Timeline of Montreal history

The timeline of the history of Montreal is a chronology of significant events in the history of Montreal, Canada's second-most populated city, with about 3.5 million residents in 2018,[1] and the fourth-largest French-speaking city in the world.[2]

Part of the series on
History of Montreal
History
Hochelaga (village)(16th century)
Old Montreal(since 17th century)
North West Company(1779–1821)
Merger and demerger(2001–2005)
Timeline of Montreal history
Founded by Maisonneuve 1642
Sulpicians takeover 1663
Great Peace of Montreal 1701
British takeover 1760
Lachine Canal opened 1825
Burning of the Parliament 1849
Universal and Int'l Exhibition 1967
October Crisis 1970
Summer Olympics 1976
Other

Pre-European period
  • The area known today as Montreal had been inhabited by Algonquin, Huron, and Iroquois for some 2,000 years, while the oldest known artifact found in Montreal proper is about 2,000 years old.[3]
  • In the earliest oral history, the Algonquin migrated from the Atlantic coast, arriving, together with other Anicinàpek, at the "First Stopping Place" (Montréal). There, the Nation found a "turtle-shaped island" marked by miigis (cowrie) shells.
  • The Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee, were centred, from at least 1000 CE, in northern New York, and their influence extended into what is now southern Ontario and the Montreal area of modern Quebec.[4]
  • 1142 – The Iroquois Confederacy is, from oral tradition, said to have been formed in 1142 CE.[5]
  • In the modern Iroquois language, Montréal is called Tiohtià:ke. Other native languages, such as Algonquin, refer to it as Moniang.[6]
  • The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal.[7]

16th century
Main article: Jacques Cartier
  • 1535 – Jacques Cartier renames the Saint Lawrence River in honour of Saint Lawrence on August 10, the feast day of the Roman martyr. Prior to this, the Saint Lawrence River had been known by other names, including Hochelaga River and Canada River; Cartier penetrates far into the interior for the first time, via the river.
  • 1535 – September 19, Cartier starts his journey from Quebec City to Montreal, while in search of a passage to Asia.
  • 1535 – Cartier visits Hochelaga on October 2, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France.[8] He becomes the first European to reach the area now known as Montréal when he enters the village of Hochelega. Cartier estimates the population to be "over a thousand".
  • 1535 – October 3, Cartier climbs up the mountain on the Île de Montréal and names it Mont Royal; the name Montréal is generally thought to be derived from "Mont Royal", the name given to the mountain by Cartier in 1535.
  • 1556 – On his map of Hochelega, Italian geographer Giovanni Battista Ramusio writes "Monte Real" to designate Mont Royal.
  • 1580 – The St. Lawrence Iroquoians appear to have vacated the Saint Lawrence River Valley sometime prior to 1580.

17th century

1610–1629
1609 scene, including self-portrait, reprinted from Deffaite des Yroquois au Lac de Champlain (Defeat of the Iroquois of Lake Champlain), drawn by Samuel de Champlain (1613)

1630–1649
Jean de Lauzon
Louis d'Ailleboust de Coulonge
Jeanne Mance, Maisonneuve Monument

1650–1669
Louis Prud'homme
  • 1650 – The first commercial brewery in New France established in Montréal by Louis Prud'homme[11]
  • 1651 – On July 26, 200 Iroquois attacked the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal.
  • 1653 – The Great Recruitment, still better known as La Grande Recrue — Jeanne Mance redirects funds donated by Duchesse d’Aiguillon for the Hôtel-Dieu hospital to Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve for the recruitment of a hundred people; the contingent arrive at Ville-Marie on 16 November. Of the 95 who embark in Saint-Nazaire, 24 are massacred by Iroquois, four drown, and one burned when his house caught fire.[12]
  • 1653 – Congregation of Notre Dame founded.
  • 1657 – In mid-August, four priests (Gabriel de Queylus, Gabriel Souart, Antoine d'Allet, and Dominique Galinier) belonging to the Society of Saint-Sulpice in Paris land in Montreal to take over from the Jesuits.
  • 1657 – Marguerite Bourgeoys – the town's first teacher, who would found a community of teachers, opens the first school in a former stable on 25 November.
  • 1658 – Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve signs a contract with Jacques Archambault to have him dig "a well in Fort Ville-Marie in the middle of the Court or parade ground."
  • 1659 – Jeanne Mance brings three nuns from the Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph in France to act as staff at Hotel-Dieu.
  • 1663 – Charlevoix earthquake struck 5:30 p.m. on 5 February.
  • 1663 – March, seigniorial rights to the Île de Montréal are transferred by the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal to the Sulpicians. The Sulpicians become the seigneurs of Montréal, taking over from Chomedey de Maisonneuve.
  • 1663 – New France made a royal province.
  • 1663 - Emigration of approximately 800 young French women (to become known as the filles du roi, or King's daughters) to New France begins, under sponsorship of King Louis XIV of France, and continues through 1673.
  • 1665 – Fort Saint Louis (now Fort Chambly) built.
  • 1665 - Carignan-Salières Regiment rebuilds Fort Richelieu.
  • 1666 – According to the 1666 census of New France, Ville-Marie recorded 582 inhabitants. 24 of the 111 families living in Montréal had already been formed in France. A few houses, flanked by a windmill and fort, and connected by a footpath (now beneath Rue Saint-Paul), represented the beginnings of Ville-Marie.
  • 1666–75 – Fort Saint-Jean built.
  • 1667 – Almost from its inception, pelts were bartered in Montreal, which, after 1667, becomes a centre for trade. An annual market for pelts takes place in June on the common of Pointe-à-Callière.
  • 1668 – Maison Saint-Gabriel is bought to receive the King's Daughters. The current structure dates back to 1698, when it was rebuilt following a fire in 1693.
  • 1669 – Louis XIV ordered that men of New France between 16 and 60 years of age must perform mandatory military service; every parish would have its militia.

