History Lesson

What Happened to Frederick Law Olmsted’s Vision for Mount Royal?

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.

History Lesson

The Strange Architectural Afterlife of Joseph-Arthur Godin

You may not recognize the name, but the Montreal architect’s curved facades, vanished theatres, churches, and landmark apartment buildings remain woven into the city’s everyday landscape.

History Lesson

Sponsored

The Historic Mount Royal Hotel Is Now Home to Montreal's Best Office Space

Once known as the historic Mount Royal Hotel, the Les Cours Mont-Royal is seeing renewed demand as its overlooked office spaces fill up and tenants move in.

History Lesson

The Day a Downtown Campus Burned and What Came After

What began as a complaint about grading bias escalated into a two-week occupation, a fire, and one of the most consequential reckonings with institutional racism in Canadian higher education.

History Lesson

The Flying Cathedral That Made a City Lose Its Mind

In the summer of 1930, a British airship the length of two and a half Boeing 747s locked onto a mooring mast on the South Shore. Nearly a million people came to watch.

History Lesson

The Montreal Punch That May Have Killed Houdini

A backstage encounter at a Montreal theatre, a few punches, a death six weeks later. The cause remains disputed.

History Lesson

What Happened to Frederick Law Olmsted’s Vision for Mount Royal?

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.

History Lesson

The Strange Architectural Afterlife of Joseph-Arthur Godin

You may not recognize the name, but the Montreal architect’s curved facades, vanished theatres, churches, and landmark apartment buildings remain woven into the city’s everyday landscape.

History Lesson

Sponsored

The Historic Mount Royal Hotel Is Now Home to Montreal's Best Office Space

Once known as the historic Mount Royal Hotel, the Les Cours Mont-Royal is seeing renewed demand as its overlooked office spaces fill up and tenants move in.

History Lesson

The Day a Downtown Campus Burned and What Came After

What began as a complaint about grading bias escalated into a two-week occupation, a fire, and one of the most consequential reckonings with institutional racism in Canadian higher education.

History Lesson

The Flying Cathedral That Made a City Lose Its Mind

In the summer of 1930, a British airship the length of two and a half Boeing 747s locked onto a mooring mast on the South Shore. Nearly a million people came to watch.

History Lesson

The Montreal Punch That May Have Killed Houdini

A backstage encounter at a Montreal theatre, a few punches, a death six weeks later. The cause remains disputed.

History Lesson

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.

History Lesson

Before "world music” was a genre, there was Club Balattou

From exile to empire, this is how a tiny St-Laurent nightclub became the global heartbeat of African music in Montreal.

History Lesson

How Montreal got its Little Italy

A century-long story of how a neighbourhood grew from railroad workers to family legacies everywhere you look today.

History Lesson

The Gothic mansion where the CIA broke minds with LSD and electroshock

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

History Lesson

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.

History Lesson

When Montreal had a steam-powered shortcut to the top of Mount Royal

From 1884 to 1918, a steam-powered cable railway hauled Montrealers to the summit in minutes, despite a park designer's vision of leisurely mountain strolls.

History Lesson

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.

History Lesson

Before "world music” was a genre, there was Club Balattou

From exile to empire, this is how a tiny St-Laurent nightclub became the global heartbeat of African music in Montreal.

History Lesson

How Montreal got its Little Italy

A century-long story of how a neighbourhood grew from railroad workers to family legacies everywhere you look today.

History Lesson

The Gothic mansion where the CIA broke minds with LSD and electroshock

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

History Lesson

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.

History Lesson

When Montreal had a steam-powered shortcut to the top of Mount Royal

From 1884 to 1918, a steam-powered cable railway hauled Montrealers to the summit in minutes, despite a park designer's vision of leisurely mountain strolls.