Introduction
Visitors are invited to sign the Guest Book
This web site is about the area of Saint Henri referred to as La Glen / The Glen. Part of la paroisse Sainte Elizabeth du Portugal this area is bordered by the following streets, Saint Jacques, Des Courcelles, Desnoyers, Cazelais, Walnut and Saint Remi streets, often referred to as lower Westmount. The time period is approximately from 1935 to 1970.
This was mainly a blue collar working area. It was majority French speaking with a mixture of English,
Irish, Italians, and a sprinkling of some Caribbean Canadians, and other nationalities.
Most francophones went to Saint Elizabeth school and ecole Superieure Saint-Henri, while most anglophones went to Saint Thomas Aquinas high school.
This web site has many pictures of events that took place in our parish and we are very grateful to Mr. Tony Mancini, (deceased) who had the wisdom to maintain a visual history of our area with photographs. Andre Mancini provided the albums that permitted the scanning of many of the pictures. So if you frequently see Tony Mancini’s picture , it is because he was the proprietor of these fantastic historical photographs.
The Glen area was south of Westmount and southeast of N.D.G. It was a very vibrant neighborhood, and growing up in this area was very interesting. With a few exceptions, the houses were of the three story brick construction variety and if it wasn’t for the building of the ville Marie expressway, most would still be standing today. These tightly knit rows of houses were built for large families having five to a dozen members and it allowed residents to get to know many people.
After school and on weekends the sidewalks and streets were filled with children playing games , skipping ropes, playing allies (glass beads) or sometimes called smokies. In the spring, we used to play chestnuts with the nuts from the chestnut trees. A hole would be bored into the center of the nut and a cord was threaded through the hole and tied. The object of the game was to break your opponents nut with yours while he was holding his nut balanced from the string. If your opponents nut did not break, then it was his turn to take a shot at yours. This went on until one of the nuts broke off from the string. Who needed electronic games?
Behind the houses were the lanes used by the garbage collectors, coal deliveries, fruit and vegetable peddlers, the iceman and the ragman. We did not know it then, but the ragman in those days represented the recycling and salvage companies of today. These service people passed several times a week. Once in a while during the summer, the chip wagon used to pass on our streets vending French fries and hot dogs. We could identify the wagon or truck by the steam whistle that was on constantly.
Spring was probably the favorite season as most tenants were anxious to get rid of the snow and eagerly chopped the ice near the sidewalks with pick axes or plain axes. This encouraged the ice to melt faster. Springtime brought many activities such as cleaning the back lane of debris accumulated during winter, and the cleaning and scrubbing of windows and outdoor stairs.
Summer was spent mostly at Vaillant park because this was where we played sports. During the summer, city monitors organized activities to keep us busy. One of the most popular events was the election of a park Mayor and Mayoress. Some of the photos depict this event.
