, I have found yesterday at the SHGV these interesting old maps of the Island of Montreal showing the various lakes, rivers, swamps and streams that criss crossed the Island including Verdun. The first map shows these water routes in 1542-1642 with the "Cotes" in the background wich helps us situate these waterways. One surprising fact is to discover the size of  Lac St Pierre wich was also called Lac à la Loutre as indians used to catch Otter and cat fish and no doubt other game. The lake was situated in the vicinity of the present Lachine canal  and is now dried up and overtaken by modern human activity.  The second 1733 map also shows the Lac St Pierre (Lac à la Loutre). Even back then,  the Sulpician religious order was planning to build a canal in the west island to join the lake from point A to point B. However at the time they found the ground too rocky to excavate. Construction of the canal started in 1852 and was completed in 1856. Guy        ARCHIVES SOCIÉTÉ D'HISTOIRE ET DE GÉNÉALOGIE DE VERDUN

happydi2 MSN said...

Guy I am very interested in the origins of Verdun / Montreal.....I find the maps interesting, it is too bad that so much of the landscape has changed so much, I heard about the St Pierre River but the lake is new info for me.   Not too long ago Maggie posted a question and I was looking for that thread just now...she was asking what 'Cote' meant as in Cote St. Paul etc......and quite awhile ago I found some info about Cote St Paul and way back in time it was called Coast St Paul.......do you know what exactly the meaning of it is and how it came to be called Cote St. Paul?   Dianne

guy5479 MSN said...

Here is another interesting 1921 map in 2 parts of the river between Verdun and Laprairie. My first observation is that it is mentioned La Tortue Ferry. Is this the name of the ferry or of the wharfs where it landed although it is mentioned Verdun Wharf and Côte Ste Catherine Wharf.  My guess is that the Verdun wharf is the one at the foot of second avenue.Hopefully I will find the answer in my research. This is a Public Works, Canada map showing soundings in Laprairie Basin and location of channel to Laprairie wharf. Guy          

guy5479 MSN said...

Dianne, Here is the description in french wich I have in front of me from a 1702 map. I will then translate it: Une c척te d챕signe un ensemble de terres decoup챕es en lani챔res parall챔les, dont chaque ensemble poss챔de une physionomie propre. Translation:  A "côte" designates a group of divided land in parallel strips, of wich each group possesses its own individual aspect.   Actually, the french word "c척te" means hill but in this case it has a different meaning. Guy

guy5479 MSN said...

Here is another map of the river in front of Verdun showing the La Tortue Ferry boat channel. Another point of interest is the Verdun Water intake in the middle of the river, If my memory serves me right it was facing the Auditorium, was about 10 feet long by 6 ft wide, oval shaped and with slanted sides. I never knew what its use was but now I know, never too late. Any old timers out there remember this structure. I remember it from when I had my boat at the VMBC. Guy    ARCHIVES SHGV      

happydi2 MSN said...

Thanks Guy and Les for your explanations........cote (hill) was confusing to me and I thought there had to be another explanation for it.   Guy...have you ever come across in your research that Cote St Paul was referred to as Coast St Paul? ... I came across this last year when doing some research and I am kicking myself for not taking note of this because now I cannot find that info....

guy5479 MSN said...

Les, If you came upon a document that specified Coast St Paul, this would definately be a mistake. My 1702 map specifies Coste St Paul wich old french writing and maybe that is where the word originated from Coste to Coast. Verdun at one time was called Coste Verdun as well as Coste Lachine and also Coste St Pierre wich was a strip of land just above the hill wich is above upper Lachine road. Guy

les__f MSN said...

No Guy I never did come across anything referring to the area a,as Coast St Paul,.I just thought that it more than likely would have been refferring to the information I poste earlier re: the BAie St Apul area,.and perhaps the word coast appeared somewhere ,and some may have remembered it as a referance to Cote St Paul,..( which I did say meant 'hill' ,.at least in any translations I learned)..................  If I do come across any thing like that ,I will definetly bring them to your attention,.......    Thanks for the other info,.re: Coste..........                                                           HF&RV

happydi2 MSN said...

Guy it was me who mentioned Coast St.Paul.....I came across that reference a couple of years ago when I was doing some genealogy research and I thought it was odd at the time.....and now of course when I go looking for that page I cannot find it but if I do I will bookmark it and post it here so you can see it.   If I remember correctly it was in reference to the area of Ville Emard / Cote St Paul back in the 1800's ...it was a historical account of who owned the land etc......and that word 'coast' was used several times.