Belmont Park (French: ''Parc Belmont'') was an
amusement park
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...
that operated between 1923 and 1983 in the
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- ...
neighborhood of
Cartierville
Cartierville is a former district in north end Montreal, Quebec, Canada, located in the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville.
Cartierville is bordered to the north by the Rivière des Prairies, to the south by the borough of Saint-Laurent, to the ...
in
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 thirte ...
, Canada.
Located on the banks of
Riviere des Prairies, Belmont Park was best known for its
wooden roller coaster
A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden Rail tracks, track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, b ...
, the ''Cyclone'',
[Closed Canadian Parks]
/ref> but at one time or another had a Philadelphia Toboggan Company
Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry Auchey and Chester Albright under the name Philadelphia ...
carousel
A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in SA) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular pl ...
, Ferris wheel
A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsule ...
, picnic grounds, dance hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub. The majority of towns and cities in ...
, swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
, roller skating rink
A roller rink is a hard surface usually consisting of hardwood or concrete, used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, roller derby, and individual recreational skating. Roller rinks can be located i ...
plus numerous other rides for adults and a "Kiddieland."[
]
Media
In 1972, it was the object of a short film, ''À mort'' (To Death), by Pierre Falardeau
Pierre Falardeau (December 28, 1946 – September 25, 2009) was a Québécois film and documentary director, pamphleteer and noted activist for Quebec independence.
Falardeau wrote at least one book, ''Rien n'est plus précieux que la liberté ...
. It also served as the setting for the 1957 National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...
film ''Pierrot in Montreal'', in which mime
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...
Guy Hoffman demonstrates the stock character
A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of s ...
Pierrot
Pierrot ( , , ) is a stock character of pantomime and '' commedia dell'arte'', whose origins are in the late seventeenth-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne. The name is a diminutive of ''Pi ...
.
Gallery
File:Amusement Park. The Thriller BAnQ P48S1P01097.jpg, The Cyclone, 1937
File:Amusement Parks. Four Queens, Belmont Park BAnQ P48S1P01077.jpg, Trapeze acrobatics, 1937
File:Night Scenes. Belmont Park BAnQ P48S1P04132.jpg, Night Scene in Belmont Park, 1939
File:Amusement Park. The Caricole at Belmont Park. Monitor Kiddies Day BAnQ P48S1P06201.jpg, Kids on amusement park ride at Belmont Park, 1941
File:Feature. Belmont Park BAnQ P48S1P09132.jpg, The Loop-O-Plane in 1943
File:Feature. Belmont Park BAnQ P48S1P10465.jpg, Distorting mirror, 1944
File:Feature. Belmont Park BAnQ P48S1P16470.jpg, Some recreational equipment of the park, 1948
See also
* La Ronde (amusement park)
La Ronde () is an amusement park in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, built as the entertainment complex for Expo 67, the 1967 World Fair. Today, it is operated by Six Flags under an emphyteutic lease with the City of Montreal, which expires in 2065. It ...
References
External links
Archival footage from French CBC site
* ttps://www.facebook.com/groups/1734763293484437/?ref=share A French-language Group by Di Iorio
{{Montreal landmarks
Defunct amusement parks in Canada
History of Montreal
1923 establishments in Quebec
1983 disestablishments in Quebec
Ahuntsic-Cartierville
Amusement parks opened in 1923
Amusement parks closed in 1983
20th-century disestablishments in Quebec
Canada geography articles needing translation from French Wikipedia