Rue de la Commune () is a road in

Old Montreal Old Montreal (, ) is a historic List of neighbourhoods in Montreal, neighbourhood within the List of municipalities in Quebec, municipality of Montreal in the province of Quebec, Canada. Home to the Old Port of Montreal, the neighbourhood is b ...

, Quebec, Canada which is well used both by Montrealers and by tourists, since it is the home of the

Pointe-à-Callière Museum Pointe-à-Callière Museum (, ) is a museum of archaeology and history in Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1992 as part of celebrations to mark Montreal's 350th birthday. The museum has collections of artifacts from the First Natio ...

and the

Old Port of Montreal The Old Port of Montreal () is the historic port of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Located adjacent to Old Montreal, it stretches for over along the Saint Lawrence River. It was used as early as 1611, when French fur traders used it as a trading post. ...

. It also extends eastward into the

Gay Village A gay village, also known as a gayborhood or gaybourhood, is a geographical area with generally recognized boundaries that is inhabited or frequented by many lesbian, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. Gay vil ...

, and westward into

Griffintown Griffintown is a historic neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec, southwest of downtown. The area existed as a functional neighbourhood from the 1820s until the 1960s and was mainly populated by Irish immigrants and their descendants. Mostly depopulate ...

, where it turns north to Wellington Street and becomes the beginning of Peel Street. The road follows the original shore of the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...

. The buildings along the north side of the road are former commercial buildings.

History

In 1651, the governor of Montréal,

Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve (15 February 1612 – 9 September 1676) was a French military officer and the founder of Ville-Marie, now the city of Montreal. Early life Maisonneuve was baptised on 15 February 1612 at Neuville-sur-Vannes ...

granted land to Jean de Saint-Père to be used as

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

. This 'commune' (commons) is a strip of land one

arpent An arpent (, sometimes called arpen) is a unit of length and a unit of area. It is a pre-metric French unit based on the Roman ''actus''. It is used in Quebec, some areas of the United States that were part of French Louisiana, and in Mauritius ...

wide with 40 arpents of shoreline. The river bank was the site of a

tow path A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport w ...

, and became a road, lined with grain elevators from 1879. It became a thoroughfare for

carriages A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...

, transport wagons, and pedestrians. Lower streets along the riverbank were known to flood during winter storms. A proposed elevated highway along the river over the Rue de la Commune spurred a movement to preserve the district.

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

-born architect and urban planner Daniel van Ginkel played a major role in saving the district from destruction during the early 1960s. As assistant director of the city of Montreal's newly formed planning department, he persuaded authorities to abandon plans for an expressway that would have cut through the old city. In 1964, most of Old Montreal was classified as a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

. In 1970, the road was renamed from ''rue des Commissaires'', in memory of early colonial days. After the

Port of Montreal The Port of Montreal (, ) ( ACI Canadian Port Code: 0395, UN/LOCODE: CA MTR) is a cruise and transshipment point. It is located on the St. Lawrence River in Montreal, Québec, Canada. The port operates as an international container port. It serv ...

was moved, the area became a recreational area in 1992.

Hotels A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a refr ...

restaurants A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in app ...

, and

cafes A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...

replaced old warehouses.

Gallery

Image:DollierRuesMontreal.jpg, Map of Ville-Marie, 1672 by

François Dollier de Casson François Dollier de Casson (1636 – 27 September 1701) was born in Vitré, France, into a wealthy bourgeois and military family. He began his adult life in the army which he left after three years to continue his studies and become a priest. A ...

Image:Debacle rue des Commissaires Montreal 1884.jpg, 1884 Image:Rue de la Commune Montreal 1910.jpg, c. 1910 Image:357 rue de la Commune Ouest - Montreal.jpg, 357 rue de la Commune Ouest

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De la Commune Street Streets in Montreal Old Montreal Cobbled streets