1670–1689
Louis Jolliet statue, Parliament Building (Quebec)
1672 street grid survey of Ville-Marie

1690s
  • 1690 – February 8: Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville leads more than 160 French Canadians and 100 Indian warriors to Schenectady, New York which they attack and burn in retaliation for the Lachine Massacre.
  • 1690 – The Citadel, Montreal built.
  • 1694 – Louis Tantouin de la Touche is named subdelegate of the intendant.
  • 1694 – Frères Hospitaliers de la Croix et de Saint-Joseph, known after their founder as the Frères Charon, founded.
  • 1694 – Louis-Hector de Callière is awarded the cross of Saint-Louis. During his years as governor of Montreal, the Iroquois war has enhanced the importance of that position.
  • 1694 – François Vachon de Belmont completes the mission on the slopes of Mount Royal. Its circular stone fortress towers still stand on the grounds of the Grand Seminary on Sherbrooke Street.
  • 1695 – Nicolas Perrot brings the Miami, Sauk, Menominee, Potawatomi and Fox chiefs to Montreal at the governor's request, regarding war with the Iroquois.
  • 1695 – Saint-Charles-Sur-Richelieu is granted to Zacharie-François Hertel, Sieur de la Fresnière (March 1).
  • 1696 – Fire at Fort de la Montagne. The Hurons are transferred to Fort Lorette.
  • 1696 – Jacques Le Ber is ennobled.
  • 1698 – A chapel dedicated to St. Anne is founded at the south end of Murray street. Le Quartier Ste-Anne becomes infamous as a den of licentiousness, and the clergy restricts the sale of liquor around the chapel.
  • 1698 – Bishop Saint-Vallier, returning from France, accompanies two English gentlemen, one of them a Protestant minister, on a visit to Jeanne Le Ber.
  • 1700 – At the turn of the 18th century Montreal's population is about 1,500 souls, which gradually grows to about 7,500 in the year 1760, at the time of the British conquest.
  • 1700 – Gédéon de Catalogne is employed by the Sulpicians in October to dig the Lachine Canal.
  • 1700–31 – François Vachon de Belmont is the fifth superior of the Montreal Sulpicians.

18th century

1701–1719
  • 1701 – August 4, The Great Peace of Montreal : The French and Native Americans from across the continent conclude a historic alliance, at Pointe-à-Callière.
  • 1705 – Montreal is now the official name for the city formerly named Ville-Marie.
  • 1705 – Place Royale is designated as a marketplace.
  • 1706 – After 1706, deforestation along the riverbank is advanced enough that the opening of a road along the lake, from La Présentation to the tip of the Île de Montréal, is decreed.
  • 1709 – Slavery becomes legal in New France.
  • 1711 – The court orders the construction of a stone wall around the city.
  • 1713 – Jurisdiction of the Government of Montreal begins to the west of Maskinongé, Quebec and Yamaska and ends at the extremity of the inhabited area, namely fort Saint-Jean, Châteauguay and Vaudreuil.
  • 1713 – Michel Bégon decides to erect stone fortifications. The wooden walls are replaced with stone due to the threat of British attack.
  • 1713 – Pointe-Claire parish is first established in the name of St. Francis of Sales and dedicated to St. Joachim the following year.
  • 1717–1744 – Stone fortifications were erected according to plans by the architect Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry. The fortifications correspond roughly to the present-day limits of Old Montreal, with Rue Berri to the east, Rue de la Commune to the south, Rue McGill to the west, and Ruelle de la Fortification to the north.
  • 1719 – Pointe-aux-Trembles windmill is built at the corner of Notre-Dame Street and Third Avenue. Its three storeys make it the tallest windmill in Quebec that still stands.

1720–1739
  • 1721 – The great fire. New wood constructions are prohibited inside city limits.
  • 1726 – A dam is built to link the river bank to the Île de la Visitation – one of the most impressive feats of civil engineering of the French regime. It remains in operation until 1960.
  • 1731 – Orchards covered 90 arpents (76 acres; 31 ha) on the Île de Montréal, on the side of the mountain and around town. From 1731 to 1781, the surface area occupied by the orchards rise from 90 to 402 arpents (76 to 340 acres; 31 to 137 ha).
  • 1732 – Montreal earthquake at 11:00 a.m. on September 16.
  • 1734 – The construction of Fort St. Frédéric begins.
  • 1734 – Marie-Joseph Angélique (a slave owned by Thérèse de Couagne) is tried and convicted of setting fire to her owner's home, burning much of what is now referred to as Old Montreal.
  • 1737 – Inauguration of the Chemin du Roy on the North Shore (Laval) between Montréal and Quebec City. The road's construction takes 4 years and requires the construction of 13 bridges. After its completion, people can travel from one city to the other in 4 days.
  • 1737 – Plague Epidemic.
  • 1738 – Marie-Marguerite d'Youville founds the Grey Nuns. In 1747, she becomes director of the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal.

