
Rue Saint-Paul (''Saint Paul Street'') is a street in the
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 ...
historic area 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
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
.
The street was laid out 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 ...
, along the route of a path that had bordered a former fort. Saint Paul is Montreal's oldest street and for many years served as its main thoroughfare. Paved in 1672, it was named after
Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve, founder of Montreal, who built a home for himself on it in 1650.
The street is home to such landmarks as the
Bonsecours Market
Bonsecours Market () is a two-story domed public market located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada at 350 Rue Saint-Paul in Old Montreal. For more than 100 years, it was the main public market in the Montreal area. It also briefly accommodated the Parl ...
and
Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
The Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel (''chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours'', "Our Lady of Good Help") is a church in the district of Old Montreal in Montreal, Quebec. One of the oldest churches in Montreal, it was built in 1771 over the ruins of ...
.
Much of Saint Paul is still paved with
cobblestones
Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called ''Belgian blocks'', are often referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct from a ...
. Plans to pedestrianize the street in 2008 were dropped by the
City of Montreal
Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest in Canada, and the ninth-largest in North America. It was founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", and is now named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...
after complaints from merchants.
References
External links
Rue Saint-Paul (in French)
History of Montreal
Landmarks in Montreal
Old Montreal
Streets in Montreal
Cobbled streets
{{Quebec-road-stub