Saint-Henri
Encyclopedia
Saint-Henri is a neighbourhood in southwestern Montreal
, Quebec
, Canada
, in the borough
of Le Sud-Ouest
.
Saint-Henri is usually considered to be bounded to the east by avenue Atwater, to the west by Autoroute 15
, to the north by Autoroute 720
, and to the south by the Lachine Canal
.
neighbourhood. Often contrasted with wealthy Westmount
looking down over the Falaise Saint-Jacques
, in recent years it has been strongly affected by gentrification
.
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. Nearby, the bustle of a passenger rail station was immortalized in the song "Place St. Henri."
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 Saint-Henri, in a converted factory, bearing witness to the borough's industrial heritage.
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
pianist Oscar Peterson
grew up in Little Burgundy
which is the neighborhood adjacent to Saint-Henri. Stand-up comedian Yvon Deschamps
has treated the daily struggle of Saint-Henri's citizens with humorous melancholy.
Saint Henri and Little Burgundy are considered to have a fairly common social makeup. Historically, Saint-Henri was occupied predominantly by European blue collar workers while Little Burgundy was occupied primarily by African-Canadians who worked on the railroads. Today, a multi-ethnic collage of people of varied social classes live in both neighbourhoods, especially in the recent housing developments that have sprouted along the Lachine Canal. A great number of teenagers from neighboring districts attend Polyvalente Saint-Henri and James Lyng High School (EMSB
).
Many of the district's notable Art deco
buildings, including Atwater Market and the historic No. 23 fire hall, were designed by Ludger Lemieux
.
The neighbourhood is served by the Lionel-Groulx
and Place-Saint-Henri
metro stations.
in her novel The Tin Flute
(Bonheur d'occasion).
Saint-Henri has been the subject of two National Film Board of Canada
(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 the course of 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.
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, in the borough
Montreal borough
The city of Montreal is divided into 19 boroughs , each with a mayor and council.- Powers :The borough council is responsible for:*Fire prevention*Removal of household waste and residual materials*Funding of community...
of Le Sud-Ouest
Le Sud-Ouest
Le Sud-Ouest is a borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Geography:Le Sud-Ouest is an amalgam of several neighbourhoods with highly distinct histories and identities, mainly with working-class and industrial origins, grouped around the Lachine Canal...
.
Saint-Henri is usually considered to be bounded to the east by avenue Atwater, to the west by Autoroute 15
Quebec Autoroute 15
Autoroute 15 is a highway in western Quebec, Canada...
, to the north by Autoroute 720
Quebec Autoroute 720
Autoroute 720 , known as the Ville-Marie Expressway or Autoroute Ville-Marie is an Autoroute highway in the Canadian province of Quebec that is a spur route of Autoroute 20 in Montreal...
, and to the south by the Lachine Canal
Lachine Canal
The Lachine Canal is a canal passing through the southwestern part of the Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, running 14.5 kilometres from the Old Port of Montreal to Lake Saint-Louis, through the boroughs of Lachine, Lasalle and Sud-Ouest.The canal gets its name from the French word for China...
.
Description
Saint-Henri is well known as a historically French-Canadian, Irish and black working classWorking class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
neighbourhood. Often contrasted with wealthy Westmount
Westmount, Quebec
Westmount is a city on the Island of Montreal, an enclave of the city of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada; pop. 20,494; area 4.02 km²; population density of 5,092.56 inhabitants/km²....
looking down over the Falaise Saint-Jacques
Falaise Saint-Jacques
The Saint-Jacques Escarpment is a green space along an escarpment in the city of Montreal, west of downtown Montreal and adjacent to the neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grace...
, in recent years it has been strongly affected by gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
.
The area, historically known as Les Tanneries because of the artisans shops where leather tanning took place, was named for St. Henry
Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II , also referred to as Saint Henry, Obl.S.B., was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty, from his coronation in Rome in 1014 until his death a decade later. He was crowned King of the Germans in 1002 and King of Italy in 1004...
via the Église Saint-Henri, which at one time formed Place Saint-Henri along with the community's fire and police station. Nearby, the bustle of a passenger rail station was immortalized in the song "Place St. Henri."