1740–1759
Henri-Marie Dubreil de Pontbriand

1760–1779

1780–1800
  • 1783 – The North West Company of Montreal is officially created.
  • 1783 – A lottery is started in Montreal to defray the cost of a new jail.
  • 1783 – Fleury Mesplet gets out of prison in September.
  • 1785 – Fleury Mesplet founds the newspaper The Montreal Gazette / Gazette de Montréal on August 28.
  • 1785 – In February, the Beaver Club is formed by members of the North West Company.
  • 1785 – A dark day on October 10. Candles are lighted at noon.
  • 1785 – Maison Papineau (or Maison John-Campbell) is built at 440 Bonsecours Street. It will be modified in 1831 and 1965.
  • 1786 – John Molson founds the Molson Brewery.
  • 1786 – Allen's Company of Comedians is the first professional theatre company to perform in the city.
  • 1787 – Prince William Henry, later William IV, arrives at Montreal on September 8.
  • 1787–1811 – John Reid is justice of the peace for the district of Montreal, which governs Montreal's affairs.
  • 1788 – The Gazette, formerly a French journal, appears in English.
  • 1789 – Lord Grenville proposes that land in Upper Canada be held in free and common soccage, and that the tenure of Lower Canadian lands be optional with the inhabitants.
  • 1789 – May 4 – The justices of the peace, who govern Montreal's affairs, order "the price and assize of bread, for this month" to be: "the white loaf of 4lbs. at 13d., or 30 sous", etc., and that bakers of the city and suburbs do conform thereto, and mark their bread with their initials.
  • 1789 – Christ Church opens for service on December 20.
  • 1791 – Edmund Burke supports the proposed constitution for Canada, saying that "To attempt to amalgamate two populations, composed of races of men diverse in language, laws and habitudes, is complete absurdity. Let the proposed constitution be founded on man's nature, the only solid basis for an enduring government."
  • 1792 – December 20 – a fortnightly mail is established between Canada and the United States.
  • 1792 – Opening of the first post office in Montreal on 20 December.
  • 1793 – Importation of slaves into Canada is prohibited on July 9.
  • 1799 – Mary Griffin obtains the lease to Griffintown from a business associate of Thomas McCord.
  • 1799 – The census of 1799 lists 9,000 inhabitants while that of 1761 lists 5,500.
  • 1799 – Citizens of Montreal petition to secure master's rights over slaves
  • 1799 – A measure respecting slavery in Lower Canada does not pass.
  • 1799 – Of twenty-one members of Council, in Lower Canada, six are French Canadians.
  • 1799 – The Court House is completed.
  • 1799 – January 3 – Parliament appropriates $5,000 for a new Montreal Court House.
  • 1800 – Alexander Skakel moves from Quebec City to Montreal and establishes the Classical and Mathematical School. This was the principal educational institution for the English-speaking population.
  • 1800 – Thomas Walker is elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Montreal County.
  • 1800 – Thomas Porteous (merchant) purchases the seigneury of Terrebonne.

19th century

1801–1819
  • 1802 The first unofficial cavalry corps is formed in Montreal.
  • 1803–15 – With the Napoleonic Wars comes a demand for large amounts of squared timber for shipbuilding. Montreal is able to fulfil the demand, and this expansion of the city's economic base is reflected in a rise in population to 26,154 by the year 1825.
  • 1804–17 – The demolition of Montreal's fortifications takes 13 years, from 1804 to 1817.
  • 1805 – Thomas McCord returns to Montreal and recovers his land, which has been divided by Mary Griffin into streets and lots. The name Griffintown sticks.
  • 1805 – Thomas Porteous (merchant) opens a store at Sainte-Thérèse-de-Blainville, where he also produces potash.
  • 1807 – May – The Canadian Courant and Montreal Advertiser are first issued; owner and editor: Nahum Mower.
  • 1807 – The brothers James and Charles Brown begin publishing the Canadian Gazette/Gazette canadienne in July.
  • 1807 – An Act provides for a new market house in Montreal.
  • 1808 – In early 1808, sick and in debt, Edward Edwards sells the Montreal Gazette to the Browns, who the following month announce their plan to revive it.
  • 1808 – Importation of slaves is banned.
  • 1808 – July 12 – 5 privates of the 100th Regiment, Montreal, are charged with desertion and are transported as felons to New South Wales for 7 years, afterwards to serve as soldiers in that colony.
  • 1808-11 – A new prison is built.
  • 1809 – August 17 – The foundation of Nelson's Column is laid in Montreal. Installed on Place Jacques-Cartier, this is the second monument to be erected in Montreal.
  • 1809 – November 3 – John Molson's steamboat PS Accommodation sails from Montreal to Quebec. It is 85 feet over all, has a 6 horse-power engine, makes the distance in 36 hours, but stops at night and reaches Quebec on the 6th. The PS Accommodation is the second steamboat in America and probably in the world. The fare for an adult is £2.10s.od =$10.
  • 1810 – John Jacob Astor founds the Pacific Fur Company. (His great-grandson, John Jacob Astor IV died on the RMS Titanic).
  • 1811 – Founding of the newspaper the Montreal Herald by William Grey and Mungo Kay, founders, owners and publishers.
  • 1812 – June 18 – The United States declares war against Great Britain over territorial disputes in Canada (War of 1812).
  • 1812 – July 11 – U.S. troops invade Canada.
  • 1814 – The Treaty of Ghent ends the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain.
  • 1815 - John Molson builds the luxurious Mansion House Hotel on Rue St. Paul.
  • 1815 – March – Parliament votes $25,000 for Lachine Canal.
  • 1816 – Population of Montreal is about 16,000.
  • 1816 – The National School is opened.
  • 1816 – May 14 – Thomas A. Turner and Robert Armour, Esq., are appointed commissioners for the improvement of internal navigation between Montreal and Lachine, under the Provincial Act 48 George III,c. 19.
  • 1816-18 – John Coape Sherbrooke is the Governor General of British North America; Sherbrooke Street and the town of Sherbrooke later named after him.
  • 1817 – The Bank of Montreal begins operations in June. Mary Griffin's husband, Robert, is the first clerk.
  • 1817 – Guy Street is named on August 30 for Étienne Guy, a notary who gave the city the land for the street.
  • 1818 – Saint Helen's Island was purchased by the British government. Fort de l'Île Sainte-Hélène was built on the island as defences for the city, in consequence of the War of 1812.
  • 1819 – Darkness at noon on November 9.

