Pointe-Saint-Charles

Coordinates: 45°28′52.3″N 73°33′11.2″W / 45.481194°N 73.553111°W / 45.481194; -73.553111
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Pointe-Saint-Charles
514, 438

Pointe-Saint-Charles (also known in English as Point Saint Charles, and locally as The Point, or "PSC") is a neighbourhood in the

borough of Le Sud-Ouest in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Historically a working-class area, the creation of many new housing units, the recycling of industrial buildings into business incubators, lofts, and condos, the 2002 re-opening of the canal as a recreation and tourism area, the improvement of public spaces, and heritage enhancement have all helped transform the neighbourhood and attract new residents. Community groups continue to be pro-active in areas related to the fight against poverty and the improvement of living conditions.[2]

History

Twenty years after the founding of

Congrégation de Notre-Dame. The sisters operated a sharecropping farm (métairie) on the land. From an area of about 30 arpents (about 10 hectares), the farm reached an area of 200 arpents (about 68 hectares) by the mid-18th century. The nuns built the Maison Saint-Gabriel, the only remaining trace of their farm and one of the oldest buildings in Montreal, on their property in 1698. Their farming activity only ceased altogether in the 1950s.[3]

Victoria Bridge over St. Lawrence River

Until the mid-19th century, the area was chiefly agricultural. Urbanization began with the enlargement of the Lachine Canal (completed in 1848), as the transportation access and water power attracted industry to the whole of what is now the Sud-Ouest borough. The installation of railways and the construction of the

Sulpician Order, divided the area into lots and auctioned them off starting in 1853, with the Grand Trunk Railway purchasing a large area for use as a railyard.[3]

Numerous workers moved in, including numerous

French-Canadians, English, Scots and in the early 20th century, the Poles, Ukrainians and the Lithuanians. Irish-Catholics and French-Canadians lived side by side in the Point, each community building its own Catholic church, also side by side on Centre Street: Saint Gabriel's Parish (completed 1895) and Église Saint-Charles (completed 1905).[4][5]
The Polish Community was given permission by the Archdiocese of Montreal to build a church on Centre Street between Richmond and Montmorency Streets, Holy Trinity Church, which is still attended by the community from near and far. The Ukrainian Community also still returns to the Point to worship at Holy Ghost Parish on the corner of Grand Trunk and Shearer Streets. Numerous Protestant churches were also built during the late 1800s including Grace Anglican Church (built 1871 enlarged 1892), St. Mathew Presbyterian Church (built 1891, destroyed by fire in 1977), Centenary Methodist Church (built 1891, now a Seventh-Day Adventist church), and a Baptist church at the corner of Liverpool and Wellington streets (built 1900 and now used as a Sikh temple). Today, Pointe-Saint-Charles is considered the heart of historic Irish Montreal, with street names like Rue Saint-Patrick, Rue d'Hibernia, Place Dublin, and Rue des Irlandais testifying to that heritage.

By the 1860s, the area was a busy industrial neighbourhood and one of Canada's first neighbourhoods offering housing to industrial workers. Notably, the development on Grand Trunk Row (today Rue Sébastopol) introduced the stacked "duplex," based on British working-class housing, that would come to be so typical of neighbourhoods throughout Montreal.[6] Building continued in the central Rushbrooke/Hibernia area until 1910.[7]

Pointe St-Charles in 1859, showing the Montreal ward of St. Ann and the area outside the city limits

The area straddled the Montreal city limit, and the part outside was set up as the village of Saint-Gabriel in 1874 and annexed to Montreal in 1887, becoming a city ward.[3] In the early 20th century, Pointe-Saint-Charles was made up of two city wards: St. Gabriel, to the west, and St. Ann, to the east, which also included Griffintown and extended as far as McGill Street in what is now Old Montreal. The two were divided by the former city limit line, passing from the basin on the Lachine Canal just west of the St. Gabriel Locks to the riverbank just south of what is now the end of Ash Avenue.[8]

Like the rest of the area around the Lachine Canal, the neighbourhood went into a long decline in the 1960s, caused by the opening of the

Charlevoix
station.

However, in recent years, the neighbourhood has undergone

Montreal Technoparc industrial park opened in 1988 on the site of a former landfill and dump site between the neighbourhood and the river. The rehabilitation of the Lachine Canal for recreational use spurred the reclamation of factories along the canal for lofts and condominiums.[4] However, this has brought its own pressures as to increased rents and cost of living. The tradition of social solidarity continues, with residents banding together in 2005–2006 to successfully oppose a project to move the Montreal Casino to the area.[11]

Geography

Located southwest of

Saint Lawrence River, the southwest by the Décarie Expressway and Atwater Avenue, and the west and northwest by the Lachine Canal
.

