Pix of Montreal slums circa 1957.

**canuck** · October-25-13, 07:50 PM

I found this picture set on an Atlantic Cities thread about the Red Light district in the late fifties and slum clearance for housing projects. The city still has a lot of this kind of architecture but it looks more european in these pictures with the shutters on all windows. They have all disappeared now.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/archive...7636432800756/

**old guy** · October-25-13, 09:47 PM

Great collection of photos canuck. A number of the old third story walk ups from the back with the wooden stairways remind me of places I lived in. Hard to imagine, but they were usually filled with, for the most part, good people that cared about your well being.

**Danny** · October-26-13, 02:23 PM

Montreal was at that time very slummy than London, Bronx, N.Y.C. and even before Detroit combined. Mercier-Holchelaga-Maissoneuve is considered to be Montreal's French Canadian ghetto since the 1910s. Some parts in the area haven't been gentrified in a while. Even through Mercier-Holchelaga-Maissoneuve has the highest poverty rate, crime is quite less. Not bad for that ghetto!

**canuck** · October-26-13, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by Danny

Montreal was at that time very slummy than London, Bronx, N.Y.C. and even before Detroit combined. Mercier-Holchelaga-Maissoneuve is considered to be Montreal's French Canadian ghetto since the 1910s. Some parts in the area haven't been gentrified in a while. Even through Mercier-Holchelaga-Maissoneuve has the highest poverty rate, crime is quite less. Not bad for that ghetto!

Yup Danny, my dad grew up in that very densely built neighborhood, and it has rough edges but is pretty tame for the most part. It went through a long decline in its industrial base over 50 +years. A lot of the factories there have been turned into condos since the mid eighties and the trend continues to this day. The Olympic Stadium park is in Hochelaga as well.

**rooms222** · November-07-13, 10:21 PM

Thank you for posting this. My parents met in Montreal right around when those pictures were taken. I sent the photostream organized by sets to my family to look at. Funny how the last time my mom visited Montreal, it was the one city where she was fully comfortable taking public transit and going around by herself, something she never really did in her Midwestern, auto-centered lifestyle.......

**Honky Tonk** · November-08-13, 09:30 AM

Thoroughly enjoyed the photos, canuck, merci beacoup! LOVE the beam support in the first one with the woman doing the wash!

**Detroitnerd** · November-08-13, 03:37 PM

Tear that schitt do-- hey, wait. I thought this was some black ghetto, but it looks like Europe. How about we clean it up and invest in this emerging neighborhood more?

**canuck** · November-10-13, 09:58 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Tear that schitt do-- hey, wait. I thought this was some black ghetto, but it looks like Europe. How about we clean it up and invest in this emerging neighborhood more?

This nabe was unfortunately given the axe a couple of years later to build a vast project but some streets around it still live on. Of course, these houses were in pretty rough shape for the most part. The house styles you see in these pictures are still prominent in this city though, minus the shutters. There is a definite french feeling to these houses and a strong link to places like New Orleans in a rough way. I also see similarities with Philadelphia, perhaps the closest North American city in built form to Montreal.

Honky Tonk / Thoroughly enjoyed the photos, canuck, merci beacoup! LOVE the beam support in the first one with the woman doing the wash!

How could one miss that, eh? Wow! what a whopping liability, lol.