The Place d'Youville in Old Montreal

Old Montreal

Old Montreal is the oldest area in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, dating back to New France. Located in the borough of Ville-Marie, the area is bordered on the west by McGill St., on the north by Ruelle des Fortifications, on the east by Berri St. and on the south by the Saint Lawrence River...

 is a historical landmark in Montreal. It was named after Marguerite d'Youville. The roads from the Place Royale and McGill Street

McGill Street (Montreal)

McGill Street is a street in Montreal named after James McGill after whom McGill University is named. The former head office building of Canadian National Railway Company, built for its predecessor Grand Trunk Railway, still stands on McGill Street and is now occupied by Quebec government...

 meet at this point.

History

It was near to this spot, previously crossed by the Saint-Pierre river, that the first inhabitants of Montreal arrived in 1642. Soon after, this frequently flooded area was abandoned in favour of the hill overlooking rue Notre-Dame.

For many years, the land around the present-day square was owned by the Montreal General Hospital

Montreal General Hospital

The Montreal General Hospital is a hospital in Montreal, Canada, established on May 1, 1819 and an early teaching hospital. First located on the corner of Craig and St-Lawrence Streets with only 24 beds, it moved in 1822 to a new 72-bed building on Dorchester Street. It is currently situated on...

. That hospital for the poor, built between 1692 et 1694, was run at first by the Charon Brothers then, from 1747, by the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Montreal, or Grey Nuns

Grey Nuns

The Order of Sisters of Charity of Montreal, formerly called The Order of Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal and more commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal, is a Canadian order of Roman Catholic religious sisters...

, founded by Marguerite d'Youville.

Proximity to the port gave the area a new lease of life. In 1833, the marché Sainte-Anne was built to accommodate the fruit and vegetable sellers. But that two-storey building was so attractive that the parliament of the Province of Canada

Province of Canada

The Province of Canada, United Province of Canada, or the United Canadas was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of...

 moved into it in 1844, where the representatives of Upper

Upper Canada

The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

 and Lower Canada

Lower Canada

The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...

 sat (present-day south Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 and Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

). It was burned down

Burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal

The burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal occurred on the night of April 25, 1849. Inaugurated on June 24, 1845, St. Anne's Market building lodging the Parliament of the Province of Canada was burned down by rioters while the members of the Legislative Assembly were sitting in session.-...

 on April 25, 1849. English-speaking demonstrators drove the representatives out and set fire to the building because they opposed the Rebellion Losses Bill

Rebellion Losses Bill

The Rebellion Losses Bill was a controversial law enacted by the legislature of the Province of Canada in 1849...

, pardoning those who had been involved in the Lower Canada Rebellion

Lower Canada Rebellion

The Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...

. Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 thus lost its status as capital city.

After being rebuilt, the building was once again a public marketplace. A fish market was later added.

In 1871, the Grey Sisters left for a new home on the René Lévesque Boulevard

René Lévesque Boulevard

René Lévesque Boulevard is one of the main streets in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.It is a main east-west thoroughfare passing through the downtown core in the borough of Ville-Marie. The street begins on the west at Atwater Avenue and continues until it merges with Notre Dame Street East just east...

, then in the countryside. The opening up of the rue Saint-Pierre towards the port involved the demolition of their former chapel. Only the walls and the remains of old windows are left. Other buildings had the same fate in order to create space for the rue Normand. In 1901, the demolition of the marché Sainte-Anne and the fish market cleared out the heart of the neighbourhood, and shops, public buildings and organizational headquarters moved in. It was a that time that the City of Montreal decided to call the area "place d'Youville" after Marie-Marguerite d'Youville

Marie-Marguerite d'Youville

Saint Marguerite d'Youville was a French Canadian widow who founded the religious order the Order of Sisters of Charity of Montreal, commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal...

, one of its first residents.

Present-day layout

• The Pointe-à-Callière Museum
  Pointe-à-Callière Museum
  Pointe-à-Callière Museum is the Montreal museum of archaeology and history located in Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1992 as part of celebrations to mark Montreal's 350th birthday...
  
  .
• The area has been called since 2001 Place de la Grande-Paix-de-Montréal.
• In the centre, a former barracks is the premises for the Centre d'histoire de Montréal.
• A public work of art by Gilles Mihalcean called La Peur (Fear).

External links