1672-1675
TOWN-PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE
THE FOUNDATION OF THE PARISH CHURCH AND BON SECOURS CHAPEL
THE FIRST STREET SURVEY--"LOW" TOWN AND "UPPER" TOWN--THE ORIGIN
OF THE NAMES OF THE STREETS--COMPLAINTS AGAINST CITIZENS STILL
CULTIVATING THE STREETS--ORDERS TO BEGIN BUILDING--THE NEW PARISH
CHURCH--THE FOUNDATION STONES AND PLAQUES--THE DEMOLITION OF THE
FORT FORBIDDEN--THE CHURCH OF BON SECOURS--THE POWDER MAGAZINE IN
ITS GARRET--A PICTURE OF MONTREAL.
In 1672, peace prospects being bright, town planning received its
first conscious impetus. Hitherto "Low Town," the neighbourhood of the
fort and principally the portion near the Hôtel-Dieu and Maisonneuve's
house, now the manor of the Seigneurs of the Seminary, with the small
collection of houses around the fortified redoubts at Ste. Marie and
St. Gabriel, had housed the slender population, fearful of attack. The
advent of the troops enabled them to think of opening up higher land,
and of forming a future "Upper Town," on which some had already taken
concessions. There it was intended to build a parish church; for at
present the chapel of the Hôtel-Dieu served the purpose.
Accordingly, following the _procès verbal_, of March 12, 1672, we find
Dollier de Casson, representing the Seigneurs, accompanied among others
by Bénigne Basset, at once town clerk and town surveyor, tracing the
first streets,[109] starting from the site of the land reserved for the
projected parish church of Notre-Dame, and making out the limits of the
concessions granted. Notre-Dame Street was first marked out, starting
from a well opened by a former syndic, Gabriel le Sel _dit_ Duclos,
and extending eastward to the mill redoubt on the elevated portion of
ground called afterwards "Citadel hill."[110] Notre-Dame Street, then
the greatest street of the city, was thirty feet broad. Bénigne Basset
placed a post at intervals on either side of this road, affixing the
leaden stamp of the seminary to each. St. Joseph Street, now known
as St. Sulpice, having been already named and used as a trail and in
some sort a street, had a breadth of eighteen feet assigned it, and
the property lines marked out. A similar breadth was given to St.
Peter Street, in honour of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, the
patron saint of M. Pierre Chevrier, Baron de Fanchamp, one of the first
founders of the Company of Montreal.
[Illustration: PLAN OF FIRST STREETS LAID OUT IN VILLE MARIE]
St. Peter Street ran down to the common and the street skirting this
common was named St. Paul Street, after the patron saint of Paul de
Chomedey de Maisonneuve. This was now formally traced, because the
line of houses already built on the north side of this common had been
constructed along it.
A fourth street was named St. James, the patron saint of M. Jacques
Olier. This was north beyond Notre-Dame, beginning with Calvary Street
and terminating with St. Charles Street, of which we shall speak later.
A fifth street, eighteen feet broad, was that of St. Francis Xavier,
parallel to St. Peter. It was called by Dollier de Casson St. Francis,
after his own name, Francis, in honour of St. Francis d'Assissi.
Later on, Xavier was added in deference to St. Francis Xavier, the
apostle of the Indies. Calvary Street, at the extremity of St. James
Street, was given a breadth of twenty-four feet; it went north towards
the mountain. Another street of twenty-four feet, going in the same
direction from Notre-Dame Street, was called St. Lambert, in honour of
the brave Lambert Closse. These streets were broader than the rest, for
they were meant for carriage service.[111]
A ninth street, eighteen feet broad, parallel to that of St. Joseph,
and abutting on St. James Street, de Casson called St. Gabriel, after
the patron saint of Gabriel de Queylus and Gabriel Souart.
Finally the tenth street, parallel to the latter and also abutting St.
James Street, was named St. Charles, after Charles Le Moyne, Sieur
de Longueuil. The city plan being made, it was necessary to carry it
out. Some of the streets afterwards formally laid out, had already
been marked out by pathways that had grown up. Thus, that running
from the fort to the Hôtel-Dieu, became St. Paul Street; that to St.
Jean-Baptiste Street, opened in 1684, was started as early as 1655. St.
