Mercier

The portrait

A village facing the river

Before the expressways and the grid of streets, there was Longue-Pointe, a village at the water's edge. Its stone church, built in 1724, looked out over the river. According to the Mémoires des Montréalais, villagers cut ice in winter, fished in summer and rowed across to Boucherville. By the late 1800s, Montreal merchants and professionals were building summer villas along rue Notre-Dame, looking out over the St. Lawrence.

A little further north, the Sisters of Providence began taking in people with mental illness at their Saint-Isidore farm in 1852. On October 4, 1873, Sister Thérèse de Jésus and Premier Gédéon Ouimet signed the deed founding the Saint-Jean-de-Dieu asylum. After the fire of May 6, 1890, it was rebuilt in stone, and the new pavilions opened in 1901. Today the institution is known as the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal.

Tétreaultville, from farmland to rail lines

The 20th century carved the big farms into lots. According to the Atelier d'histoire de Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Pierre Tétreault, a carpenter who came home rich from the United States, began buying the Archambault family's land in 1896, and the village of Tétreaultville was born in 1907. His château on rue Bellerive was torn down in 1942; the site is now Parc Pierre-Tétreault. In 1910, Longue-Pointe, Beaurivage and Tétreaultville were annexed by Montreal, and early in the century the area took the name Mercier.

The railway brought the factories. According to the City of Montréal, a locomotive plant opened in 1902 just east of today's rue Dickson. A vast industrial zone took shape between the Longue-Pointe rail yard, rue Notre-Dame, the Molson stream and the CN tracks. The Dickson incinerator went up there in 1954-1955.

A tunnel, then the metro

On May 17, 1962, the Lesage government chose the old village as the site of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine bridge-tunnel. Three hundred families were expropriated, demolition began in August 1963, and the Saint-François-d'Assise church came down in February 1964. A new church opened in 1966 at rue Lafontaine and rue Georges-Bizet. Highway 25 drew the line that still divides Mercier-Ouest, with Longue-Pointe and Louis-Riel, from Mercier-Est, also known as Tétreaultville. In June 1976, just before the Olympic Games, the green metro line was extended under rue Sherbrooke all the way to Honoré-Beaugrand.

The promenade and rue Hochelaga

Life in Mercier starts at the water. Parc de la Promenade-Bellerive runs for about 2.2 km along the shore, the only public access to the river in the entire borough. In summer, river shuttles leave its dock for Boucherville and Île Charron. Next door, rue Bellerive has been closed to cars between Des Ormeaux and Baldwin to join Parc Pierre-Tétreault and Parc Clément-Jetté Sud, with water jets and lounge chairs turned toward the river. Close by, on rue Desmarteau, a former industrial building has been converted into lofts.

A few blocks north, rue Hochelaga is Tétreaultville's main street. You book a table at Bistro Le Cerf-Volant, a bring-your-own-wine spot, order a smash burger at the Chez Simon Cantine Urbaine counter, or grab a latte at Le M café. The Mercier maison de la culture and library share one building at 8105 rue Hochelaga. On the west side, rue Sherbrooke lines up the Assomption, Cadillac, Langelier and Radisson metro stations, the Langelier library and the Place Versailles shopping centre; climbers head to Monolithe Escalade on rue Dickson, and the Olympic Park is just to the west.

Mercier suits people who want the river a short walk away, a neighbourhood main street and the green line into downtown.

Every property has a story. In Mercier, it often begins by the river, between the Bellerive promenade and rue Hochelaga. Our job is to help you find the one that becomes yours.