1820–1839
  • 1821 – The Earl of Dalhousie presents Dalhousie Square to Montreal
  • 1821 – March 31 – McGill University established by Royal Charter.
  • 1821 – Beginning of Lachine Canal excavations on July 17.
  • 1821 – The British garrison starts the construction of the Fort de l'Île Sainte-Hélène. It is completed in 1823 and partially rebuilt in 1863 after a fire as a preventive measure against an eventual American attack.
  • 1822 – The first iron bridge is erected on March 8.
  • 1822 – May 1 – The Montreal General Hospital building is completed.
  • 1822 – In September, a whale (42 feet 8 inches in length, 6 feet across the back, and 7 feet deep) finds its way up the Saint Lawrence River.
  • 1824 – Recollet Convent opens as a school for Irish children.
  • 1824 – First Saint Patrick's Day Parade organized on March 17.
  • 1824 – Construction on the new Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal) begins, designed by New York architect James O'Donnell, an Irish Protestant.
  • 1825 – The Lachine Canal is opened, and new industries spring up in the St. Antoine ward area as a direct outcome of the easier transport of goods. Shipping immediately increases and, along with the destruction of the city walls, Montreal comes to be an economic, rather than military, city. Gradually, the city's harbour facilities expand. In 1830 the wharves are rudimentary and stretched for only a short distance along De la Commune Street.
  • 1825 – First permanent theatre building in Montreal, Theatre Royal, is built by John Molson to attract bigger names to the city, which lacked such a venue. It costs the magnate $30,000. The building is demolished in 1844 and the site was used for the Bonsecours Market. Another venue, also called Theatre Royal, was built not far away in Old Montreal; this building, too, no longer exists.
  • 1826–37 and 1842–99 – La Minerve published.
  • 1827 – Fleming windmill (13, avenue Strathyre) built.
  • 1829 – Most of Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal) is now completed. Work continues for more than a decade on the two bell towers. A new skyline begins to develop.
  • 1830 – The Montreal harbour is officially incorporated.
  • 1831 – Alexis de Tocqueville visits Montreal in August–September.
  • 1832 – Charter of incorporation for the city of Montreal (27,000 inhabitants).
Acte pour incorporer la Cité de Montréal