Dizier Street, opened in 1691, was traced as a path in 1664. Another
pathway was traced from the fort to Bon Secours Chapel in 1657. The
original Place d'Armes, opposite the fort, was opened in 1650.[112]
Those who had taken land adjoining these streets were, by their
contract, obliged to build houses, this same year. But some of the
proprietors of lands crossed by these traced roads seemed to have
neglected the landmarks placed by Dollier de Casson and went on
cultivating and sowing as before. This was resented by those anxious
to build, as it blocked the way to the hauling of their building
materials. Accordingly in March and June of 1673 there are records of
an assembly of inhabitants, including Mademoiselle Jeanne Mance and M.
d'Ailleboust, addressing a request to M. Dollier de Casson that as he
had himself mapped out the boundaries of the streets, apportioning to
each its line, length, breadth, angles, and its name for the building
and decoration of the town, he should take means to prevent individuals
tilling and sowing any of these streets. To this just demand, Dollier
acceded, and he forbade any further cultivation of the roadways,
leaving each one free to enclose his lot with stakes or quick-thorn
hedges. The offending parties submitted, especially so as they saw
that the roads crossing their properties increased their value--an
elementary principle of city planning.[113]
By 1675, some had neglected to enclose their ground, and in consequence
of the complaint of those that had done so, the seigneurs put up a
notice, dated January 12, 1675, warning the tardy ones that if they
did not bring the necessary building materials immediately after the
following spring seeding, "to rear their buildings, destined for the
ornamentation and decoration of their town and to facilitate trade both
with the inhabitants and the strangers, the seigneurs would reclaim
these concessions, redistribute them, on demand, to others presenting
themselves."
One of the delays leading to the erection of houses on the streets,
of the upper town section, traced in 1671 was the interruption of the
building of the new parish church determined on, on the occasion of a
pastoral visit of Mgr. Laval, when at an assembly of the inhabitants,
held on May 12, 1669, it was settled that operations should begin on
June 8th under the direction of Bénigne Basset at a monthly honorarium
of thirty _livres_. But though stones were brought to commence the
work at once, two years elapsed before the site could be agreed upon.
That which had been chosen, once the property of Jean Saint-Père,
was considered as being too low down. Two years later, the naming of
Notre-Dame Street indicated the resolution arrived at by the seminary
to build the church of Notre-Dame higher up, at the head of St. Joseph
Street and facing Notre-Dame Street. At a meeting held on June 6, 1672,
the proposition to build on such land bought by the seminary from
Nicholas Godé and the wife of Jacques Le Moyne, was accepted.
Besides, a promise of the grant of the land, the sum of a 1,000
_livres_ _tournois_ for three years was offered in the name of M. de
Bretonvilliers, the superior of the Sulpicians in Paris. On June 19th,
at a new assembly, it was agreed upon to engage François Bailli, a
master mason, to take charge of the construction and to receive one écu
for every day's work and thirty _livres_ a month while the operations
lasted. If there had hitherto been delay, the next steps were very
swift.
Next day, on June 20th, the land transfer was made, the contour of the
new church traced, and on June 21st the foundations were laid. On June
29th, the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, after vespers, a procession
formed from the Hôtel-Dieu Chapel at the foot of St. Joseph Street,
to the head of the street, and Dollier de Casson, as superior of
the seminary, planted the cross, with a great gathering of people
witnessing the ceremony.
Next day, June 30th, after high mass the same gathering repaired
thither again in procession. The first five stones were placed, each
bearing the following inscription on a leaden plate:
"D. O. M.
et
Beatae Mariae Virginis sub titulo Purificationis."[114]
These five stones were each accompanied by the arms of the persons
placing them. The first was placed in the middle of the _rondpoint_ by
the governor general of Canada, Daniel Rémy, Seigneur de Courcelles,
being one of his last public acts before being succeeded by Comte
Frontenac in the September following. The second bore the arms of Jean
Talon, intendant, inscribed in advance, for being unable to be present
he was represented in the ceremony by Phillipe de Carion, lieutenant
of M. de La Motte--Saint Paul's regiment. The third was placed by the
governor of Montreal, Chevalier François Marie Perrot, Seigneur of St.
Geneviève.[115]
The fourth was placed by Dollier de Casson in the name of M.
