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A SUMMER WALK INTO MONTREAL'S EARLY YEARS UNDER FRENCH RULE

© Norman P. Goldman

A SUMMER WALK INTO MONTREAL'S EARLY YEARS UNDER FRENCH RULE

If you are in Montréal on a sunny weekend summer day and if you want to hear and perhaps see the ghosts of early Montréal, take a walk through "Vieux Montréal" (Old Montréal).

The best time to embark on this venture is very early in the day on a Sat. or Sun. where you may encounter Monsieur Dollier de Casson Father Superior of the Seminaire de Montréal and perhaps Canada's first town planner.

Should you be travelling by car from Bld René Levesque, it is wise to park your car, on McGill Street (not to be confused with Av McGill College), which is the continuation of Cote de la Beaver Hall.

If you are taking the Metro get off at the Square Victoria station and walk south towards the St. Lawrence River (Fleuve St Laurent) on McGill Street and onto rue de la Commune where my trip back into history begins .

In this area you will find a concrete boardwalk running parallel to the river that is open for pedestrians, cyclists and roller bladders.

During the late Spring up until the early Fall you will find snack bars, toilet facilities, musicians, park benches, etc scattered throughout the span of the boardwalk.

The history of rue de la Commune dates back to 1651 when Paul Chomedy de Maisonneuve ,who was the first governor of Montreal granted to a Monsieur Jean de Saint-Père a strip of land of about 40 arpents in depth.

An arpent is the French measure of land equivalent to about one acre.

This strip of land extended along the banks of the St Lawrence River just about where you will be taking your early morning stroll. The main purpose of this strip of land was to enable all of the residents of the area to graze their animals in common with others. In other words it was a public pasture.

Orginally the street was named Commissioners Street or rue des Commissaires, and only recently had the name been changed to rue de la Commune.

This "commune" was transformed every year to the annual fur fair when the traders would exhibit and sell their fur skins.

It is to be noted that Paul Chomedy de Maisonneuve founded Montréal in 1642 along with Jeanne Mance. Acting on behalf of Société Notre-Dame, de Maisonneuve established the mission of Ville- Marie whose primary purpose had been to establish a missionary post to the Indians.

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