Saint-Henri () is a neighbourhood in southwestern

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada, in the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

of Le Sud-Ouest. Saint-Henri is bounded to the east by Atwater Avenue, to the west by the town of Montreal West, to the north by Autoroute Ville-Marie (Route 136), and to the south by the

Lachine Canal The Lachine Canal (, ) is a canal passing through the southwestern part of the Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, running 14.5 kilometres (9 miles) from the Old Port of Montreal to Lake Saint-Louis, through the boroughs of Lachine (borough), L ...

Description

Saint-Henri is well known as a historically

French-Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the prov ...

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

neighbourhood. Often contrasted with wealthy Westmount or NDG looking down over the Falaise Saint-Jacques. The area—historically known as Les Tanneries because of the artisans' shops where leather tanning took place—was named for St. Henry via the Église Saint-Henri, which at one time formed Place Saint-Henri along with the community's fire and police station. The bustle of a nearby passenger rail station was immortalized in the song "Place St. Henri" (1964) by

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...

. Saint-Henri is part of the municipal district of Saint-Henri–Petite-Bourgogne–Pointe-Saint-Charles. The borough hall for Le Sud-Ouest is located in a converted factory in Saint-Henri, bearing witness to the borough's industrial heritage. Also located in the neighbourhood is Solin Hall, a student residence of

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

. The former chocolate factory is home to nearly 300 students, and is the University's only off-campus residence. The neighbourhood is served by two metro stations, Lionel-Groulx and Place-Saint-Henri.

History

Église Saint-Henri was so named to commemorate Fr. Henri-Auguste Roux (1798–1831), the superior of Saint-Sulpice Seminary. The municipality of Saint-Henri was formed in 1875, joining the village of Saint-Henri and the surrounding settlements of Turcot, Brodie, Saint-Agustin and Sainte-Marguerite into one administrative unit. The

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

was incorporated into the City of Montreal in 1905. Well-known people from Saint-Henri include strongman Louis Cyr, who served as a police officer there; the Place des Hommes-Forts and the Parc Louis-Cyr are named for him. Celebrated

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

pianist

grew up in

Little Burgundy Little Burgundy (, ) is a neighbourhood in the Le Sud-Ouest, South West Boroughs of Montreal, borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Geography Its approximate boundaries are Atwater Avenue to the west, Saint Antoine Street, Saint-An ...

which is the neighbourhood adjacent to Saint-Henri. Stand-up comedian Yvon Deschamps has described the daily struggle of Saint-Henri's citizens with humorous melancholy. Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy are divided by Atwater Avenue. Historically, Little Burgundy was occupied primarily by African-Canadians who worked on the railroads while Saint-Henri was occupied predominantly by French-Canadian blue-collar workers, but nonetheless boasted African-Candian shops, a gentleman's club (The European) and Montreal's first black congregation, Union United. Today both neighbourhoods have a population of varied ethnicity and social class, especially in the recent housing developments that have sprouted along the Lachine Canal. A great number of teenagers from neighbouring districts attend Polyvalente Saint-Henri and

James Lyng High School James Lyng High School () is a high school located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is currently operated by the English Montreal School Board. Before 1998 it was operated by the Montreal Catholic School Commission.

(

English Montreal School Board The English Montreal School Board (official name: Commission scolaire English-Montréal English-Montréal School Board; CSEM or EMSB) is one of five public school boards and one of two English-language school boards on the island of Montreal in Q ...

). St-Henri housed the Victor Talking Machine Company's first factory space located in Canada where they produced flat discs, gramophones, radios, and military equipment for the Second World War. Though the space has changed much over the years and the building is no longer in use as a factory of RCA Victor, there is a museum located in the old RCA building called le Musée des Ondes Emile Berliner. The museum covers the life of Emile Berliner, inventor of the gramophone, as well as details the history of his inventions, as well as his company even after his family was no longer affiliated with it. The museum is a technology museum and explores the nature and science behind sound waves. Many of the district's notable

Art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

buildings, including Atwater Market and the historic No. 23 fire hall, were designed by Ludger Lemieux.

Depictions in literature and film

The district's working-class character was most memorably recorded by

Gabrielle Roy Gabrielle Roy (; March 22, 1909July 13, 1983) was a Canadian author from St. Boniface, Manitoba and one of the major figures in French Canadian literature. Early life Roy was born in 1909 in Saint-Boniface (now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba, an ...

in her novel '' The Tin Flute (Bonheur d'occasion)''. Saint-Henri has been the subject of two

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

(NFB) documentaries, each capturing one day in the life of the district. In 1962 Hubert Aquin directed '' À St-Henri le cinq septembre'' (''September Five at Saint-Henri''). In 2010, director Shannon Walsh and producer Sarah Spring oversaw a crew of sixteen videographers as they followed area residents during one summer's day to make ''À St-Henri le 26 août'', an NFB/ Parabola Films co-production inspired by Aquin's cinéma-vérité classic.

Notable people from Saint-Henri

- Canadian jazz pianist * Pat Burns - former police officer, NHL head coach and TV hockey broadcaster * Yvon Deschamps - author, actor, comedian and producer * Louis Cyr - strongman who served as a police officer in Saint-Henri, commemorated with a park, a square, and a statue

Gallery

File:Parc George-Etienne-Cartier.jpg, Sir George-Étienne Cartier Square File:Parc Saint-Henri 05.JPG, Saint Henri Square File:Saint-Henri Montréal.png, Saint-Henri Map File:St. Henri-february.jpg, Saint-Henri in February File:AtwaterMarket.jpg, Atwater Market

References

External links

Documentary film about the neighbourhood released in 2011, "St-Henri, the 26th of August"

Parish oral history of part of Saint-Henri with a number of historical photographs.
*
Saint-Henri Historical Society website.
* https://moeb.ca/en/about-the-museum/ {{Authority control

Saint-Henri Saint-Henri () is a neighbourhood in southwestern Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the Montreal borough, borough of Le Sud-Ouest. Saint-Henri is bounded to the east by Atwater Avenue, to the west by the town of Montreal West, Quebec, Montreal West, ...

Le Sud-Ouest Irish-Canadian culture in Montreal