Short history of Saint-Henri and the Sud-Ouest of Montreal

Before the Lachine channel came to deeply modify the geography of this sector in 1825, many villages of the Sud-Ouest were connected by muddy ways hard to cross. It’s only around 1850 that truly, the industrialization of the channel began following two successive widening. The sector was also crossed by the first railroad of Montreal which connected the Bonaventure station to the small town of Lachine. Today replaced by a path for bikes named Park of the first railroad.

Among the first villages to be constituted in periphery of Montreal there is Saint-Henri whom was not always the industrial town we know today.

The village of Saint-Henri was formerly called tanner’s village since most of his inhabitants worked in the field of leather. Saint-Henri kept his country look longer than the other villages of the Sud-Ouest.

Saint-Henri today

With the rebirth of the Atwater market and the reopening of the Lachine Channel to the pleasure sailing, We can say that the district is living a certain rebirth. Whereas several speak about embourgeoisement, many projects with social apartments are taking shape such as the conversion of the old factory Imperial tobacco.

Cities of the Sud-Ouest

Under the name of Sud-Ouest, many old cities names are hiding. Town like Saint-Cunégonde (In the past Delisle Village), Saint-Paul, Villémard, Point-Saint-Charles and finally; the GriffinTown. All those towns were incorporated gradually into Montreal. These villages saw their population growing with the arrival of workers who built the Victoria Bridge and thereafter the transformation of this sector into the industrial center of Canada.