Saint-Henri neighbourhood

In 1813, the small village became Saint-Henri-des-Tanneries, and by the early 19th century, most of the population was making a living from the leather trade. During the same period, the village grew from a simple craft trade to an industry, with the construction of the Lachine Canal, which opened up trade routes to Montreal.

Between 1876 and 1929, Saint-Henri embarked on a second phase of urbanisation. Thanks to the Lachine Canal and the railway that passed through the town, industry developed rapidly, and large factories opened in the town.

It was also during this period (1905) that the Saint-Henri district was annexed to Montreal. Industrialisation meant that the population grew rapidly. Working conditions were harsh, but it was here that important community resources, such as one of the first fraternal benefit societies and Les Chevaliers du Travail, a trade union group that was particularly active in the south-west, developed.

In 1930, the economic crisis hit hard, leaving one in two families unemployed. A slight upturn in activity during the Second World War gave hope to the sector, but in 1960 the Lachine Canal closed, and this was another blow to the district. Major institutions and manufacturing industries closed for good. Saint-Henri was no longer a working-class neighbourhood, but thanks to its proximity to the city centre, it became the city’s dormitory.

In the 1980s, a number of businesses, as well as artists and craftspeople, invested in Saint-Henri and transformed a number of abandoned buildings into offices and multi-tenant spaces. Saint-Henri is still an impoverished district, but since the rebirth of the Atwater market and the reopening of the Lachine Canal to pleasure boating, it has seen a gentrification movement that is changing the commercial landscape.