Saint-Henri is part of the municipal district of Saint-Henri–Petite-Bourgogne–Pointe-Saint-Charles. The borough hall for Le Sud-Ouest
Le Sud-Ouest
Le Sud-Ouest is a borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Geography:Le Sud-Ouest is an amalgam of several neighbourhoods with highly distinct histories and identities, mainly with working-class and industrial origins, grouped around the Lachine Canal...
is located in Saint-Henri, in a converted factory, bearing witness to the borough's industrial heritage.
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 municipalityMunicipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
was incorporated into the City of Montreal in 1905.
Well-known people from Saint-Henri include strongman Louis Cyr
Louis Cyr
Louis Cyr was a famous Canadian strongman with a career spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His recorded feats, including lifting 500 pounds with one finger and carrying 4,337 pounds on his back, show Cyr to be, according to former International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness...
, who served as a police officer there; the Place des Hommes-Forts and the Parc Louis-Cyr are named for him. Celebrated jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
pianist Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
grew up in Little Burgundy
Little Burgundy
Little Burgundy is the informal name of a neighbourhood in the Sud-Ouest borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Geography:...
which is the neighborhood adjacent to Saint-Henri. Stand-up comedian Yvon Deschamps
Yvon Deschamps
Yvon Deschamps, CQ is a Quebec author, actor, comedian and producer best known for his monologues. His social-commentary-tinged humour propelled him to prominence in Quebec popular culture in the 1970s and 1980s...
has treated the daily struggle of Saint-Henri's citizens with humorous melancholy.
Saint Henri and Little Burgundy are considered to have a fairly common social makeup. Historically, Saint-Henri was occupied predominantly by European blue collar workers while Little Burgundy was occupied primarily by African-Canadians who worked on the railroads. Today, a multi-ethnic collage of people of varied social classes live in both neighbourhoods, especially in the recent housing developments that have sprouted along the Lachine Canal. A great number of teenagers from neighboring districts attend Polyvalente Saint-Henri and James Lyng High School (EMSB
English Montreal School Board
English Montreal School Board is the largest English-language school board in Quebec. The EMSB is responsible for anglophone public schools in the centre and eastern sectors of Montreal Island. Public education in the western portion of Montreal Island is administered by the Lester B. Pearson...
).
Many of the district's notable Art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
buildings, including Atwater Market and the historic No. 23 fire hall, were designed by Ludger Lemieux
Ludger Lemieux
Ludger Lemieux was a Quebec architect who designed a number of notable Art deco structures in Montreal's Saint-Henri district. While he often worked in partnership with Joseph-Honoré MacDuff, his most best-known structure, the Atwater Market, was designed not with MacDuff but with Paul Lemieux,...
.
The neighbourhood is served by the Lionel-Groulx
Lionel-Groulx (Montreal Metro)
Lionel-Groulx is a station of the Montreal Metro rapid transit system operated by the Société de transport de Montréal . It is located in the Saint-Henri area of the borough of Le Sud-Ouest in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is a transfer station between the Green Line and Orange Line.The station...
and Place-Saint-Henri
Place-Saint-Henri (Montreal Metro)
Place-Saint-Henri is a station on the Orange Line of the Montreal Metro rapid transit system, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal . It is located in the Saint-Henri area of the borough of Le Sud-Ouest in Montreal, Quebec, Canada ....
metro stations.
Depictions in literature and film
The district's working-class character was most memorably recorded by Gabrielle RoyGabrielle Roy
Gabrielle Roy, CC, FRSC was a French Canadian author.- Biography :Born in Saint Boniface , Manitoba, Roy was educated at Saint Joseph's Academy...
in her novel The Tin Flute
The Tin Flute
The Tin Flute , Gabrielle Roy’s first novel, is a classic of Canadian fiction...
(Bonheur d'occasion).
Saint-Henri has been the subject of two National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
(NFB) documentaries, each capturing one day in the life of the district. In 1962, Hubert Aquin
Hubert Aquin
Hubert Aquin was a novelist, political activist, essayist, filmmaker and editor....
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 the course of 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
- Pat BurnsPat BurnsPatrick Burns was a National Hockey League head coach. Over 14 seasons between 1988 and 2004, he coached in 1,019 games with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, and New Jersey Devils...
- former police officer, NHL head coach and TV hockey broadcaster - Yvon DeschampsYvon DeschampsYvon Deschamps, CQ is a Quebec author, actor, comedian and producer best known for his monologues. His social-commentary-tinged humour propelled him to prominence in Quebec popular culture in the 1970s and 1980s...
- author, actor, comedian and producer