1840–1859
  • 1840 – The Act of Union combines Lower Canada and Upper Canada.
  • 1840 – August 19 – Lachine Rapids first navigated in a steamboat.
  • 1841 – There are now at least 6,500 Irish Catholics in Montreal. Most of the immigrants to Montreal settle in Griffintown, particularly in the area west of McGill Street (Montreal). In this district, the area between the Lachine Railroad and the Lachine Canal becomes a slum. Much like the French slums of Hochelaga Maisonneuve to the east.
  • 1841 – West Bell Tower of Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal), called "Perseverance" and housing the 10,900 kg bell "Le Gros Bourdon" / "Jean-Baptiste", completed.
  • 1842 – In May, Charles Dickens appears at Theatre Royal, in Montreal, surrounded by local talent. While Dickens is in Montreal he produces, directs and acts in three plays.
  • 1843 – The Cornwall Canal and the Chambly Canal are opened.
  • 1843 – Survey of the boundary between the U.S. and Canada is begun.
  • 1843 – Montreal Police Service established on March 15.
  • 1843 – The first labour strike in Canada occurs. The Lachine Canal was widened in the 1840s under conditions of bitter conflict between contractors and Irish labourers.
  • 1843 – After completion of the East Bell Tower of Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal), called "Temperance" and housing a ten-bell carillon, Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal) is finally completed.
  • 1843 – Superior Joseph-Vincent Quiblier authorizes construction of St. Patrick's Church for the city's English-speaking Roman Catholics.
  • 1843 – Foundation of the religious congregation of the Sisters of Providence by Émilie Gamelin.
  • 1843 – Foundation of the religious congregation Saints-Noms-de-Jésus-et-de-Marie.
  • 1844 – Government moves from Kingston to Montreal.
  • 1844 – The seat of the government of Canada East and Canada West is moved from Kingston to Montréal.
  • 1844 – Église Sainte-Geneviève (Montréal) completed.
  • 1845 – Ottawa Hotel, Montreal built.
  • 1845 – Morgan's store opens.
  • 1846 – Foundation of the Montreal City and District Savings Bank, now known as the Laurentian Bank.
  • 1847 – The Montreal Telegraph Company founded. In 1850, the year prior to Hugh Allan's presidency, Montreal Telegraph Co operated merely 500 miles of line, all in the province of Canada.
  • 1847 – Telegraph service between Montréal and Toronto, between Montréal and Quebec City, and between Montréal and New York City established.
  • 1847 – Bonsecours Market opened. It housed City Hall between 1852 and 1878.
  • 1847 – The railway from Montreal to Lachine is opened.
  • 1847 – Desbarats & Derbyshire (Georges-Édouard Desbarats and Stewart Derbyshire) start a glass factory at Vaudreuil.
  • 1847 – The first mass is celebrated in St. Patrick's Basilica on St. Patrick's Day, March 17.
  • 1847 – September 1 – Lord Elgin visits the fever sheds at Windmill Point.
  • 1847 – October 23 – 65 immigrants die in a week at Windmill Point.
  • 1847 – November 1–9, 634 deaths of mostly Irish immigrants since January 1.
  • 1847 – November – Death of John Easton Mills, mayor of Montreal, as he tends the sick in the fever sheds
  • 1847–48 – In all, between 3,500 and 6,000 Irish immigrants die of the Typhus epidemic of 1847 at Windmill Point.
  • 1848 – January 2 – Wellington and Commissioners streets flooded.
  • 1848 – July 5 – Run on the Savings Bank, Montreal, followed by re-deposit.
  • 1848 – Foundation of the religious congregation of Sisters of Mercy.
  • 1849 – Burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal.
  • 1849 – Beauharnois Canal is opened.
  • 1849 – April 25 – For sanctioning the Rebellion Losses Bill, Lord Elgin is mobbed and the Parliament House in Montreal is burned. Parliament will now sit alternately in Quebec and Toronto.
  • 1850 – Anglican Diocese of Montreal established.
  • 1850 – Opening of the Ann Street School.
  • 1850 – Beginning of the dredging of the St. Lawrence to allow seagoing ships to reach to Montreal.
  • 1851 – Grand Trunk Railway Company formed.
  • 1851 – November 19 – First YMCA on the continent opened in Montreal.
  • 1851–53 – Église Saint-Pierre-Apôtre de Montréal built.
  • 1852 – Laval University is opened.
  • 1852 – July 8 – Beginning of Great Fire of 1852, which burns 11,000 houses in Montreal; 20% of the eastern side of the city is devastated.
  • 1853 – The first screw steamer up the Saint Lawrence River arrives from Liverpool. Canadian Steam Navigation Company runs regular services from Liverpool and Glasgow to Quebec City and Montreal, twice a month in summer and once a month in winter.
  • 1853 – May 23 – First charter for steamers from Montreal to Great Britain.
  • 1853 – June 9 – Alessandro Gavazzi's anticlerical speeches at Montreal's First Congregational Church (Zion Church) spark riots that kill 40 people.
  • 1853 – June 18 – The Grand Trunk Railway opens to Portland. Portland becomes the primary ice-free winter seaport for Canadian exports.
  • 1853 – July 22 – Pier No.1 of the Victoria Bridge is begun.
  • 1853 – Notre-Dame-de-Grâce built.
  • 1854 – Villa Maria founded.
  • 1854 – July – Six Nations Indians offer to fight the Queen's enemies anywhere
  • 1854 – July 20 – The first stone of the Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence is laid.
  • 1854 – August 2 – First coffer-dam of Victoria Bridge ready for masonry.
  • 1854 – October 16 – Twenty-one vessels in port at Montreal.
  • 1854 – St. Ann's Church is consecrated, becoming the centre of Griffintown life; it opens on December 8 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception) and was designed by John Ostell. The Sulpicians donated the land for the church and provided the Irish-born pastors: Father Michael O'Brien, Father Michael O'Farrell and Father James Hogan (priest 1867–1884). Some residents of Griffintown claim that St. Ann's ("down the hill") was actually more of a center for the Irish in Montreal than St. Patrick's Basilica, Montreal's ("up the hill") was, since most of the city's Irish lived in Griffintown. It will be demolished in 1970.
  • 1854 – Cholera kills more than 1,000 citizens.
  • 1854 – Canada Steamship Lines Inc. established.
  • 1855 – The Redpath Sugar Refinery opens.
  • 1855 – Hugh Allan and Andrew Allan establish the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company, with four steamships fortnightly.
  • 1855 – October 19 – G.T. Railway is open to Brockville.
  • 1856 – Montreal's Water Works made ready for use
  • 1856 – The Allan's four steamships, between Montreal and Liverpool bring 3,031 passengers, Westward (average voyage 13 days).
  • 1856 – September 16 – Balloon ascension from Griffintown, in the "Canada"
  • 1856 – The Grand Trunk Railway begins through passenger service between Montreal and Toronto on October 27 with great celebrations being held in Kingston to celebrate this accomplishment.
  • 1856 – December 10 – Burning of Christ Church Cathedral (Montreal).
  • 1857 – June 13–26 ocean steamships at Montreal today
  • 1857 – June 26 – Fire on board the steamer "Montreal" en route from Quebec to Montreal – 253 lives lost, including Stephen C. Phillips.
  • 1857 – September 7 – 500 of the 39th Regiment leave Montreal, possibly for the Crimea.
  • 1857 – Saint-Enfant-Jésus du Mile-End Church completed.
  • 1857 – The lower part of Griffintown entirely submerged by river flooding.
  • 1857–2000 – Seagram opens. The former Seagram headquarters in Montreal now belongs to McGill University under the name Martlet House.
  • 1858 – Formation of the Royal Canadian Regiment.
  • 1858 – January 27 – The Queen names Ottawa the seat of government
  • 1858 – February 20 – In Griffintown, beds stand in three feet of water
  • 1858 – Riots and street fights run rampant through Griffintown on election day when D'Arcy McGee is chosen to represent the Montreal West riding, including Griffintown, in the federal government.
  • 1859 – Mgr Ignace Bourget condemns the Institut canadien de Montréal, excommunicating its members, and on July 7, 1869, Rome adds the institute's Annuaire for the year 1868 to the Catholic Church's Index of prohibited books.
  • 1859 – December 12 – The Victoria Bridge opens.
  • 1859 – December 17 – The first passenger train passes through the Victoria Bridge.
  • 1859 – The Black Rock is erected by canal workers on Bridge St. to honour the Windmill Point victims of cholera.
  • 1859 – Foundation of the National Bank of Canada.

