The Marché des Possibles, Mile End’s summer gathering place, is back for a second year! The market is produced by POP Montréal in collaboration with the Arrondissement du Plateau Mont-Royal. Mile End Memories will be there with an information table, interactive activities, and of course walking tours of the neighborhood.
The market takes place each Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 19 June to 9 August 2015, in the space next to the Saint-Louis Arena – on Saint-Dominique Street near Bernard.
Our information table will be the meeting place for the tours, which will last about two hours and loop back towards the market. At the end of these trips through time, you’ll be able to continue the discussion at the market’s Biergarten.
Sundays 21 June, 12 July: Founding Sites of Mile End
Walking tour led by Yves Desjardins and Justin Bur
Carte de base : Hopkins 1879, BAnQ
During the 19th century, Mile End developed around four sites: the tavern, the quarries, the church and the railway station. This tour will explore the notable people and the economic activities behind these places, and seek out the traces left behind by these early gathering places.
Sunday 21 June 2015, 2 pm to 4 pm
Sunday 12 July 2015, 3 pm to 5 pm
Meeting point: Marché des Possibles, at our table near the southeast corner of Saint-Dominique and Bernard Streets
Ending point: corner Fairmount and Saint-Dominique, near the starting point. Note: we won’t go south of Saint-Joseph, to stay within the allotted time.
No reservations needed
Voluntary contribution
In French and English
Sundays 28 June, 2 August: The Spirit of Mile End
Walking tour led by Yves Desjardins and Justin Bur
photo : Justin Bur 2010
If you wanted to take your friends from afar on a tour of the neighborhood, there’s a good chance you’d go for a walk on Saint-Viateur and Bernard Streets. That’s what we’ll do on this tour – for behind the effervescent street life of today we can make out the shadows of the past: great ambitions, big changes, decline and renewal.
In French: Sunday 28 June 2015, 2 pm to 4 pm
Sunday 2 August 2015, 2 pm to 4 pm
Meeting point: Marché des Possibles, at our table near the southeast corner of Saint-Dominique and Bernard Streets
Ending point: Lhasa-De Sela Park, near the starting point
No reservations needed
Voluntary contribution
Sunday 5 July: Mile End’s Railway Landscape
Walking tour led by Justin Bur
The Phillips Electrical Works
Carte postale, début 20e s. – Post card, early 20 c. / BAnQ
The industrial sector of Mile End is changing rapidly. This walk will follow the trail of clues about the buildings and activities that filled the area along the railway lines for three-quarters of a century, before they fell silent not so long ago. Did you know there was once a Mile End station with train service to Vancouver? Or that a brewery, several dairies, and two piano factories used to operate nearby?
In French: Sunday 5 July 2015, 2 pm to 4 pm
Meeting point: Marché des Possibles, at our table near the southeast corner of Saint-Dominique and Bernard Streets
Ending point: Champ des Possibles, not far from the starting point
No reservations needed
Voluntary contribution
Saturday, 18 July: From Factories to Artists’ Studios
The metamorphosis of eastern Mile End
Walking tour led by Christine Richard and Alice Miquet
Carrière & Frère, av. Laurier Est
The North End, 1913, Archives de la Ville de Montréal
East of Saint-Laurent Boulevard, massive concrete factory buildings were built between 1965 and 1975. In their shadow can be found the ghosts of even earlier industrialization, which spurred the urbanization of Mile End. Today, a concentration of artists unique in Canada springs forth from the concrete.
This tour will offer keys to understanding a varied urban landscape where many structures – including the forecourt of an old station, a public bath, and a monastery – stand next to the megastructures.
- In French: Saturday 18 July 2015, 2 pm to 4 pm
- Meeting point: Marché des Possibles, at our table near the southeast corner of Saint-Dominique and Bernard Streets
- No reservations needed
- Voluntary contribution
Sunday 26 July and 2 August: Ask your questions about Mile End
Discussion led by Justin Bur and Christine Richard
Base map : Sitwell, 1869 / BAC
We’ll bring historic images of the neighborhood and stories to tell. You’ll come with questions. Would you like to know more about the origin of the name Mile End? About the churches and synagogues of the area? About streetcars and railways? About the communities that have lived in the neighborhood over the years? Or do you have memories to share? Come one, come all!
- Sunday 26 July 2015, 6 pm to 7 pm
- Sunday 2 August 2015, 5 pm to 7 pm
- At the Marché des possibles, southeast corner of Saint-Dominique and Bernard Streets
- Discussion in French and English
- No reservations; free
Sunday 9 August: In Search of Forgotten Mile End
Walking tour led by Yves Desjardins
La gare du Mile End, vue du toit du Patro Le Prévost, rue Saint-Dominique, 1921. (Archives du Patro Le Prevost)
Le quartier d’aujourd’hui est modelé depuis plus d’un siècle par de nombreuses communautés. Comment les paroisses catholiques canadiennes-françaises et irlandaise, les temples protestants et les synagogues juives cohabitaient-ils ? Quelles sont les traces de leur présence ? Quels fantômes du passé influencent toujours la physionomie contemporaine du Mile End ?
- En français : Sunday 9 August 2015, 2 pm to 4 pm
- Meeting point: Marché des Possibles, at our table near the southeast corner of Saint-Dominique and Bernard Streets
- No reservations needed
- Voluntary contribution