Sainte-Geneviève () was a municipality located on the

Island of Montreal The Island of Montreal (, ) is an island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, which is the site of a number of municipalities, including most of the city of Montreal, and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main island of the Hochelag ...

in southwestern

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 Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It is now part of the Borough of

L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève () is a Boroughs of Montreal, borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal. History On 24 October 1678, the government of Louis de Buade de Frontenac granted Île Bizard, then named Île Bonaventure as a ...

in the

City of Montreal Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest in Canada, and the ninth-largest in North America. It was founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", and is now named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

, created on January 1, 2002. The municipality, a small village populated by traditional Quebec-style dwellings and colonial mansions, is located on the north-west shore of the Island of Montreal along Gouin Boulevard, overlooking the

Rivière des Prairies The Rivière des Prairies (; ), called the Back River in English, is a delta channel of the Ottawa River in southwestern Quebec, Canada. The Kanien'kehá:ka called it ''Skowanoti'', meaning "River behind the island". The river separates the citi ...

and across from

Île Bizard Île Bizard () is an island near the Island of Montreal in the Hochelaga Archipelago region. It is one of the three populated islands within the city of Montreal, along with the Island of Montreal and Nuns' Island (Île des Soeurs). The islan ...

located to the north. It is surrounded by the former municipality of Pierrefonds to the west, south and east. The

Cégep Gérald-Godin A CEGEP ( or ; , ; also written CÉGEP and cegep) is a publicly funded college providing general, professional, academic or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, it orig ...

and the Église Sainte-Geneviève, built in 1844 and designed by renowned Quebec architect Thomas Baillargé, are located here.

History

Catholic Parish

The signing of the

Great Peace of Montreal The Great Peace of Montreal () was a peace treaty between New France and 39 First Nations of North America that ended the Beaver Wars. It was signed on August 4, 1701, by Louis-Hector de Callière, governor of New France, and 1300 representati ...

in 1701 allowed the French

habitant Habitants () were French settlers and inhabitants of French origin who farmed the land along both shores of the St. Lawrence River and the Gulf of St. Lawrence in what is now Quebec, Canada. The term was used by the inhabitants themselves an ...

s to colonize the western part of the

. In 1720 a road was built, and the

Sulpicians The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice (; PSS), also known as the Sulpicians, is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where it was founded. The members of the Society add the ...

mapped out the area. In 1739 the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec The Archdiocese of Québec (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest episcopal see in the New World north of Mexico and the Primate (bishop), primatial see of Can ...

approved the establishment of a canonical parish dedicated to Saint Geneviève. The following year a

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

was completed. The first church was built in 1751. Antoine Faucon, father of Saint-Sulpice, participated in the construction of the village's first church. The present building dates from the years 1843 to 1847.

Civil Parish

The establishment of the civil parish of Sainte-Geneviève, which was named after the church, occurred in 1845. On June 9, 1859, it was recognized as the Municipality of the Village of Sainte-Geneviève. In 1893, it was connected to

across the

by one of the Jacques Bizard Bridges, which replaced a

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

Division Into Municipalities

When the ''Paroisse de Ste Genevieve'' was established, Sainte-Geneviève included the territory of the city of Roxboro and Pierrefonds. The formerly separate municipalities were merged into the city of Montreal on January 1, 2002 following municipal mergers organized by the provincial government at the time. Sainte-Geneviève's territory also included the city of

Dollard-des-Ormeaux Dollard-des-Ormeaux (; commonly referred to as D.D.O. or simply Dollard) is a city and a predominantly English-speaking suburb of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is the most populous suburb on the Island of Montreal. The town was na ...

, which also was briefly part of the city of Montreal from 2002 until its demerger on January 1, 2006. Several successive divisions reduced the size of the town of Sainte-Geneviève significantly. In 1904, Sainte-Geneviève-de-Pierrefonds became independent from Sainte-Geneviève, Roxboro in 1914, followed in 1924 by

. At the heart of the conflict that led to the separation of Sainte-Geneviève was the famous lawyer Joseph-Adolphe Chauret, who in 1902 built a stately home reminiscent of homes in Pierrefonds,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, in the Department of

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

. He called his thatched house the "Château Pierrefonds." In 1935, the two villages of Sainte-Geneviève and Sainte-Geneviève-de-Pierrefonds were merged and became once again the village of Sainte-Geneviève. The name of Pierrefonds then disappeared until its reappearance in 1958, the founding date of the former city of Pierrefonds. In 1959, the Village of Sainte-Geneviève was recognized as Ville Sainte-Geneviève.

Amalgamation Into City of Montreal

On January 1, 2002 Ville Sainte-Geneviève was

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

into the City of Montreal borough of "

". The citizens voted 65.65% to secede in the demerger referendum on June 20, 2004 but did not meet the 35% requirement of the population condition, with only 21.49%(33.13%) of the total population voting. Sainte-Geneviève registered 2,303 people to vote in the demerger: YES 495 : NO 259: Total of Yes and NO votes 763: Voter turnout 33.13.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sainte-Genevieve, Quebec Populated places disestablished in 2002 Neighbourhoods in Montreal Former municipalities in Quebec Former cities in Quebec West Island 2002 disestablishments in Quebec