History of Duluth Avenue

URBAN DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT

“Through the mountain, and bathed in the volatile flow that the sun puts in the air, in the grass and the woods, I reach the east of the city, this district of Saint-Laurent Street between Duluth and Prince-Arthur , so beautiful, so multiple and multicolored, where all the languages rustle, chattering, haggling, trading in leathers, fabrics, spices, eels and smoked meats. Marteau, Robert, Mont-Royal, Gallimard, 1981.

After the founding of the city of Montreal in 1642 by Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance, the territory outside the fortifications was opened to colonization and devoted to agriculture. From 1745, the suburbs of the city of Montreal experienced unprecedented demographic expansion and at the end of the 18th century had to cross the limits of Fort Ville-Marie. Indeed, Saint-Laurent Boulevard and the suburb of the same name, home to farms and orchards, continued their expansion towards the North a few years later where the Montreal administration decided to push the limits of the city. They simultaneously extend their respective development and stop at the height of the following roads: Chemin des Tanneries and Rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste, i.e. the current Avenues du Mont-Royal and Duluth.

At the beginning of the 19th century, industries, including those of tanneries and quarries, came to settle between these two sectors, but to the east of Chemin Saint-Laurent which was then a rural landscape welcoming a few peaceful houses in the middle of the fields . These activities encourage the economy and the formation of residential centers: the succession of the immense land of the agricultural farm of Jean-Marie Cadieux, extending from rue Sherbrooke to avenue du Mont-Royal, is then shared, sold and subdivided for residential purposes to accommodate workers in the 1830s. Building their own homes with wood from the surrounding forests, workers and small craftsmen, including stone cutters, carpenters, shoemakers , masons and tanners, come to live near their workplace to get there on foot. This is how the first phase of development saw the light of day and several streets, including Coloniale, de Bullion, Hôtel-de-Ville and Duluth streets (formerly Saint-Jean-Baptiste Street), were laid out in 1845 to form subsequently the village of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in 1860. In 1864, the horse-drawn tramway arrived on Saint-Laurent Boulevard and provided direct and privileged access to the city which continued its expansion beyond Duluth Street.

1639

YEAR OF BIRTH OF DANIEL GREYSOLON DULUTH FROM WHICH THE AVENUE TAKES ITS NAME.

1834

SUBDIVISION OF THE CADIEUX LANDS

1859

APPEARANCE OF RUE DULUTH (FIRST UNDER THE NAME OF RUE SAINT-JEAN-BAPTISTE).

In the 1870s, several entrepreneurs from Montreal, including Gustave A. Drolet and Michel Laurent, came together to set up a residential development project of more than 1,000 lots in the village of Saint-Jean-Baptiste by purchasing the farm of Count, east of the land of Cadieux. Indeed, the layout of the blocks, the width of the setbacks and the choice of construction materials and type of housing are the main subjects discussed. That being said, brick duplexes, close together and without setbacks, are emerging on Duluth Avenue. Rapidly populated, this area had 5,000 inhabitants in 1872, the majority of whom were workers and quarrymen, thus undergoing a second phase of development. We then proceed to the opening of new streets, as well as the installation of municipal infrastructure such as the aqueduct, sewers and parks. The east-west arteries of this district, Rachel, Marie-Anne and Duluth, are extended to the east. However, two segments of Duluth Avenue are developing differently. On the west side of Saint-Laurent Boulevard, wealthy Jews took advantage of the horse-drawn tramway to get to the city center and to the east, working-class French Canadians settled in the housing surrounding their work. The village of Saint-Jean-Baptiste acquired the autonomous status of a city in 1884, accelerating its urban development, was annexed and joined the metropolis to the city of Montreal in 1886 which continued its expansion.

1864

INSTALLATION OF THE HORSEBACK TRAMWAY

1870

INSTALLATION OF THE VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

1886

ANNEXATION OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD TO THE CITY OF MONTRÉAL

At the dawn of the 20th century, the area welcomed new commercial and residential buildings and underwent its third phase of construction. Due to the structure of large subdivisions, the regulations, the organization of the blocks, the size of the lots, the presence of an alley and the choice of covering materials, plex housing is developing quietly not only in on the scale of the neighborhood, but also on the territory of the district. The area, very dense with its multiple-unit houses in rows, is almost entirely built and will not undergo transformations until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 1950s. As a result, the Portuguese permeate the neighborhood and the avenue Duluth and settle with their businesses and their restaurants and grocery stores and the facades of their houses and shops in the bright colors of their national flag and the image of their culture and warmth of their country, that is to say red , green and yellow. Around the 1960s and 1970s, a movement to return to urban and city life created a process of revitalization of commercial arteries and restoration of buildings. The following decade, Duluth Avenue was redeveloped with paving stone, green overhangs and street furniture (benches and street lamps). Following these transformations, the latter gained a certain notoriety where several restaurants decided to set up there.

1890

MASSIVE DUPLEX CONSTRUCTION

1960

ARRIVAL OF THE PORTUGUESE

1980

ARRIVAL OF THE GREEKS

1982

REVITALIZATION

1978

ADOPTION OF THE LAW AUTHORIZING THE SALE OF WINE IN GROCERY STORES. START OF THE BRING YOUR OWN WINE PACKAGE.