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    The Main

    Montreal's Cultural Directory

    Help us improve! Share your thoughts on how we can make your experience better.

    Leave feedback

    For partnerships and collaborations:

    partnerships@themain.com

    Content

    • Articles
    • Food & Drink
    • Arts & Culture
    • History Lesson
    • Bulletin
    • Events

    Guides

    • All Guides
    • Best Restaurants
    • Best Cafés
    • Best Bars
    • Best Brunch
    • Best Bakeries

    Explore Montreal

    • Browse Directory
    • Restaurants
    • Bars
    • Cafés
    • Bookstores
    • Leaderboard
    • Editor's Picks
    • New Places

    About

    • About us
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    • Shop
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    • RSS Feed

    Legal

    • Terms of service
    • Membership Terms
    • Privacy Policy
    Follow us
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    The Main Media Inc. 2026

    ✦ Built By Field Office

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      --°C|Wednesday, May 27, 2026|
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      --°C|Wednesday, May 27, 2026|
      Subscribe today to get 3 free articles per month.Get 50% off your first 5 rides with Lyft
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      EN/FR
      The Main Logo
      Magazine
      Sections
      • Arts & Culture
      • Beyond Montreal
      • Design
      • Food & Drink
      • History Lessons
      • The Bulletin
      Explore
      Popular Guides
      • The Best Restaurants in Montreal
      • Best new Restaurants
      • Best Cafés
      • Unique Boutiques
      • Romantic Restaurants
      • Best Bookstores
      • See all Guides
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      • Downtown
      • Le Plateau-Mont-Royal
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      More History Lesson

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      As Mount Royal Park turns 150, the story of its creation reveals how Olmsted's vision for the mountain was compromised almost from the very beginning.

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      May 27, 2026 · 6 min read

      What Happened to Frederick Law Olmsted’s Vision for Mount Royal?
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      The Main is reader-supported. Subscriptions are what keep us independent. Five dollars a month — the restaurants, the guides, the weekly bulletin, and what to do each weekend. Support us today.

      Discover the places mentioned in this story

      Mount Royal

      On the afternoon of May 24, 1876, a parade wound through the streets of Montreal and up toward the base of the mountain. Meteorological records are scant this far back, but late May generally brings comfortable spring weather. There were speeches, cannon fire, and a grand picnic lunch laid out in the open air. Mount Royal Park—200 hectares of forested hillside acquired by the city at a cost of over a million dollars and designed by the most celebrated landscape architect in North America—was inaugurated.

      And on the very day of the inauguration, city council approved the construction of a funicular railway, a steam-powered shortcut to the summit that would, within a decade, whisk impatient Montrealers directly to the top in a matter of minutes.

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      The Main is reader-supported. Subscriptions are what keep us independent. Five dollars a month — the restaurants, the guides, the weekly bulletin, and what to do each weekend. Support us today.

      Discover the places mentioned in this story

      Mount Royal

      On the afternoon of May 24, 1876, a parade wound through the streets of Montreal and up toward the base of the mountain. Meteorological records are scant this far back, but late May generally brings comfortable spring weather. There were speeches, cannon fire, and a grand picnic lunch laid out in the open air. Mount Royal Park—200 hectares of forested hillside acquired by the city at a cost of over a million dollars and designed by the most celebrated landscape architect in North America—was inaugurated.

      And on the very day of the inauguration, city council approved the construction of a funicular railway, a steam-powered shortcut to the summit that would, within a decade, whisk impatient Montrealers directly to the top in a matter of minutes.

      Free account required

      For readers who care about Montreal

      Create a free account to read this story and access 3 articles per month, plus our weekly Bulletin.

      Independent. Local. Reader-supported.

      or

      Already a member? Sign in

      The Main

      Comments

      Welcome to The Main's comments section!

      Share your thoughts and join the conversation. Please be respectful and constructive.

      No comments yet. Be the first!

      Follow on Google

      Related Classics

      From our archive.

      How a Railway Porter Built Montreal's Most Storied Jazz Club
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      How a Railway Porter Built Montreal's Most Storied Jazz Club

      The story of Rufus Rockhead, the Jamaican-born railway porter who built Montreal's most legendary jazz club—and spent decades defending it.

      The century-long smoked meat legacy of Schwartz's Deli
      History Lesson
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      The Century-long Smoked Meat Legacy of Schwartz's Deli

      How a Romanian immigrant's recipe and stubborn refusal to change built Montreal's most iconic sandwich.

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      J.P. Karwacki

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      The Ravenscrag manor housed the Allan Memorial Institute, where patients seeking help became victims of Cold War experiments.

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      How Montreal Built Its Own Irish Pub Culture

      The shamrock has been on Montreal's coat of arms since 1832, and the pub culture that followed has been here just as long.

      The hidden politics of Montreal's 19th-century ice palaces
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      The Hidden Politics of Montreal's 19th-century Ice Palaces

      Built from 500-pound blocks of ice pulled from the St. Lawrence, the Neo-Gothic castles dazzled international crowds while reinforcing who really held power.

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