Rue Saint-Paul
Encyclopedia
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...
historic area of 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...
, 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....
.
The street was laid out by François Dollier de Casson
François Dollier de Casson
François Dollier de Casson was born in France into a wealthy bourgeois and military family. He began his adult life in the army which he left after three years to continue his studies and become a priest....
, along the route of a path that had bordered a former fort. Saint Paul is Montreal's oldest street and for many years served as its main thoroughfare. Paved in 1672, it was named after Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve, founder of Montreal, who built a home for himself on it in 1650.
The street is home to such landmarks as the Bonsecours Market
Bonsecours Market
Bonsecours Market , at 350 rue Saint-Paul in Old Montreal, is a two-story domed public market. For more than 100 years, it was the main public market in the Montreal area. It also briefly accommodated the Parliament of United Canada for one session in 1849....
and Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
The Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel is a church in the district of Old Montreal in Montreal, Quebec. One of the oldest churches in Montreal, it was built in 1771 over the ruins of an earlier chapel.St...
. Much of Saint Paul is still paved with cobblestones. Plans to pedestrianize the street in 2008 were dropped by the City of Montreal after complaints from merchants.