Bretonvilliers, superior general of the congregation of St. Sulpice
in Paris. The last was fittingly placed by Jeanne Mance, the
administratrix of the Hôtel-Dieu, who had seen Montreal grow from its
earliest infancy and had been so long the mother of the colony.[116]
[Illustration: FOUNDATION STONE PLACQUES]
There was great desire to have the church soon completed. Divers
persons imposed voluntary assessments on themselves, some in money,
others in materials and labour.
The priests of the seminary resolved to demolish the ancient fort,
now being allowed to fall into ruins, so as to employ the wood of
the buildings and the stone bastions of the enclosure, in the church
construction. Indeed in their eagerness they started the demolition
before waiting to receive M. de Bretonvilliers' consent from France.
Eventually he disapproved, fearing that it was premature, for if the
Iroquois renewed their attacks they would repent their action. The
officers of the king also forbade them to proceed further, and thus the
final demolition of the battered old fort of de Maisonneuve and his
harassed and beleaguered veterans, did not take place till ten years
later, in 1682 or 1683.
In 1676 a meeting was held, on January 26th, to raise funds for the
completion of the church, and it was determined to hold a canvass
in the island, which resulted in a collection of 2,070 _livres_;
and finally, although M. Souart had engaged himself to furnish the
necessary wood, all this assistance was insufficient, and the church
building, dragging on for two years, was not finished till 1678. The
church was in the form of a Latin cross, with "bas côtés," terminated
by a circular apse; its front entrance at the south end, built of cut
stone, was composed of two orders, Indian and Doric, the last being
surmounted by a triangular pediment. The beautiful entrance, erected
after the plans of the king's engineer, Chaussegros de Léry, in 1722,
was flanked on the right by a square tower with a square belfry tower,
surmounted by a fleur-de-lys cross twenty-four feet high. The church
was built directly in the middle of Notre-Dame Street and projected
into Place d'Armes Square, measuring 140 feet long, 96 broad, while the
tower was 144 feet high. This first church of Notre-Dame was of rough
stone pointed with mortar.[117]
The erection of the parish church now being on its way permitted funds
for the long deferred church of Bon Secours, also to be gathered. The
miraculous statute brought from France was meanwhile housed in the
little wooden chapel raised in 1657 by Marguerite Bourgeoys before
leaving for France and there it remained till the new stone building
was commenced. It was not, however, till June 29th, the feast of SS.
Peter and Paul, in the year 1675, that M. Souart placed the first stone
in the name of M. de Fanchamp, bearing a medal of the Blessed Virgin
and a leaden tablet bearing the inscription:
D. O. M.
Beatae Mariae Virginis
et sub titulo Assumptionis[118]
The bell was cast from the metal of a broken cannon used against the
Iroquois and given some time previously by M. de Maisonneuve. It
weighed a little less than 100 _livres_ and the casting was paid for by
M. Souart.[119]
The site chosen was still thought to be far from the town, but near
enough for easy pilgrimages. In order to secure its perpetuity the
sisters requested the bishop to make it an inseparable annex to the
parish church, to be served by the parish clergy. To this the bishop of
Quebec[120] acceded in the _mandement_ of November 6, 1678. In addition
he imposed upon the _curé_ the duty of having mass celebrated there
each Feast of the Visitation, the principal feast of the new order, and
of going thither in procession every Assumption Day. These conditions
still obtain. A Sulpician of Notre Dame Church today is known as the
Chaplain of Notre Dame de Bon Secours, the first being M. Frémont.
[Illustration: The Church of Notre Dame de Bonsecours dates from three
different periods. The first chapel was erected in 1657. It was built
of oak and the foundations were in stone and it measured only forty
feet in length by thirty feet in width. In the basement of this chapel
a school was kept (the first in Montreal, in 1659) for the education
of little children. This small chapel was replaced in 1676 by a stone
building which measured seventy-five feet in length by forty feet in
width. The latter was destroyed by fire with a part of the town in
1754. The present Church of Notre Dame de Bonsecours dates from 1772.
It measures one hundred and twenty feet in length by forty-six feet in
width. It was reconstructed in 1888.]
