Promenade Bellerive Park (french: Parc de la Promenade-Bellerive) is an urban park in the

Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve is a Montreal borough, borough of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada located in the southeastern end of the island. History ''See Mercier, Montreal, Mercier and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve#History, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve ...

borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located in between Notre Dame Street East and the Saint Lawrence River. It is large. Throughout its approximately 2km length, it faces the

Boucherville Islands Boucherville is a city in the Montérégie region in Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of Montreal on the South Shore (Montreal), South shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Boucherville is part of both the urban agglomeration of Longueuil and Greate ...

and Charron Island. A

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

service to Charron Island runs during the summer.

History

The City of Montreal obtained the land that would become Promenade Bellerive Park in 1893, following a land swap with the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

(CPR). As part of the deal, CPR obtained a piece of land in Old Montreal on which

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 ...

would eventually be constructed. In the 1960s, the City of Montreal first announced its plans to convert its waterfront land into a park. Earth from the digging of the Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Bridge-Tunnel was dumped on the site, and enlarged the piece of land by over more than a distance of over . The land was then used for the storage of road salt. During the winter the land was used by the city to dump snow into the river. Local citizens became frustrated at the slow pace it took for site to be transformed into a park. They worked with their local elected officials to facilitate the beginning of the work. In 1995, a floating dock was installed, providing summer

service to the

. In 1997, most of the landscaping work was done and the welcome centre was built.

Art

In 2009, the sculpture ''Continuum 2009 (à la mémoire de Pierre Perrault)'' was installed in the park. It is a three-element abstract artwork made of weathering steel. The sculpture was created by Roland Poulin, in tribute to the filmmaker Pierre Perrault. Three elements form a series of vertical and horizontal planes that frame an empty space. People can enter the artwork by walking through its frame.

References

External links

Société d'animation de la Promenade Bellerive
{{in lang, fr Parks in Montreal Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Outdoor sculptures in Montreal Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in Canada