1860–1879
  • 1860 – Victoria Square, Montreal opens.
  • 1860 – February 20 – The wreck of the Allan Line steamship SS Hungarian with a number of Montrealers on board.
  • 1860 – May – Crystal Palace built for the Montreal Industrial Exhibition of 1860.
  • 1860 – August 25 – The Prince of Wales visits Montreal.
  • 1860 – August 25 – Opening of the Victoria Railway Bridge.
  • 1860 – November 27 – Opening of the Christ Church Cathedral (Montreal).
  • 1861 – The street horsecar is introduced as public transportation on 27 November. It was operated by Montreal City Passenger Railway Company 1861–1886.
  • 1861 – Griffintown again flooded.
  • 1861 – January – British troops ordered to Canada.
  • 1861 – January 18 – A meeting in Montreal, respecting extradition of John Anderson, a slave charged with murder, is addressed by Hon. Messrs.
  • 1861 – February – John Anderson not to be surrendered without instructions from England.
  • 1861 – April 15 – Great inundation at Montreal.
  • 1861 – June 13 – Prince Alfred visits Montreal.
  • 1861 – June 6 – Formation of the Canada Presbyterian Church by fusion of the Free Church and the United Presbyterian body.
  • 1861 – December – Six steamers chartered to bring troops to Canada.
  • 1861 – St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church (Montreal) founded.
  • 1862 – The Montreal Corn Exchange Association is organized.
  • 1862 – Montreal Sailor's Institute founded.
  • 1862 – Ocean steamers trading to Montreal have increased from 5,545 tons in 1854, to 62,912; other ocean vessels from 58,416 to 195,348 tons.
  • 1862 – January – Military companies are organizing throughout Canada.
  • 1862 – January 4 – Victoria Bridge is guarded to prevent its destruction, threatened from the USA.
  • 1862 – April 2 – By-law to establish a Montreal Fire Department.
  • 1862 – May 20 – The Montreal Water Works are commenced.
  • 1863 – Bounties for USA recruits and substitutes often reach $2,000, inducing kidnapping and contraventions of the British Foreign Enlistment Act, for which heavy bail is exacted.
  • 1863 – Fire Alarm established on January 19.
  • 1863 – May 12 – Protestant House of Refuge in Montreal incorporated.
  • 1863 – Art Association of Montreal incorporated.
  • 1864 – The Montreal City Passenger Railway Company has 10 miles of track, $240,000 paid capital and carries 1,485,725 passengers at 5 cents each.
  • 1864 – In October, delegates from across British North America developed the terms for Confederation at a three-week conference in Quebec City. After the Quebec Conference, there remained the task of selling Confederation to the citizens.
  • 1864 – November 10 – Continued examination of raiders at Montreal.
  • 1865 – The Parliament of Upper Canada and Lower Canada favors Confederation.
  • 1865 – The Montreal Board of Trade Building erected in 1855 is burned.
  • 1865 – July 11–14 – Convention at Detroit to promote a new Reciprocity treaty. Montrealers attend, but only to give desired information. The Convention passes resolutions favouring a new Reciprocity treaty.
  • 1865 – December 3 – Church of the Gesu opened. It was built and designed by Irish architect Patrick Keely.
  • 1866 – Molson Bank Building, Montreal built.
  • 1866 – The Montreal Glass Co., at Hudson, makes chimneys, bottles and insulators.
  • 1866 – March 13 – The Prince of Wales Regiment and Battery of Artillery leave Montreal to repel Fenian invaders.
  • 1866 – March 17 – The Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty terminates
  • 1866 – July 18 – The 47th Regiment reaches Montreal from Kingston.
  • 1866 – First successful transatlantic telegraph cable is laid.
  • 1867 – Canada East becomes the Province of Quebec.
  • 1867 – March – Cornerstone of St. Patrick's Hall, Montreal, laid
  • 1867 – July 1 – The Dominion of Canada is formed by the confederation of several provinces.
  • 1868 – Thomas D'Arcy McGee is assassinated by pistol shot in April. He is given a state funeral in Ottawa and interred in the Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges. Patrick J. Whelan, a Fenian sympathizer, is accused, tried, convicted, and hanged for the crime.
  • 1869 – First Transcontinental Railroad completed on May 10.
  • 1869 – Red River Rebellion.
  • 1869 – Collège Notre-Dame du Sacré-Cœur established.
  • 1869 – Montreal Star founded.
  • 1870 – Second Fenian Raid
  • 1872 – Montreal Exchange created.
  • 1872 – Montreal Royals founded.
  • 1872–78 – Montreal City Hall is built.
  • 1872 – November 21, Lord Dufferin, the Governor-General, formally presents the statue of Queen Victoria in Victoria Square to the city.
  • 1873–82 – Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes de Montréal built.
  • 1874 – Saint Helen's Island becomes a fashionable park.
  • 1874 – Shaughnessy House built for Duncan McIntyre by architect William T. Thomas. McIntyre sells it to William Van Horne who in turn sells it to Thomas Shaughnessy. The house is declared a national historic site in 1974 and is now part of the Canadian Centre for Architecture.
  • 1875 – September 2 – The Guibord case occasions some ill feeling in Montreal, but by the energetic action of Dr. William Hales Hingston, the Mayor, there are no riots.
  • 1875 – Hockey, in the form known today, is first played in Montreal in 1875, according to rules devised by James George Aylwin Creighton, a McGill University student.
  • 1875 – June 15 – Formation of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
  • 1875 – Montreal Academy of Music inaugurated.
  • 1875 – Montreal and New York City are now linked by train.
  • 1876 – Dorchester Square opened.
  • 1876 – Place du Canada opened.
  • 1876 – Inauguration of Mount Royal Park on May 24.
  • 1877 – Thomas George Roddick introduces Lister's antiseptic methods to the Montreal General Hospital.
  • 1877 – The first telephone conversation in Quebec.
  • 1878 – Université de Montréal is established.
  • 1878 – Windsor Hotel completed.
  • 1876 – Mount Royal Park opened.
  • 1879 – Mary Gallagher is murdered by jealous rival Susan Kennedy on June 27. It is a sensational story. It's said Gallagher's ghost returns every seven years to haunt Griffintown.
  • 1879 – In a strange turn of events, Michael Flanagan, cleared of all charges regarding the death of Mary Gallagher, is loading barges in the Wellington Basin when he falls and drowns on December 5, the very same day Susan Kennedy was supposed to be hanged.

