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Everyone to Parliament!

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The Present-Day Place D'Youville

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Place Royale

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Place d’Armes

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Notre-Dame Street

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Champ-de-Mars

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The Port of Montréal

Detail from a lithograph depicting a 19th-century harbour scene. On the wharf, can be seen pedestrians and a horse-drawn carriage, while alongside it is moored a steamboat, with billowing smokestacks and a British flag flying from the mast.

James Duncan, “Steam boat wharf” (detail), National Gallery of Canada, 23150.

A long-term undertaking, the first phase of creating the Port of Montréal took shape over several decades. To be sure, the city had been receiving goods and travellers by boat since its founding, but in the 1820s the Committee of Trade and the merchant community complained that the harbour was ill-suited to economic growth. The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada responded by creating the Harbour Commission, tasked with modernizing the facilities.

Full Steam Ahead!

A lithograph depicting a 19th-century harbour scene. In the foreground stands a lamppost, with passersby and goods gathered at its base. To the right, on the wharf, can be seen pedestrians and a horse-drawn carriage, while alongside is moored a steamboat with smoking stacks and a British flag flying from the mast. To the left, a row of stone buildings with a flag lines the street.

James Duncan, “Steam boat wharf”, National Gallery of Canada, 23150.

Between 1830 and 1849, the work was tremendous: from the mouth of the Lachine Canal to below the Bonsecours Chapel, wharves and piers were built, and sidewalks and access ramps to the docks were laid out along what is now rue de la Commune. Carefully planned, these works transformed the city’s busy waterfront, lined with warehouses and frequented by Montrealers and visitors alike.

A Canal Becomes a Cradle of Industry

A 19th-century watercolour depicting the entrance to a canal, with several steamships moored there. In the background is the city of Montréal. In the foreground, near the shoreline, a man is fishing and another is seated.

“View of Montreal from the Entrance of the Lachine Canal”, Library and Archives Canada, 2902157.

New infrastructure boosted Montréal’s trade. With the digging of canals—including the Lachine Canal—and the arrival of steamboats, maritime traffic soared.

Between 1843 and 1848, the widening of the Lachine Canal and the development of hydraulic lots attracted the first factories. They harnessed the power of water to drive their manufacturing processes. Montréal was now stepping fully into the industrial age.