Articles

Founded in 1969, Dawson College in Westmount was the first English-language Cegep in Quebec. Over the past four decades, the institution has grown from a student body of 1,200 to one of over 10,000 full and part-time students enrolled in dozens of academic programs.

The Sun Life building in downtown Montreal is, without a doubt, one of this city's premier architectural landmarks. Three quarters of a century after its completion, this great, layered skyscraper still impresses passers-by -- by its sheer massiveness, its solidity, and its beauty.

The column seen to the right, known as Boaz, stands outside the main entrance of the Montreal Masonic Memorial Temple, home of the Grand Lodge of Quebec. At the top of the column is a terrestrial globe. Opposite Boaz on the other side of the entrance is Jachin, a column surmounted by a celestial globe.

Founded in 1828, Canada’s oldest lending library, the Atwater Library and Computer Centre (ALCC) is celebrating 180 years of service to Montrealers, and it is marking the milestone anniversary in a number of ways.

The Notman Studios of Montreal were famous for their magnificent composite photographs. Many of these images, most of which were originally produced between the 1870s and the 1890s, were later published as postcards and sold as tourist souvenirs during the early years of the twentieth century.

Whether we realize it or not, when travelling through the streets of our towns, we are in fact travelling not only through local history, but in many cases our world history. When we ask ourselves, "What’s in a name?", we are already "en route" to discovering what binds us all today, a proud heritage in our past, whether we were born here or not.

"From Ottawa or Washington this international community is something that can not possibly exist officially. But it does still exist at the community and personal level. Our fire departments […] stand ready at all times to assist one another. Our churches and service clubs see no border when someone is in need.

In Canada, heritage sites may be designated nationally, provincially and municipally. The level of designation depends on the level of significance of the site. National Historic Sites must be judged to be of national significance; provincial, of provincial significance, and so on.

Les Publications du Québec has just released a new book, titled Les ponts couverts du Québec. Produced in association with Quebec’s Ministry of Transport, the book is the first comprehensive study of the covered bridge phenomenon in the province.

In 1668, Father François Salignac de Fénelon founded a school and a mission post for the Indians n the actual site of our City. This first mission was called “La Présentation”. Father Fénelon was from a noble family whose insignia bore an eagle. On the City of Dorval’s crest, the eagle was introduced symbolically. In fact, it represents in a heraldic fashion the Dorval airport. It is the emblem of strength, majesty, and power.

Led by the brilliant Hall of Famers Harry Trihey and Arthur Farrell, the Montreal Shamrocks, also known as the “Fighting Irish,” were an Irish Catholic hockey club that revolutionized the sport on their way to winning two Stanley Cups in 1899 and 1900. Formed out of the old Montreal Crystals Hockey Club in 1895, the Shamrocks were owned by the Shamrock Amateur Athletic Association, which also operated the legendary Shamrocks Lacrosse Club.

The City of Westmount has a population of 20,548 residents as of 2009 who reside within the 3.9 square kilometre area on the southwestern slopes of Mount Royal surrounded by the City of Montreal. The Westmount Historical Association exists, “to obtain and classify all historical and similar material about the City of Westmount which might be available and useful,” for the understanding of the development of this city within a city. This was the mandate of the Westmount Historical Association when it was founded in 1944 and continues to guide our existence today.

When married and still living in Montreal, Mother [Mary Ann Swift Wickham] took us children to St. Lambert when ill in summer. She boarded at an inn on the riverbank kept by the Irvings and known as Irving’s Hotel. This was then a roadhouse, where farmers passing to market in the city by ferry, or ice-bridge, stopped to refresh themselves. St. Lambert air was thought to cure “summer complaint” a cause of great infant mortality in those days. The sufferer was rowed upon the river. However, the fresh milk obtainable was more likely the cause of improvement.

Macdonald College in Ste. Anne de Bellevue is remembered as a bequest of Sir William Christopher Macdonald, and it was a gift of extraordinary generosity. Not only did he perceive the need for an agricultural and teaching college, but he also acquired the land, ordered the design of the buildings, paid the costs of construction and endowed the institution. The college was only one of many gifts from possibly the most generous philanthropist in the history of our country. What do we really know about the man and his own history?

A cornerstone of Montreal’s immigrant heritage stands at the corner of Bagg and Clark streets in Montreal’s now-trendy Plateau district.