Place D'Youville
مونتريال
Place D'Youville is a long square in the western part of Vieux-Montréal. Beneath it lies the story of a vanished river, a hospital and a market.
A river under the square
The little Saint-Pierre River flowed here, fed by the streams of Mont Royal. First Nations gathered along its banks. But the area often flooded, so the first settlers preferred the nearby hill. In 1832 the river was covered over and disappeared underground.
Hospital and market
Between 1692 and 1694 a general hospital was built here. From 1747 it was run by Marguerite d'Youville, who gives the square its name. In 1833 the Sainte-Anne market opened, where fruit and vegetables were sold.
From square to museum
In 1901 the market was torn down, and in 1902 a garden was created. Today a city museum has buildings here. One of them is a pumping station from 1915. Since 2001 the eastern part has been called Place de la Grande-Paix-de-Montréal. It recalls a great treaty signed in the city in the summer of 1701.
To see from outside
In the middle stands an old red-brick fire station. Until 2018 it housed a museum of the city's history.
