Bonaventure Station was the name of a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, Canada. Its name was later adopted by a commercial development (

Place Bonaventure Place Bonaventure () is an office, exhibition, and hotel complex in Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, adjacent to the city's Central Station. At in size, Place Bonaventure was the second-largest commercial building in the world at the time of i ...

) and a metro station (

Bonaventure station Bonaventure station () is a Montreal Metro station in the borough of Ville-Marie, Montreal, Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and serves the Line 2 Orange (Montreal Metro), ...

Grand Trunk Railway

Named for its location on Saint Bonaventure Street, now

Saint Jacques Street Saint Jacques Street (, ), or St. James Street, is a major street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, running from Old Montreal westward to Lachine. In 1818 the Bank of Montreal built its headquarters on St James, which began the development of the ...

, the first Bonaventure Station was built in 1847 as the main terminal for the Montreal and Lachine Railway. In 1862, the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...

(GTR) made an agreement to share the station, thereby obtaining a more centrally located Montreal terminal than their existing station near the Victoria Bridge approach. The GTR leased the Montreal and Lachine Railway in 1864 and purchased it outright in 1867, thus becoming owner of the station. Several other railways also used Bonaventure Station over the years, though it was not referred to as a

union station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

. Notably, the

Intercolonial Railway The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canada, Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also compl ...

obtained running rights over the Grand Trunk into Montreal at the end of the 1880s; Bonaventure Station thus became its western terminal for service to and from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and other points in the Maritimes (see ''Ocean Limited''). In 1886–1888, a new, larger Bonaventure station building was built on the same site, to the plans of architect Thomas Seaton Scott in the

Second Empire style Second Empire style, also known as the Napoleon III style, is a highly Eclecticism in architecture, eclectic style of architecture and decorative arts originating in the Second French Empire. It was characterized by elements of many differe ...

. As with the similar 1873 Toronto Union Station, the Grand Trunk's Chief Engineer E. P. Hannaford also contributed to the project. During the railway boom from the 1880s to the early 1910s, railways considered their terminal stations to be "prestige projects". Around the time construction began on the new Bonaventure Station, the competing

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

(CPR) started work just two blocks away on Windsor Station, an imposing Richardsonian structure opened in 1889. As the CPR began work on expanding Windsor Station in 1900, the GTR, not to be outdone, seriously considered building a replacement for Bonaventure Station. A design for a new station was commissioned from Chicago architects Charles S. Frost and Albert Hoyt Granger. In the end, however, the new station was never built as the GTR began to focus on its Grand Trunk Pacific transcontinental railway project. On March 1, 1916, a fire broke out in the GTR's Bonaventure Station. Firemen from Fire Station No. 3 on Ottawa Street arrived fast enough to save most of the building from complete destruction. The GTR was in a dire financial situation and could only replace the original ornate roof with a flat one.

Canadian National Railways

In 1910, the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonto ...

(CNoR) came to town and secretly purchased three entire blocks of downtown Montreal property for a major terminal and real estate development to coincide with the construction of its Mount Royal Tunnel. A temporary terminal facility was constructed to coincide with the tunnel project; however, financial difficulties at CNoR resulting from declining traffic levels following the commencement of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

delayed completion. In September 1918 CNoR went bankrupt and was nationalized by the federal government, merging the company with Canadian Government Railways that December to form

Canadian National Railways The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

(CNR). GTR faced similar financial problems and by 1923 was also absorbed into the Canadian National Railways. As the two systems were not conveniently interconnected, CNR continued to use both the GTR's Bonaventure Station and the temporary CNoR station at the southern end of the Mount Royal Tunnel line; however it was clear that the new railway required a combined central terminal in Montreal. In 1929, six years after absorbing GTR, Parliament approved the "Canadian National Montreal Terminals Act, 1929" which began the process of consolidating and rationalizing terminal trackage in the Montreal area. The Depression, along with a government-imposed moratorium on the project, caused major delays. Almost 15 years later on July 14, 1943, CNR finally opened

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

on the former CNoR lands. The temporary CNoR station was then closed. Bonaventure Station remained in use for a few commuter trains after the opening of Central Station. On August 23, 1948, an explosion followed by a massive fire destroyed most of the Bonaventure Station's freight yards and impeded rail access to the station building. All remaining passenger service was then moved to Central Station. Bonaventure Station was demolished in November 1952.

Montreal Metro

The lands acquired by CNoR in the early part of the 20th century for its real estate developments were inherited by CN and the federal government. During the post-war years, CN commissioned a major urban redevelopment of the city's downtown using these properties, focusing on its newly built Central Station. In addition to Place Ville Marie, the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, and the CN Headquarters, Montreal became home to one of the largest commercial retail/office developments in the world when

was built above part of the Montreal Central Station terminal trackage. Although the site was a few blocks northeast of the former location of Bonaventure Station, the name was chosen to commemorate it. This development was built between 1966 and 1967, in advance of

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 28 to October 29, 1967. It was a category one world's fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most s ...

. The

Dow Planetarium The Dow Planetarium (later renamed the Montreal Planetarium) is a decommissioned public planetarium located at Chaboillez Square southeast of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed permanently in October 2011. A new facility, the Rio Tint ...

(closed in 2011) was built on the actual site of the former Bonaventure Station. A

Montreal Metro The Montreal Metro (, ) is a rubber-tired underground rapid transit system serving Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The metro, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, 1966, during the tenure ...

station was built to serve Place Bonaventure, Central Station, and the CPR Windsor Station complex. It opened on February 13, 1967, and is named

. Until the line was extended in 1980, it served as the terminal of Orange Line.

References

External links

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Bonaventure Station General Waiting Area circa 1890
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonaventure Station (1887-1952) Railway stations in Canada opened in 1847 Grand Trunk Railway stations in Quebec History of Montreal Second Empire architecture in Canada Railway stations in Montreal Burned buildings and structures in Canada Railway stations in Canada closed in 1948 Buildings and structures demolished in 1952 Demolished buildings and structures in Montreal