1880–1900
Monument Maisonneuve
  • 1895 – The monument in memory of Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, by artist Louis-Philippe Hébert, was unveiled on July 1 on Place d'Armes.
  • 1896 – Motion pictures are first shown in Canada for the first time at the Palace Theatre at 972 St. Lawrence, corner Viger, on June 27.
  • 1897 – Lion of Belfort (Montreal) unveiled on May 24.
  • 1897 – A survey of living conditions is conducted by Mr. Herbert Brown Ames. He points out the discrepancy in living conditions between wealthy areas of Montreal ('the upper city') and the areas inhabited by the working class ('the city below the hill'): "The sanitary accommodation of 'the city below the hill' is a disgrace to any nineteenth century city on this or any other continent. I presume there is hardly a house in all the upper city without modern plumbing, and yet in the lower city not less than half the homes have indoor water-closet privileges. In Griffintown only one home in four is suitably equipped, beyond the canal (in Pointe-Saint-Charles) it is but little better. Our city by-law prohibits the erection of further out-door closets, but it contains no provision for eradicating those already in use."
  • 1897 – Canadian Car and Foundry's history goes back to 1897, but the main company is established in 1909 from an amalgamation of several companies and later becomes part of Hawker Siddeley Canada through the purchase of Avro Canada in the late 1950s.
  • 1898 – Place Viger constructed.
  • 1898 – Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal founded on June 1.
  • 1898–1903 – Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church built.
  • 1899 – The Montreal Shamrocks win the Stanley Cup.
  • 1899 – Incorporation of Loyola College on March 10.
  • 1899 – October 30 – The First Canadian Contingent of the Boer War sets sail to South Africa on the SS Sardinian of the Allan Line, bearing Canada's initial quota of fighting men, including the men of "E Company" of Montreal.
  • 1899 – In the afternoon of November 21, Montrealers see their first car. At the wheel of this first steam-powered automobile is Ucal-Henri Dandurand, accompanied by Mayor Raymond Préfontaine. They descend steep Côte du Beaver Hall without difficulty and climb back up through the streets in the same fashion.
  • 1899 – Construction of a dam in the Old Port of Montreal: there will be no more flooding.
  • 1900 – The Montreal Shamrocks win the Stanley Cup.

