One of the "must see" sites in Montréal is Maison George Etienne Cartier
The property located at 458-460 rue Notre Dame Est is today considered a National Historic Site in memory of George Etienne Cartier. This building also gives us an idea of how life was enjoyed by the "bourgeois" class in the mid eighteen hundreds. and it was the Cartier family home from the years 1848 to 1855.
The original construction of the building dates back to 1837 and the first owner and builder of the property was Arthur Ross.
George Etienne Cartier was a very important political figure and one of the Fathers of Confederation He was a lawyer, businessman, politician and Prime Minister of the Union of the Canadas. (Upper and Lower Canada)
It is noteworthy to mention that George Etienne Cartier was not a descendant of another famous French Canadian, Jacques Cartier, as apparently some historians have us to believe.
Born on the 6th of September, 1814 at St. Antoine on the Chambly river in the County of Verchères, Lower Canada, Cartier passed a great deal of his time in Montréal.
After he attended the College of St. Sulpice located in Montreal, Cartier studied and began practicing law in this great city in the year 1835.
This was the time of the rebellion, which I discussed, in my earlier article concerning Louis Joseph Papineau and unfortunately three years after commencing his law practice Cartier was forced into exile with a charge of treason on his head. However, eventually he returned to Montreal to resume the practice of law and by the year 1848 he had a very thriving law practice.
In fact not only was he earning a descent living from his profession, he also received a substantial income from many of the properties he purchased near his office and rented to merchants and professionals. Most of these properties located on rue Notre Dame are no longer in existance.
One of the major turning points in Cartier's life was probably the election of 1861 when he contested the constituency of Montréal against a Monsieur Dorion. The latter never had any problems in being re-elected in the past and what is important to bear in mind is that Monsieur Dorion was the leader of the "rouge" or Lower Canada Opposition party.
Unfortunately for Monsieur Dorion, after a hard run campaign, Monsieur Cartier was elected as representative. To some historians this victory was probably the greatest election triumph every achieved in Canada as it meant the defeat of the Lower Canada oppositionists.
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