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Age, grace & ice: The Royal Montreal Curling Club, North America's oldest sports club

The oldest established and active sports club—let alone the oldest curling club, period—on the entire continent is right here at home.

J.P. Karwacki

J.P. Karwacki

November 11, 2023- Read time: 5 min
Age, grace & ice: The Royal Montreal Curling Club, North America's oldest sports clubCurling in Canada, Montreal Curling Club, Montreal, QC, 1905, copied about 1906 | Photograph: Wm. Notman & Son / Notman Photographic Archives via McCord

Curling is… how can we say this?

Curling seems like it’s a non-sport to some.

Maybe it’s just us, but we’re not seeing the pubs in town fill up when a gold medal’s on the line at the Olympics. The shouting over people furiously brushing away at ice over thrown stones as they slide across ice, even if it’s considered to be a national pastime, doesn’t seem to be taken as seriously as it should be.

When we learn, however, about places like the Royal Montreal Curling Club?

We do a double-take.

Curling on the St. Lawrence, Montreal, QC, composite, 1878 | Photograph: Notman & Sandham / Notman Photographic Archives via McCord

Back to the ice age

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