Dalhousie Station (french: Gare Dalhousie) is a former railway station in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. Built in 1884, the building stands at the corner of

Notre-Dame Street Notre-Dame Street (officially in french: Rue Notre-Dame) is a historic east-west street located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It runs parallel to the Saint Lawrence River, from Lachine to the eastern tip of the island in Pointe-aux-Trembles, ...

and

Berri Street Berri Street (officially in french: rue Berri) is a major north–south street located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Berri Street links De la Commune Street in the south and Somerville Street in the north. The street is interrupted between Rosemont ...

in what is now

Old Montreal Old Montreal (French: ''Vieux-Montréal'') is a historic neighbourhood within the municipality of Montreal in the province of Quebec, Canada. Home to the Old Port of Montreal, the neighbourhood is bordered on the west by McGill Street, on th ...

. The oldest surviving railway station building in Montreal, Dalhousie Station was named after

George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie General George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie, (23 October 1770 – 21 March 1838), styled Lord Ramsay until 1787, and Baron Dalhousie from 1815, was a Scottish soldier and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Nova Scotia from 1816 to 182 ...

, who was

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, ...

from 1825 to 1828. Although the terminal location was originally purchased by the

Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway The Canadian province of Quebec formed the ''Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway'' (QMO&OR) in 1874 to link those cities since private companies, without the usual subsidies from the Federal Government of Canada, could not get financin ...

, all construction was done by the Canadian Pacific Railway after it purchased the QMO&O in 1882. Dalhousie Station thus became the original eastern terminus for CP Rail.Tom Grumley
"Montreal's Major Rail Terminals"
The station building has been the home of the

Cirque Éloize Cirque Éloize is a contemporary circus company founded in Montreal in 1993 by Daniel Cyr, Claudette Morin, Jeannot Painchaud and Julie Hamelin. Since 2004, it has its headquarters and creation studio in Old Montreal inside the former Dalhousie ...

since 2004.

Operation

The first non-stop transcontinental train left Dalhousie Station bound for

Port Moody Port Moody is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It envelops the east end of Burrard Inlet and is the smallest of the Tri-Cities, bordered by Coquitlam on the east and south an ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, on June 28, 1886, at 8:00 p.m. Only five years after opening Dalhousie Station, Canadian Pacific opened a second Montreal terminal, Windsor Station, in February 1889. It had better access to rail routes to the United States, southern Quebec, and southern Ontario, as well as a more convenient location on the west side of town. After a new, shorter line to Ottawa via Rigaud opened in 1898, the transcontinental route was also redirected to Windsor Station. Dalhousie Station was superseded by the grander

Place Viger Place Viger was both a grand hotel and railway station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, constructed in 1898 and named after Jacques Viger, the first Mayor of the city. Although combined stations and hotels were common in the United Kingdom in the la ...

Station, a block to the north of Dalhousie Station, in 1898.

Design and redevelopment

Dalhousie Station is architecturally notable for the combination of stone and brick used to build it, as well as for its high windows.Brown, Ron
The Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore
/ref> The station is now part of a remodeled Dalhousie Square, completed in 2004, which links Old Montreal and the Faubourg Quebec residential district. Dalhousie Square was designed by Robert Desjardins of the City of Montreal and includes a sculpture by Jocelyne Alloucherie entitled ''Porte de jour.'' The redesigned square was honoured by the

Canadian Society of Landscape Architects The Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (French:''Association des architectes paysagistes du Canada''; CSLA-AAPC) is the national organization representing 1600 landscape architects in Canada's ten provinces and three territories. The organizat ...

in 2006.

References

External links

Station building and tracks in Google Maps Street View
{{coord, 45.5115, N, 73.5518, W, display=title Canadian Pacific Railway stations in Quebec Railway stations in Montreal Railway stations closed in 1898 Railway stations in Canada opened in 1886 Old Montreal