History/Archeo-Walk

St-HENRI-DES-TANNERIES
Changing Spaces

Introduction
This tour will visit the buildings and spaces of
the present day town of St-Henri but images
of the past will creep in along the way.
Walking through the town it will be easy to
absorb what life was like to live here. StHenri often gets viewed as a rough poor
neighbourhood but it perhaps might be
viewed with a rich history.

Starting point of History/ArcheoTour

Meeting point is at the Lionel Groulx Metro
On the corner of St-Jacques and Atwater
Continue west on St-Jacques until you reach
Rosa-de-Lima
This will be our first stop

C&W Williams Manufacturing

Company (first stop)
Occupied by Garda
Security on Rosa-deLima and St-Jacques
Northwest corner
where we are standing

Couples walking on Rosa-de-Lima where we are standing

with the Grand Trunk Running along in front of them

http://www2.bnquebec.ca/massic/MW3904.htm

C&W Williams Manufacturing

Co.
Produced sewing machines and was one of many
factories which opened up during the industrial
period and branching off from the Lachine Canal
Established in 1863 on St-James Street
It is now used for the offices of Garda Security
and owned by Imperial Tobacco
The 100 year + building has maintained its
outward appearance
The Grand Trunk Railroad has long gone but there
are traces of its past in St-Henri.

House on Rose-de-Lima.
1890 Historical Society of Saint-Henri

Rosa-de-Lima House
Off St-Jacques turn left onto Rosa-de-Lima on
your right there are townhouses
There are no traces of the Rosa-de-Lima house
however there are townhouses on your right which
have replaced it. Families lived in close proximity
to the factories in St-Henri.
Just on your left coming up is the newly renovated
Candy factory transformed into McGill student
residences Pavillon Solin Hall
Across from here turn left onto the bicycle path
and continue along here

The Grand Trunk Railway is replaced by a bicycle

Footpath

THE GRAND TRUNK

RAILWAY

Formed in 1853 from an amalgamation of railway

lines which ran through St-Henri.
(www.collectionscanada.qc.ca) There is also a
park named Premiere Chemin-de-fer off of Notre
Dame Street.
Old railway is now a path being walked as part of
the tour leading to CLSC (Notre-Dame Street and
Workman) The spot where the St-Henri Station
stood.
A two lane train tunnel ran under Notre Dame
Street andstill remain archaeological remains of
the Grand Trunk Railway.

Grant Trunk Railway tunnel under Notre Dame

Street

Train Station
Would have been
To the right of
This photo.

Photo by MC

Approach Notre Dame Street and head east

until rue St-Augustin and turn right heading
south towards the Lachine Canal
One of the samll houses
on St-Agustin which is
approximately 120
years old. (source: the
owner was outside and
mentioned that his and
this one are the same
age)

Another small Quebecois home:

This particular house
was owned by a priest
in the late 19th century.
Just a two minute walk
from the canal and the
Moseley Ricker
Tannery.Which is now
a park

Continuing down to the Canal where the Moseley

&Ricker Tannery is but what is it now
Just an open space but
where the town begins
to reveal its start and
this park pays homage
to those in the tannery
trade which first
established the small
village which was
called St-Henri-desTanneries.

E. Frank Moseley and Company Tannery (St-Henri)

St-Ambroise Street and St-Augustin

Canada, Archival reference no. R6990-873-X-E.

A little bit of background on the

tanneries..
They eventually settle in St-Henrides-Tanneries

TANNERIES (ST. JACQUES + UNIVERSITCanada

Canada. Dept. of Mines and Resources / Library

and Archives Canada / PA-020599

Rue St-Jacques/Rue University

Tannery
Established in the17th century at the trading post
where the rivers St-Martin and St-Pierre crossed
Raw hides of cows, bulls etc brought to trading
post and then to tanneries to make leather goods
(ie: shoes and saddles)
Smells became too much for the village and moved
outside the walls of Ville Marie to St-Henri-desTanneries
Source: rivieresperdu.radio-canada.ca

Continue walking west along StAmbroise street observing all of the

several factories which lined the
road and bordered St-Henri to the
south. When reaching rue
Courcelles, make a right and
continue until you get to the corner
of Notre Dame and Courcelles.

Caserne numro 24/Fire Station #24

1901/2013

Corner of Notre Dame and Courcelles(now a public library)

Continue on Notre Dame and

cross over the railroad tracks just
ahead of Acorn Street.
This is the approximate area where
the Rolland Tanneries were
established

St-Jacques between Courcelles and St-Remi.

1949 (before the Turcot Interchange)

Source: Montreal Neighborhoods Website

Satelite image of samea area today

Lenoir dite Rolland

Gabriel Rolland became a master tanner in 1713
beginning his trade at Ville Marie
The Ville Marie tanneries moved westward to
where the St-Pierre River meets the Glen Creek
and where Gabriel Rolland operated several
tanneries in the village (mid-1700s)
This was an ideal area as historically aboriginals
and Les Coureurs de Bois crossed through this
area to bypass rapids. This village became known
as St-Henri-des-Tanneries
(Heritage Montreal website)

The First Tanners

McCord Museum, MP-0000.1671.6.

THE ROLLAND FAMILY TANNERS

Photograph, Tanneries Village, St. Henry, near Montreal, QC,

1859, Alexander Henderson, Silver salts on paper mounted on paper

Rolland Tanners
These houses dated in the middle of the 19th
century made up the Village of Tanners at the
foot of the Glen. The Glen was the point where
the St-Jacques cliffs meet at the Glen (Glen
Road) joining St-Henri to Westmount. Made up
of approximately 11 houses these Tanners began
the St-Henri Town that exists today.
(Heritage Montreal)

Otter Lake (now the old Turcot Yards)

-meets the St-Pierre River

*Approximate
Area of Villages des
Tanneries

www.messagerverdun.com

Picture from site: RadioCanada.ca (Lost Rivers)

Old map of Les Rolland

Tanneries
Situated on the previous map where the StPierre River and the Moulin is situated
Where you are standing now was the village
of Les Rolland Tanneries
This development led to the foundation of
St-Henri des Tanneries.

This unfinished picture represents a view of

Montreal & the Tanneries from the "LaChine
Road" - dated 1839
from National Archives of Canada

Upper Lachine Road/Les Falaise

St-Jacques
The previous slide depicts what the Village
of St-Henri-des-Tanneries looked like in the
early 1800s
The Falaise are the cliffs that are seen which
now is St-Jacques Road leading to UpperLachine Road.

Our second last stop will take us

north on Courcelles/Glen Rd
The view from the bank,
where this photo was
taken will give you an idea
of where the creek would
have stream down to
where the tanners village
was. This water supply
was key to the
establishment of the
Tannery Village.The StJacques Cliffs are off to
the right of this photo.

Climbing back down the bank,

back through the Glen Tunnel
back into St-Henri-des-Tanneries

The Final Stop.

There is a sewer in
the middle of the
street just in front of
the arch (of the
tunnel) Where you
can still hear the
rushing waters of the
Glen and this is
where it all began for
St-Henri desTanneries.