A Waterway Turned Commercial Artery

Beginning in the 1830s, the Little river was buried in an imposing vaulted tunnel. This transformation opened up, at street level, a broad transportation corridor between Place de la Douane to the east and McGill Street to the west.

Around Parliament, large stone warehouses traced the outline of a booming commercial city. In this neighbourhood, French Canadian merchants shipped flour and potash to Great Britain, while British merchants gradually came to dominate trade and public life.

In the 1850s, the English-speaking population became the majority. Montréal began to look different: British immigration—especially Irish—swelled the population, and new modern infrastructure—widened streets, a canal, the port, railways—propelled the city into an era of rapid change.