History Lesson

The Century Club: Montreal's Oldest Businesses Still Standing Today

An eclectic collection of Montreal businesses approaching, reaching, and surpassing the 100-year mark.

History Lesson

Before Jazz Had Festival Stages, It Had Coffeehouses

Montreal’s jazz culture grew in the city’s espresso bars and coffeehouses. This summer, Le Café Lavazza pays tribute to that legacy at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.

History Lesson

The Entire History of a City Told in Six Kilometres

From a country road out of a fortified colony to a corridor of immigrants, artists, labour organizers, gangsters, and entrepreneurs, Saint-Laurent Boulevard tells the story of Montreal better than any other street.

History Lesson

Everyone's Street, Nobody's Neighbourhood: The Story of Plaza St-Hubert

The 200-year story of a street that's always belonged to everyone and no one.

History Lesson

The Last Stand of Louis Cyr, the World’s Strongest Man

He patrolled the streets of Montreal, packed theatres across Europe, and returned to the city for an event that felt part miracle, part funeral.

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 Century Club: Montreal's Oldest Businesses Still Standing Today

An eclectic collection of Montreal businesses approaching, reaching, and surpassing the 100-year mark.

History Lesson

Before Jazz Had Festival Stages, It Had Coffeehouses

Montreal’s jazz culture grew in the city’s espresso bars and coffeehouses. This summer, Le Café Lavazza pays tribute to that legacy at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.

History Lesson

The Entire History of a City Told in Six Kilometres

From a country road out of a fortified colony to a corridor of immigrants, artists, labour organizers, gangsters, and entrepreneurs, Saint-Laurent Boulevard tells the story of Montreal better than any other street.

History Lesson

Everyone's Street, Nobody's Neighbourhood: The Story of Plaza St-Hubert

The 200-year story of a street that's always belonged to everyone and no one.

History Lesson

The Last Stand of Louis Cyr, the World’s Strongest Man

He patrolled the streets of Montreal, packed theatres across Europe, and returned to the city for an event that felt part miracle, part funeral.

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

When McGill med students went grave-robbing for science

The law demanded they learn anatomy but made dissection illegal, so for nearly a century, stolen corpses were tobogganed down Mount Royal to a folk hero janitor who paid cash, no questions asked.

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

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 soap maker who bent the Jacques-Cartier Bridge

On Tête de Cheval soap, stubborn French-Canadian industrialists, and the fire that just gutted a quiet landmark.

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

A butcher's gamble, a forgotten tavern, and how the Mile End earned its name

From a Durham County butcher shop and Massachusetts tavern keepers to a global creative district, the real story's one historians got wrong for decades.

History Lesson

When McGill med students went grave-robbing for science

The law demanded they learn anatomy but made dissection illegal, so for nearly a century, stolen corpses were tobogganed down Mount Royal to a folk hero janitor who paid cash, no questions asked.

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

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 soap maker who bent the Jacques-Cartier Bridge

On Tête de Cheval soap, stubborn French-Canadian industrialists, and the fire that just gutted a quiet landmark.

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

A butcher's gamble, a forgotten tavern, and how the Mile End earned its name

From a Durham County butcher shop and Massachusetts tavern keepers to a global creative district, the real story's one historians got wrong for decades.