20th century

1901–1919

1920–1939

1940–1959

1960–1979

1980–1999

21st century

2001–2019
  • 2001 – Reorganization of Montreal.
  • 2001 – According to Statistics Canada, in 2001,[27] the city of Montreal has 1,583,590 inhabitants.
  • 2001 - Six Flags acquires La Ronde.
  • 2002 – Montreal is merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Île de Montréal on January 1. The merger creates a unified city covering the entire Île de Montréal.
  • 2002 – Official reopening of the Lachine Canal exclusively for pleasure boating, May 17.
  • 2002 – Concordia University Netanyahu riot, September 9.
  • 2004 – Several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of Île de Montréal, vote to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June.
  • 2004 – Passenger operations through Montréal-Mirabel International Airport cease on October 31.
  • 2005 – Montreal hosts the FINA World Aquatic Championships
  • 2006 – The demerger becomes effective January 1. Fifteen municipalities remain on the island.
  • 2006 – 2006 World Outgames take place from July 26 to August 5.
  • 2006 – Declaration of Montreal on July 29.
  • 2006 – Dawson College shooting on September 13. Kimveer Gill kills one student and wounds nineteen others before being winged by a police sniper and committing suicide.
  • 2006 – De la Concorde overpass collapse on September 30.
  • 2007 – Montreal is host to a series of preliminary games of the FIFA U-20 World Cup
  • 2009 – BIXI launched in May.
  • 2011 – 2011 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts theft. On two occasions in September and October, a thief steals a small antiquity from the museum
  • 2012 – Charbonneau Commission begins examining corruption in Montreal civic governance and collusion among major engineering and construction firms bidding for municipal contracts.
  • 2012 – Gérald Tremblay steps down as mayor in November after allegations of serious irregularities in party financing. Michael Applebaum becomes interim mayor until municipal elections in November 2013
  • 2013 – Michael Applebaum is arrested and indicted with 14 charges including fraud and corruption. He steps down. City councillors elect Laurent Blanchard to serve as mayor for the four months remaining before the municipal elections.
  • 2013 – Denis Coderre elected mayor of Montreal
  • 2015 – Some matches of the FIFA Women's World Cup are held in Montreal at the Olympic stadium.
  • 2017 – Montreal celebrated its 375th anniversary
  • 2017 – Valérie Plante, Montreal's 45th and first female mayor, elected.

See also

References
  1. Pariona, Amber (1 June 2018). "The Largest Cities in Canada". WorldAtlas.com. World Atlas. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  2. Reza, Zainab (1 August 2017). "The Largest Francophone Cities in the World". WorldAtlas.com. World Atlas. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  3. "Place Royale and the Amerindian presence". Société de développement de Montréal. September 2001. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
  4. The Canadian Encyclopedia, Iroquois
  5. Bruce E. Johanson, Dating the Iroquois Confederacy
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-05-31. Retrieved 2008-05-31.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. Tremblay, Roland (2006). The Saint Lawrence Iroquoians. Corn People. Montreal, Qc: Les Éditions de l'Homme.
  8. "Jacques Cartier: New Land for the French King". Pathfinders & Passageways. Archived from the original on 2007-02-16. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  9. (in French) "La Première messe sur île de Montréal - 24 juin 1615" Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  10. "Ontario's Pioneer Priest" by John J. O'Gorman Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  11. Sneath, Allen Winn (2001). ""Brewing in the New Land"". Brewed in Canada. Toronto and Oxford: The Dundurn Group. pp. 21–22.
  12. Auger, Roland (1955). La Grande Recrue de 1653. Publications de la Société généalogique canadienne-française; Montreal.
  13. NRC. "New France circa 1740 Archived 2007-12-10 at the Wayback Machine", in The Atlas of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, 2003-10-06. Retrieved August 3, 2008.
  14. Le Quebec et Bourgues
  15. Societe d'Histoire de la Region de Terrebonne
  16. Theatre and Politics in Modern Quebec (1989) by Elaine Nardoccio
  17. Smith (1907), vol 1, p. 474
  18. Shelton, pp. 122–127
  19. Stanley, p. 131
  20. Plague A Story of Smallpox in Montreal Michael Bliss, 1991, accessed 8 May 2020
  21. Ovation given by Montreal The Montreal Gazette - Jul 19, 1938, accessed 8 May 2020
  22. "CRTC Origins". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 2008-09-05. Archived from the original on 2012-01-10. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
  23. Census of Canada, 1941, Census of Canada, 1951
  24. Census of Canada, 1961
  25. Census of Canada, 1971
  26. "A Short History of Toronto". City of Toronto. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
  27. Statistics Canada (2002). "Community Highlights for Montréal". Retrieved 2007-02-22.
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