The community first started in Montreal with the founding of the German Society in 1835. It did not have many members at its inception, probably less than 100, bit it was an exceptionally diverse group. They had doctors, clerks, a sheriff, a bailiff, a constable, butchers, merchants, tailors, grocers, a bookbinder and a painter. They settled, like the British, with businessmen residing between Notre Dame and Dorchester, skilled artisans living further south so they could be near the port and the factories. Some moved up to Prince Arthur and Jeanne Mance where there was a Lutheran Church, and also around Pine avenue and Hotel de Ville where St. Barnabas, a German Catholic Church was built.
German organizations include the Teutonia which started as a glee club in the 1880�s, and by the 1930�s it became a social club where the British, Scottish, Finnish and Scandinavian girls could meet German men.
Until Germany�s economic depression of the 1920�s, the community remained fairly small. Canada had placed Germans on its preferred list of immigrants and tens of thousands came here. This is a major reason why they are Canada�s third largest leading ethnic population. However, the Germans were skilled, urban and fairly well educated, so instead of staying in the immigrant core of �The Main� (St-Laurent,) most of them went to Verdun, Notre Dame de Grace, and Villeray, but mostly to the growing district of Rosemont, where there were new and inexpensive two-story houses.
