n its early days, the city of Lachine was but a rest station, an outpost for the fur trade. It took advantage of its strategic location along a number of key information routes to become a dynamic and prosperous city. Conditions were favourable to the growth of river traffic, and allowed the first industries to develop, followed by small communities, with all the services they require. Communications routes were improved through the creation, then the enlargement of the Lachine Canal, and the construction of a railway. All these spawned the rapid development of Lachine's industrial sector.
In the middle of the 17th century, Montreal (then known as Ville Marie), was the centre of the fur trade with France. The city was the maritime link with the Great Lakes; the last point of disembarkation on the route west. From this point on, the route was punctuated by rapids and all sorts of other obstacles. West of Montreal, where the voyageurs were forced to make a thirteen kilometre portage, there was a natural resting point, and it quickly became an attractive spot for travellers, business people and tourists. The first buildings of what would later become Lachine went up around 1667, after the arrival of Robert Cavelier de LaSalle, who, searching for a passage to China, handed over his lands to the Sulpicians and settlers. After his fruitless mission (to his credit, he did discover Louisiana), his friends and acquaintances turned to ridiculing his project, by giving the name La Chine to his former properties.After the conquest of 1765, the fur trade was conducted mostly with the British, and fostered the growth of numerous related businesses, as well as services and housing for the inhabitants of the parish. In 1811, because of its strategic location and the busy river traffic, Thomas A. Dawes chooses Lachine as the site of the region's first industry, a brewery, and located it along the shores of Lake Saint Louis. The brewery quickly gave rise to Lachine's first urban core. But it was thanks to the construction of the Lachine Canal, completed in 1825, and to the access it gave big ships to western Montreal, that many more industries and businesses were established in Lachine. These industries spawned rapid economic growth, which in turn gave rise to Lachine's residential development.
The Montreal and Lachine Rail Road Company built a railway along Victoria street in 1847, linking Lachine with Montreal, a move which brought new industries and new prosperity. In 1848, the Canal was enlarged for the first time, attracting even more industries, and encouraging the development of an active social life. With the second enlargement of the Canal, between 1873 and1885, that growth continued, and Lachine gradually became an important industrial city. Throughout it all, the downtown area maintained its commercial and institutional role, with the City Hall, the churches and the convents, the post office and the banks. By 1901, three distinct urban cores had emerged, linked by Saint Joseph boulevard: one around the Dawes Brewery; another near the Canal entrance; and another near the Lachine Locks.
It was between 1912 and 1916 that Lachine acquired the look we now know. This was the period during which the growth of the population and economic activity stabilized. Labourers lived in the eastern part of town, salaried workers and bureaucrats in the centre, and businessmen and professionals to the west.
From the 1920's onwards, industrial activity began to slow, as the commercial hub shifted from Saint Joseph boulevard to Notre Dame street. Around 1932, the City of Lachine focused on developing the sector located north of the Victoria street railway tracks, and as a result, a number of industrial and residential neighbourhoods were born. By 1959, the Lachine Canal had fallen into disrepair and was closed for good. It was replaced by the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The closure of the Canal dramatically changed the course of Lachine's history, because since its creation in 1825, it had been the economic heart of the city. Between 1959 and 1973, Lachine would undergo a remarkable transition.
Beginning in 1973, the municipal administration adopted a new orientation, and in 1975
created an urban plan. Everything was done to renew the dynamism Lachine's rich history
deserved. Today, Lachine is once again a communications
hub. New and important industries have moved in, drawn by the proximity of Dorval
Airport, and the highways and railways that criss-cross Lachine's industrial park. The
City of Lachine, the Museum and the SIDAC centre-ville Lachine are collaborating to
preserve Lachine's urban heritage, which, thanks to the city's rich history, is a national
treasure.
Lachine Historical Society [
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6/6/01 8:14:26 AM