<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="1" > In Montreal, there are two old communities that no longer exist — Griffintown and Goose Village. These two neighborhoods were once located southwest of downtown Montreal, west of the Old Port. It is now part of the Pointe-Saint-Charles neighbourhood in the southwestern district of montreal. </h1>
But in the 19th century, it was home to thousands of Irish immigrants (mostly Catholic), most of whom used their hands to build today's Victoria Bridge, the city's inner and outer rail lines, nortel buildings and other buildings.
Today, the inhabitants here are very different from those of the 19th century, and Griffintown and Goose Village have become a completely multi-ethnic community. Nevertheless, the Irish community has demanded that it be protected as one of the homelands of the North American Irish.
Without the hard labor of early immigrants, Montreal would not be as prosperous as it is today. Griffintown and Goose Village, two older communities, are a testament to the hard work of the immigrants of their predecessors. Due to food shortages, harsh environments, epidemics of disease, etc., many Irish Catholics died and survived mainly in Quebec City and Griffintown and Goose Village.
Today, a black rock near the Victoria Bridge is a tribute to these predecessors. The collapse of heavy industry after the war and the loss of navigation of the Lachine Canal made the two communities the poorest in the region. To this day, it is a major gathering area for low-income people.
The government and all sectors of society are also working to change the status quo of this community, renovating and building it. However, the costs of demolition, land leveling, environmental planning and other costs are not solved in a short period of time, so some important projects and large-scale projects have been delayed. Now, let's start with a general look at Griffintown. Griffintown was once a popular name for a residential area in the southwestern part of downtown Montreal.
From 1820 to 1960, the main inhabitants were Irish immigrants and their descendants. Geographically, it was once part of the St. Ann community north of the Lachine Canal, bounded by Notre-Dame Street to the north and McGill Street to the east. Before the construction of the urban rail transit in 1840, it was the earliest and largest extension of Old Montreal. The etymology of griffintown comes from the personal name Mary Griffin.
In 1799, Griffin acquired the land from thomas McCord Enterprise. In 1804, the lady hired the surveyor Louis Charland to redivide the land and plan some streets. Griffin's husband, Mr Robert, is the owner of a soap factory. While running his own business, in 1817 he joined the Bank of Montreal as its first employee.
history
Griffintown's earliest inhabitants were ordinary nineteenth-century Irish immigrant laborers, most of whom were not skilled. These immigrant ancestors came here to dig canals, build factories, build the Victoria Bridge, lay railways, and participate in the construction of the Port of Montreal.
This Irish-American community is mainly concentrated in St. Ann Catholic Church lives nearby. The church was opened in 1854 and is located on the corner of mcCord (now Mountain Street) Avenue and Basin Street. There's a place called Galleria Square, which takes its name from the Gallery brothers: John Daniel Gallery, the largest local baker, and his brother, Montreal City Councillor Daniel Gallery, who is also a local school commissioner and a member of the Liberal Party of Congress.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Irish here were gradually replaced by Jews, Italians, Ukrainians, French-speaking immigrants, etc. Since 1941, the Irish have been a minority in this community. The post-war economic depression that began in 1950 drastically reduced the population here.
From 1959 onwards, the shipping status of the Lachine Canal was also greatly reduced. In 1962, Griffintown was known as a "light industrial" community. After the 1960s, many factories were demolished to make room for the Bonaventure Expressway (now Highway 10) and parking lots. In 1970, St. Ann Church was also demolished and transformed into the current Parc Griffintown-St-Ann Park.
Inside this park, there are several segments of St. The foundations of the Ann church are still clearly visible. The park benches are exactly where the benches in the church are located. By 1971, Griffintown had only 810 inhabitants. In 1990, the area was renamed "Faubourg des Recollets" and some of the remains of old communities have been preserved as part of the local cultural heritage. The current Cité Multimédia and McCord Museum were built on the foundations of the ruins of the old community.
culture
Michel Régnier once made a film about the community life here in 1972. Archival photographs of the elder Griffintown are used in the film, as well as interviews with several elderly residents. The film focuses on the full picture of the community, its history, and the daily lives of its residents.
In 2003, Richard Burman produced a documentary called Ghosts of Griffintown. In this film, the story of a prostitute Mary Gallagher is told at the beginning.
It is said that after the prostitute was tortured and killed in 1879, every seven years she would come to William Street to look for her own head. Next, in a metaphorical way, the film tells the fate of the community itself: like the murdered prostitute, the Griffintown community itself has only a soul left.
Alan Hustak has also written a book called The Ghost of Griffintown, which details the details of Mary Gallagher's murder. Lisa Gasior has also launched a campaign called the Griffinsound Project to commemorate the community on foot.
Gangsters
In the underground, Griffintown is the traditional turf of the Irish underworld gang "Gang de l'ouest", but it is also one of the most contentious communities between Native American and Jewish gangs.
Founded in the early twentieth century, Peter Ryan started the gang as a teenager and ran the gang until 1984. That year, Ryan died as one of the few gang leaders in the underworld who could die. Ryan's successor is Allan Ross, who is considered one of the 5 most powerful drug dealers in North America.
Of course, as in many other parts of Montreal, the underworld often scrambled for territory, as was the case in Griffintown, where the Western Gang often clashed with nearby Native American gangs and Jewish gangs, creating similar incidents such as arson of houses and cars, beatings, and even killing members of rival gangs. Of course, it occasionally hits pond fish and hurts nearby residents.
In order not to scare my friends, I will not talk about what these gangsters are doing in Griffintown, and interested friends can go to the book "Montreal's Irish Mafia" written by the famous local journalist D'Arcy O'Connor, on the SCRIBD platform, the e-book is free for 30 days.
real estate
When we used to introduce you to the phenomenon of Griffintown, we once mentioned that this community is conveniently located, beautiful scenery, and close to the city center, attracting a large number of young people to live here.
The biggest feature of the Griffintown real estate market is the listing of a large number of apartment buildings over the past few years. Because of the high density of listings, many locals are worried that the excessive supply of apartments will have an impact on the return on the properties they invest in.
Overall, though, although the pace of griffintown apartment building construction shows no signs of slowing down, house prices don't seem to have been hit, and the rise is still rising.
Only in the near future, due to the impact of the epidemic, the sharp decline in new immigrants and international students, the overall increase in apartments in and around downtown Montreal is not as obvious as other types of housing, and even a slight decline, so investors' confidence in Griffintown real estate has also been affected.
Of course, many local people on their blogging platforms also recommend that friends who like to live in Griffintown give priority to buying drawing houses, that is, apartment houses that are planned to be built or are under construction.
The price advantage of such a house is slightly more obvious, and the interior decoration of the house basically allows the buyer to make some personal design and adjustments. Moreover, many developers also give away most of their household appliances.
Of course, such houses need to wait after paying the deposit, and there are also certain risks, such as serious situations such as the real estate developer's poor management into a rotten building, barely acceptable situations such as delays in delivery, personalized design makes additional costs increase, etc.
This article was first published on the "Annie Information Harbor" WeChat public account, the original author is Lao Chen's daughter-in-law Annie.