An Irish Memorial Park
CREATING A NEW PARK at the Black Rock would provide valuable green space and honour the immigrants who died of typhus in 1847-48, and those who helped them
In Montreal’s Calcutta-like hot summer of 1847, large numbers of Irish immigrants were arriving in the city. Many had ship fever (typhus) and as a result, approximately 6,000 men, women and children died and were buried in the area around the Montreal side of the Victoria Bridge.
In effect, everyone crossing the bridge is driving over a cemetery. Currently, the only monument to this tragic event is a rock known as the Black Rock, which sits by itself while cars zoom by on both sides.
During the annual Walk to the Rock last month, an announcement was made that a new group called the Montreal Irish Memorial Park Foundation had been formed, with the objective of having all levels of government support the building of a large cultural green space in the immediate area.
At the moment, the area is rather desolate, and most of the property appears to be owned by the city of Montreal and/ or the federal government. As such, the property is logically a good choice for a new greenspace development, under the city’s plan to expand green spaces. There has been a lot of political interest in green-space issues in recent months.
The concept of this memorial park proposal would be to honour these 6,000 immigrants who died; to honour the many French-speaking Quebec families who adopted, and gave homes to, the almost 1,000 children who were orphaned by this tragedy; and to honour the many Montrealers who went out and gave aid to these poor immigrants and caught the fever and died themselves, including John Mills, who was mayor of Montreal at the time.
This general area also appears to have been an important meeting place for aborig- inal groups prior to the arrival of Europeans.
On a practical level, a properly designed cultural park, with sports facilities, would provide green space in the rapidly developing Griffintown area. It would make for a much nicer entry to the city of Montreal over the Victoria span. It could perhaps as well be a tourist attraction for the millions of Irish in North America whose ancestors arrived in that 1847 summer and survived.
It would seem the city and federal government would like to designate this whole area for light industry and/or housing.
Since the area is currently wide open, with a great deal of space taken up by a seldomused city parking lot, it would not be difficult to design and build a cultural green space.
There would be no demolition required; the city of Montreal has a budget for greenspace development; and extra funding is available as a result of developers in Griffintown having been obligated to set aside some funding for green space in the district. What’s more, some individuals, as well as groups in the local Irish community, have indicated they would be willing to donate to a memorial-park initiative.
This could certainly be a big, beautiful and positive project for Montreal. And if planning were to start soon, the basic green space could likely be ready for 2017 — the 375th anniversary of Montreal and 150th anniversary of Canada.
It is never easy to get greenspace development included in urban planning. Can I suggest that any and all Montrealers interested in a Montreal Irish Memorial Park send an email to our mayor, Denis Coderre, asking him not to approve any plan for light industry around the north side of the Victoria Bridge until this green-space possibility is studied properly?
I would also like to invite Gazette readers to look at the Montreal Irish Memorial Park Foundation’s website (montrealirishmonument.com), and leave their comments and suggestions.