Bonaventure Station was the name of a railway station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its name was later adopted by a commercial development and a metro station.
Bonaventure Station was the name of a railway station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its name was later adopted by a commercial development and a metro station.
Named for its location on Saint Bonaventure Street, [1] now Saint Jacques Street, the first Bonaventure Station was built in 1847 as the main terminal for the Montreal and Lachine Railway. In 1862, the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) made an agreement to share the station, thereby obtaining a more centrally located Montreal terminal than their existing station near the Victoria Bridge approach. The GTR leased the Montreal and Lachine Railway in 1864 and purchased it outright in 1867, thus becoming owner of the station. [2]
Several other railways also used Bonaventure Station over the years, though it was not referred to as a union station. Notably, the Intercolonial Railway obtained running rights over the Grand Trunk into Montreal at the end of the 1880s; Bonaventure Station thus became its western terminal for service to and from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and other points in the Maritimes (see Ocean Limited).
In 1886–1888, a new, larger Bonaventure station building was built on the same site, to the plans of architect Thomas Seaton Scott [3] in the Second Empire style. [4] As with the similar 1873 Toronto Union Station, the Grand Trunk's Chief Engineer E. P. Hannaford also contributed to the project.
During the railway boom from the 1880s to the early 1910s, railways considered their terminal stations to be "prestige projects". Around the time construction began on the new Bonaventure Station, the competing Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) started work just two blocks away on Windsor Station, an imposing Richardsonian structure opened in 1889. As the CPR began work on expanding Windsor Station in 1900, the GTR, not to be outdone, seriously considered building a replacement for Bonaventure Station. A design for a new station was commissioned from Chicago architects Charles S. Frost and Albert Hoyt Granger. [5] In the end, however, the new station was never built as the GTR began to focus on its Grand Trunk Pacific transcontinental railway project.
On March 1, 1916, a fire broke out in the GTR's Bonaventure Station. Firemen from Fire Station No. 3 on Ottawa Street arrived fast enough to save most of the building from complete destruction. The GTR was in a dire financial situation and could only replace the original ornate roof with a flat one.
In 1910, the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) came to town and secretly purchased three entire blocks of downtown Montreal property for a major terminal and real estate development to coincide with the construction of its Mount Royal Tunnel. A temporary terminal facility was constructed to coincide with the tunnel project; however, financial difficulties at CNoR resulting from declining traffic levels following the commencement of World War I delayed completion. In September 1918 CNoR went bankrupt and was nationalized by the federal government, merging the company with Canadian Government Railways that December to form Canadian National Railways (CNR).
GTR faced similar financial problems and by 1923 was also absorbed into the Canadian National Railways. As the two systems were not conveniently interconnected, CNR continued to use both the GTR's Bonaventure Station and the temporary CNoR station at the southern end of the Mount Royal Tunnel line; however it was clear that the new railway required a combined central terminal in Montreal. In 1929, six years after absorbing GTR, Parliament approved the "Canadian National Montreal Terminals Act, 1929" which began the process of consolidating and rationalizing terminal trackage in the Montreal area. The Depression, along with a government-imposed moratorium on the project, caused major delays. Almost 15 years later on July 14, 1943, CNR finally opened Central Station on the former CNoR lands. The temporary CNoR station was then closed.
Bonaventure Station remained in use for a few commuter trains after the opening of Central Station. On August 23, 1948, an explosion followed by a massive fire destroyed most of the Bonaventure Station's freight yards and impeded rail access to the station building. [6] All remaining passenger service was then moved to Central Station. Bonaventure Station was demolished in November 1952.
The lands acquired by CNoR in the early part of the 20th century for its real estate developments had been inherited by CN and the federal government. During the post-war years, CN commissioned a major urban redevelopment of the city's downtown using these properties, focusing on its newly built Central Station.
In addition to Place Ville Marie, the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, and the CN Headquarters, Montreal became home to one of the largest commercial retail/office developments in the world when Place Bonaventure was built above part of the Montreal Central Station terminal trackage. Although the site was a few blocks northeast of the former location of Bonaventure Station, the name was chosen to commemorate it. This development was built between 1966 and 1967, in advance of Expo 67. The newly commissioned Dow Planetarium was built on the actual site of the former Bonaventure Station.
A Montreal Metro station was built to serve Place Bonaventure, Central Station, and the CPR Windsor Station complex. It opened on February 13, 1967, and is named Bonaventure station. Until the line was extended in 1980, it served as the terminal of Orange Line.
