Ville-Marie DistrictQuartier Sainte-Mariealso called Centre-Sud
The Quartier Sainte-Marie, an appellation inspired by the Ste-Marie current, stretches out between the River and Sherbrooke Street, and between the Railway up to Papineau and, further east, up to the Collège Ville-Marie where Mercier - Hochelaga-Maisonneuve begins. The area is still known by some as the Centre Sud, once the most industrialized zone after the Lachine Canal. Others remember it as the Faubourg à m'lasse, because of the smell my father told me. It was a workers area. Most of the men worked at the Port of Montreal as dockers. Many of the boats came from the Caribbean and carried shipments of molasses. While the ships were unloaded, the smell was everywhere, in the air, on the dockers clothes, on their skin, in their homes and it eventually polluted the whole neighborhood. 
In 1930, the construction of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge required the demolition of several homes and industries. During the 1950s, the neighbourhood began to deteriorate because of the mass departure of major industries. The widening of the Dorchester Boulevard, now René-Lévesque, the building of the CBC and Radio-Canada towers and the construction of the Ville-Marie highway gradually reduced the residential areas. Furthermore, in 1974, during a firefighters strike known as the "Red Weekend”, hundreds of homes were lost in the flames. After years of difficult times, more than 20,000 residents are now living in this part of Ville Marie and the sector is slowly recovering its historical pride. Several artists and craftsmen moved to the area and many theatre companies elected residence in its vicinity. Although different from Downtown Montreal, the Quartier Sainte-Marie with its own odours, sweet or bitter whether the wind blows from the south or from the north, continues to follow a natural movement towards the East that started a few decades ago. Thank you for visiting the Quartier Sainte-marie.
Ville Marie District / Ville Marie Bourough Web Sites We Like
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