As the chapel was at some distance from the chief buildings, its garret
was used for the storage of powder for the safety of Ville Marie, there
being no other magazine. M. de Denonville, governor general, writing
on November 13, 1685, to the minister said: "At Montreal I have found
the powder in the top of a chapel towards which the people have great
devotion. The bishop has strongly urged me to take it away, but this I
have not been able to do since I have found no other place where to put
it without danger of fire." The church was burned down in 1754.[121]
To give the reader a comprehensive view of the outlook for Montreal
at this period (1674-76) we may quote from Parkman's "Old Régime,"
where he imagines a journey up the river to inspect the lines of
communication by the formation of settlements and villages resting
under the newly established feudal system:
"As you approached Montreal, the fortified mill built by the Sulpicians
at Pointe aux Trembles towered above the woods; and soon after the
newly built chapel of the Infant Jesus more settlements followed, till
at length the great fortified mill of Montreal rose in sight, then the
long row of compact wooden houses, the Hôtel-Dieu and the rough masonry
of the Seminary of St. Sulpice. Beyond the town the clearings continued
at intervals till you reached Lake St. Louis, where young Cavelier
de La Salle had laid out his seigniory of Lachine and abandoned it
to begin his hard career of western exploration. Above the Island of
Montreal the wilderness was broken only by a solitary trading station
on the neighbouring Ile Pérot."--Parkman, "Old Régime," p. 241.
FOOTNOTES:
[109] A description of the first thoroughfares has already been given.
[110] This hill has been removed since to add to the extension of the
Champ de Mars, and the site, once Dalhousie Square, is now covered by
the southeastern portion of the Canadian Pacific Railway yardage at
Place Viger Station.
[111] The widow of Lambert Closse, Elizabeth Moyen, was, on June 27th
of this year (1672) given a new seigneurial fief.
[112] The early streets of Montreal, according to H. Beaugrand and P.
L. Morin "Le Vieux Montreal":
The first pathway, 1645, was replaced by St. Paul Street in 1674;
second pathway, 1655, was replaced by Jean Baptiste Street in 1684;
third pathway, 1660, was replaced by St. Claude Street in 1690; fourth
pathway, 1664, was replaced by Capitol Street in 1666; fifth pathway,
1668, was replaced by St. Vincent Street in 1689; first Place d'Armes
was opened in 1650.
Notre Dame Street was opened in 1672; St. Joseph (St. Sulpice) in
1673; St. Peter Street in 1673; St. Paul Street in 1674; St. Charles
Street in 1677; St. James Street in 1678; St. François Xavier Street in
1678; Dollard Street in 1679; St. Lambert Street in 1679; St. Gabriel
Street in 1680; St. Victor Street in 1681; St. Jean Baptiste Street in
1684; St. Vincent Street in 1689; St. Thérèse Street in 1689; St. Eloi
Street in 1690; St. Giles Street (Barracks) in 1691; St. Francis Street
in 1691; Frippone Street in 1691; Hospital Street in 1702; St. John
Street in 1711; St. Alexis Street in 1711; St. Denis Street (Vaudreuil)
in 1711; St. Sacrement Street in 1711; St. Augustine Street (McGill)
in 1722; St. Nicholas Street in 1739; St. Anne Street (Bonsecours)
in 1758; Callières Street in 1758; Port Street in 1758. St. Helen,
Récollets, Le Moine, St. William, Common, Commissioners and Gosford
Streets were opened shortly after 1760. Some of the earliest lanes
were: St. Dizier, Donnacona, Chonamigon and Capitale.
[113] About this time a road was constructed from Montreal along the
river to Pointe aux Trembles, and another from Sorel to Chambly, a
distance of six miles. (Kingsford History of Canada I, page 364).
[114] "To the Almighty and Good God, and to the Ever Blessed Virgin
Mary, under the title of the Purification."
[115] The old church, of which the first stone was placed in honour of
St. Joseph on the 28th of August, 1656, now became exclusively destined
to the service of the Sisters of the Hôtel-Dieu and their sick.
[116] These plaques were found in September, 1830, during the work of
demolition.
[117] It stood till 1830, when it was demolished at the completion of
the present Notre-Dame Church begun in 1824 and opened on July 15,
1829. The belfry tower, however, remained standing till 1843.
[118] "To the Almighty and All Good God and to the Blessed Virgin Mary
under the title of the Assumption."
[119] Cf. Autobiographical Notes by Sister Bourgeoys.
[120] In 1674 Quebec was erected into a bishopric and the erstwhile
Bishop of Petrea became the titular of the see on October 1st.
[121] The Bon Secours Church was rebuilt between 1771 and 1773. It
has been several times restored, but it still stands a venerable link
connecting the old and the new Montreal.