Lachine

Lachine · 99 photographs · 1947–1975

A stone warehouse built in 1803 preserves Lachine’s connection to the canoe transport of furs by French Canadian voyageurs, Indigenous trappers and European merchants. Above the rapids, western waterways converged at a place where travellers had to bypass the obstruction to continue east. At the Le Ber-Le Moyne site, a building erected between 1669 and 1671 served as a trading post, a warehouse supplying coureurs des bois and a home. The stone house contained a cellar, an attic, bedrooms and a fireplace. The Lachine Canal opened in 1825, followed by the Dawes brewery in 1826 and the railway in 1847.

The brewery buildings have acquired new uses: L’Entrepôt presents performances, while the Vieille-Brasserie-Dawes and the brewer’s house have also become municipal buildings. A sculpture garden occupies the waterfront landscape at René-Lévesque Park. The former industrial district of Lachine-Est is being converted into a neighbourhood combining housing, shops, businesses and public services. The municipal plans call for active travel, a network of green spaces and ecological management of water and waste.