Former site of the French Methodist Institute (1886) – now Stayner Park.

From: The Westmount News, October 6, 1911

“The Institute began its work in 1880. Its founder was the late Rev. L. N. Beaudry (who had) a desire for the salvation and enlightenment of his fellow-countrymen, the French Canadians in the Province of Quebec.”

The Institute prepared students for:

“The Conference Preliminary Course for French Probationers of the Methodist Church of Canada;
Entrance in the Teachers’ Training Department of the McDonald College at Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue; and, University matriculation.”

The original building was designed by John Pierce Hill, who also designed the “Colonial House” for Henry Morgan & Co. (currently “Hudson’s Bay”) on Saint Catherine Street.

T. H. Blair – Intercolonial Railway (1886).

From: http://www.canadiana.ca/citm/themes/pioneers/pioneers9_e.html

“One of the conditions between the Canadas and the Maritime provinces upon Confederation was the building of an inter-colonial railway that would connect the regions. This condition was even written into the British North America Act, 1867.

The federal government provided assistance for the building of the Intercolonial Railway, but often had to take out loans from Britain to ensure its completion.

Sir Sandford Fleming was involved with the creation of these railways, which took part mainly in the 1870s.

He also notably invented Standard Time Zones around this period, which created the idea of a uniform time within 24 different geographic regions separated by 15 degrees longitude around the world.

This system worked in opposition to having an infinite number of local times in a particular region, which had been the norm until Fleming devised his system during the late 1870s. (It was presented at an international tribunal in 1884 and adopted.)

Local time, which had been adequate before people traveled long distances by train, caused chaos whenever passengers tried to figure out the correct arrival and departure times at particular stops along a rail line.

For instance, one could now travel a fairly short distance rather quickly by locomotive, only to discover that the time at his destination was either many hours ahead or behind the time set at his original departure point!

The Intercolonial was finally completed in 1876. In 1879, the Intercolonial absorbed part of the preexisting Grand Trunk Railway.

Sir Sandford Fleming also created Canada’s first postage stamp in 1851.”

James J. Taylor – William Johnson Dickson & Company (1886).

A entrance to an apartment building on Sherbrooke Street, near Victoria Ave. This is not the most attractive photograph; however, I feel compelled to make a point:

Looking closely, one can see (exposed from the paint that is flaking) that someone covered, using several layers of black paint, the Indian Emerald Green Marble cladding as well as the lower exterior mirror mosaic!

A small area, on the east side of Lansdowne Ave. and St. Catherine St., is all that remains of the original stream’s bed and embankment.