The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
Union Station is a major railway station and intermodal transportation hub in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Front Street West, on the south side of the block bounded by Bay Street and York Street in downtown Toronto. The municipal government of Toronto owns the station building while the provincial transit agency Metrolinx owns the train shed and trackage. Union Station has been a National Historic Site of Canada since 1975, and a Heritage Railway Station since 1989. It is operated by the Toronto Terminals Railway, a joint venture of the Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway that directs and controls train movement along the Union Station Rail Corridor, the largest and busiest rail corridor in Canada.
The Intercolonial Railway of Canada, also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also completely owned and controlled by the Government of Canada, the Intercolonial was also one of Canada's first Crown corporations.
The Grand Trunk Railway was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The railway was operated from headquarters in Montreal, Quebec, with corporate headquarters in London, United Kingdom. It cost an estimated $160 million to build. The Grand Trunk, its subsidiaries, and the Canadian Government Railways were precursors of today's Canadian National Railway.
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National Transcontinental Railway (NTR), running across northern Ontario and Quebec, crossing the St. Lawrence River at Quebec City and ending at Moncton, New Brunswick. The Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) managed and operated the entire line.
The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway, the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton.
The National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) was a historic railway between Winnipeg and Moncton in Canada. Much of the line is now operated by the Canadian National Railway.
Pointe-Saint-Charles is a neighbourhood in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Historically a working-class area, the creation of many new housing units, the recycling of industrial buildings into business incubators, lofts, and condos, the 2002 re-opening of the canal as a recreation and tourism area, the improvement of public spaces, and heritage enhancement have all helped transform the neighbourhood and attract new residents. Community groups continue to be pro-active in areas related to the fight against poverty and the improvement of living conditions.
The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company was an American subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway, later of the Canadian National Railway operating in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Since a corporate restructuring in 1971, the railroad has been under CN's subsidiary holding company, the Grand Trunk Corporation. Grand Trunk Western's routes are part of CN's Michigan Division. Its primary mainline between Chicago and Port Huron, Michigan serves as a connection between railroad interchanges in Chicago and rail lines in eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States. The railroad's extensive trackage in Detroit and across southern Michigan has made it an essential link for the automotive industry as a hauler of parts and automobiles from manufacturing plants.
The Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway is a subsidiary railroad of Canadian National Railway (CN) operating in northern Minnesota, United States. A CN system-wide rebranding beginning in 1995 has seen the DWP logo and name largely replaced by its parent company. The DWP line is CN's connection between International Falls and Duluth, Minnesota, where the railroad connects to a short stretch of the former Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway before following the former Wisconsin Central to Chicago, Illinois.
Northern Alberta Railways was a Canadian railway which served northern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. Jointly owned by both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, NAR existed as a separate company from 1929 until 1981.
The Halifax and South Western Railway was a historic Canadian railway operating in the province of Nova Scotia.
Charles Melville Hays was the president of the Grand Trunk Railway. He began working in the railroad business as a clerk at the age of 17 and quickly rose through the ranks of management to become the General Manager of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway. He became Vice-President of that company in 1889 and remained as such until 1896 when he became General Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) of Canada.
The Mount Royal Tunnel is a railway tunnel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The tunnel is the third longest in Canada, after the Mount Macdonald Tunnel and the Connaught Tunnel, and connects the city's Central Station, in Downtown Montreal, with the north side of Montreal Island and Laval and passes through Mount Royal.
Montreal Central Station is the major inter-city rail station and a major commuter rail hub in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Nearly 11 million rail passengers use the station every year, making it the second-busiest train station in Canada, after Toronto Union Station.
Gare du Palais is a train and bus station in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Its name comes from its proximity to the former location of the Palace of the Intendant of New France. It is served by Via Rail, Canada's national passenger railway, and by the private coach company Orléans Express.
Windsor Station is a former railway station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It used to be the city's Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) station, and served as the headquarters of CPR from 1889 to 1996. It is bordered by Avenue des Canadiens-de-Montréal to the north, Peel Street to the east, Saint Antoine Street to the south and the Bell Centre to the west.
Railway Lands is an area in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally a large railway switching yard near the Toronto waterfront, including the CNR Spadina Roundhouse and the CPR John Roundhouse, it has since been redeveloped and today is home to mostly mixed-used development, including the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre. The lands were owned and maintained by the Canadian National Railway and later transferred to the federal crown corporation Canada Lands Company. The area is bounded by Front Street, Yonge Street, Gardiner Expressway and Bathurst Street. The western portion of the Railway Lands is now part of the CityPlace neighbourhood and the eastern portion is now called South Core.
The Memory Junction Railway Museum preserved a collection of railway memorabilia in southeastern Ontario. It closed in 2017 and its collections were auctioned in 2021. It was located in the former Grand Trunk Railway station of Brighton, Ontario, which opened in 1857 and served intercity rail passengers until the 1960s.