Adjacent neighbourhoods are

Saint-Henri (across the canal to the north Montreal directions), Griffintown to the northeast, the wharves of the Old Port to the east, and the borough of Verdun
to the west.

The residential part of the neighbourhood is bisected by the CN Rail line running through its centre on an elevated structure. A large industrial area, including the former CN rail yards, lies on landfill to the east; on the riverside, the

Montreal Technoparc
is home to film studios.

The point for which the area was named, located south of the modern area around Parc Le Ber,[12] has long since disappeared under landfill. The name was reassigned to a new point at the southeastern tip of the area, opposite the northern point of Nuns' Island.[13]

Infrastructure

Transport

Charlevoix (Montreal Metro)
Charlevoix Bridge over the Lachine Canal between Little Burgundy and Pointe Saint-Charles

The neighbourhood is served by the

LaSalle
station near the southwestern part of the neighbourhood in Verdun.

The area is ringed by the

Brossard
. Major thoroughfares include Rue Saint-Patrick, Rue du Centre, Rue Wellington, and Rue Charlevoix.

The

Central Station run through Pointe-Saint-Charles. As of 2011, with the closure of the Turcot Yards, CN has been performing switching operations and storing trains in the area, a practice denounced by local residents due to increased noise and danger from hazardous cargo in a residential area.[14]

Institutions

The Clinique communautaire de Pointe-Saint-Charles is the primary health and social services institution in the area. La Maison Saint-Charles provides space for community groups.

Culture and recreation

Holy Spirit Ukrainian Catholic church on 1795 Grand Trunk Avenue

Recreational facilities include the YMCA, the Centre Saint-Charles, Saint-Gabriel Park, Le Ber Park, Marguerite Bourgeoys Park, and the Lachine Canal greenspace and bike trail, as well as road bike trails crossing through the neighbourhood. Historic buildings include the Maison Saint-Gabriel and Saint-Gabriel and Saint-Charles churches. The neighbourhood is served by the Bibliothèque Saint-Charles.

Pointe-Saint-Charles served as the setting for the 2006 movie The Point, a drama that takes place over one weekend about the stories of thirty-five teenagers and a mystery that haunts their neighbourhood.

Demographics

Home language (2011)

Language Population Pct (%)
French 7,220 54.5%
English 4,025 30.4%
Both English and French 245 1.8%
Non-Official languages 1,365 10.3%
English and Non-Official language 80 0.6%
English, French and Non-Official languages 65 0.5%
French and Non-Official language 235 1.7%

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ 2011 Canadian census tracts 4620071 - 4620076
  2. ^ "Neighborhood Pointe-Saint-Charles." Héritage Montreal. Accessed 16 November 2014.
  3. ^ a b c "Fiche du secteur: Maison Saint-Gabriel." Grand répertoire du patrimoine bâti de Montréal. Accessed 5 July 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Fiche du secteur: Églises Saint-Gabriel et Saint-Charles (rue du Centre)." Grand répertoire du patrimoine bâti de Montréal. Accessed 5 July 2011.
  5. ^ "History - Saint Gabriel's Parish" History - Saint Gabriel's Parish. Accessed July 8, 2018.
  6. ^ "Fiche du secteur: De Sébastopol." Grand répertoire du patrimoine bâti de Montréal. Accessed 5 July 2011.
  7. ^ "Fiche du secteur: De Rushbrooke/d'Hibernia." Grand répertoire du patrimoine bâti de Montréal. Accessed 5 July 2011.
  8. ^ Pinsoneault, Adolphe Rodrigue. Atlas of the island and city of Montreal and Île Bizard : a compilation of the most recent cadastral plans from the book of reference. Atlas Publishing Co. Ltd: 1907. Pp. 22. Available online from Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Accessed July 5, 2011.
  9. ^ "History - A bit of background." Clinique communautaire de Pointe-Saint-Charles. Accessed July 5, 2011.
  10. ^ "Logement social : le FRAPRU manifeste à Montréal". Radio-Canada. May 27, 2012.
  11. La Presse
    , March 11, 2006, p. A1.
  12. ^ Wyld, James. Map of the harbour city and environs of Montreal for Mc.Gregors British America. Mc.Gregors British America, 1830. Available online from Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Accessed July 5, 2011.
  13. ^ "Saint-Charles, Pointe." Commission de toponymie du Québec. Accessed July 5, 2011.
  14. ^ Comité Nous et les trains. Accessed July 5, 2011.
  15. ^ "R. Norman Dawe Sportsman, Dead". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec. January 5, 1948. p. 3.Free access icon

External links

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