In the process of researching various, Westmount related, topics a newspaper a headline “Westmount Will Have One Of The Finest Laid Out Parks on the Continent” caught my attention.

The article that followed was in the Westmount News August 5, 1910. It provided details of a new Park Extension By-Law (221) that was passed by City Council. The City was taking a $300,000 loan to procure 5 additional acres for the purpose of extending the current park. A large portion of this land was from “Dame Margaret Smith et. al.” and the Estate of William Smith. This comprised the area between Western Avenue (now Boulevard De Maisonneuve) and St. Catherine Street, the Glen Road, Lansdowne Avenue and bordering Elgin Avenue (now Melville Avenue).

The City’s landscape architect, R. A. Outhet, proposed two crescent driveways joining Western Avenue: one from Elgin Ave. and the other following the path of Glen Road.

In addition, a boulevard entrance to the park would connect from St. Catherine Street “giving a stately entrance to the park”. Council stated that this would “increase the beautification of the city which so far has been laid out too much of straight lines”.

The By-Law also provided power to Council to sell land fronting St. Catherine St. and Lansdowne Ave. to pay for the park extension.

One can only speculate what the causes were to abandon this 100 year-old vision and create the park’s current landscape and configuration.

On another note, the same 1910 edition of the Westmount News had the following item:

“The council is now considering a proposal to erect a Museum, towards which substantial support has been generously promised by Mr. David Ross McCord, K.C., the well-known antiquarian of Temple Grove, whose collection of historic relics is the best and most complete in the continent.”

For some reason, eleven years later, David McCord donated his entire collection elsewhere forming the McCord National Museum located in a building provided by McGill University. The museum, today, is known as the McCord Museum and located at 690 Sherbrooke Street West.

Yellow peonies (Paeonia ludlowii) growing in a garden on Claremont Ave.

From Wikipedia:

“The peony is named after Paeon (also spelled Paean), a student of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing. Asclepius became jealous of his pupil; Zeus saved Paeon from the wrath of Asclepius by turning him into the peony flower”.

Centennial monument in Westmount Park.

From http://www.westmount.org/page.cfm?Section_ID=2&Menu_Item_ID=23&Menu_Item_Sub=318

“The commemorative monument was built in 1967 by the 3rd Field Engineer Regiment – a reserve force unit of the Royal Canadian Engineers – as part of the centennial celebrations, to mark the long association of the local unit with the City of Westmount.

Located in Westmount Park, near the corner of Melville and Sherbrooke, the monument consists of a 50-foot aluminum flagpole and a semi-circle of 12 stone panels. Encased on the panels are the coat of arms of the ten Canadian provinces and two territories, which existed at the time of construction.”

Patch of poppies (Papaveroideae) on Lorraine Ave.

From Wikipedia:

“Poppies have long been used as a symbol of sleep, peace, and death: Sleep because of the opium extracted from them, and death because of the common blood-red color of the red poppy in particular. In Greek and Roman myths, poppies were used as offerings to the dead.

Poppies used as emblems on tombstones symbolize eternal sleep. This symbolism was evoked in the children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which a magical poppy field threatened to make the protagonists sleep forever.”

E. Stanley residence (1920), wid. W. H. Stanley.

From: Chemist & Druggist – Volume 59 – Page 679:

“Captain W. H. Stanley, was one of the best-known military men in Montreal, a prominent athlete and fast snow-shoer, was for many years in the employ of Lampough and Campbell, wholesale druggists.”

David Pollock (1900) – Mechanical superintendent, Singer Manufacturing Company.

From Wikipedia:

“Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merritt Singer with New York lawyer Edward Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then The Singer Company in 1963. It is based in La Vergne, Tennessee near Nashville. Its first large factory for mass production was built in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1863.”

J. K. Macdonald & D. A. Macdonald (1900) – blacksmiths.

Walter J. Phelps (1900) – Manager Wortman & Ward Manufacturing Company – manufacturers of pumps, hay carriers, daisy churns and hand washers.

Charles Salsbury (1900) – Travellers Insurance Company.

From Wikipedia:

“Travelers was founded in 1864 in Hartford. It was originally founded to provide travel insurance to railroad travelers at a time when travel was far more risky and dangerous than today, hence the name. Along the way it had many industry firsts, including the first automobile policy, the first commercial airline policy, and the first policy for space travel. By the early 1990s, Travelers was predominantly a general property and casualty insurer that also happened to do some travel insurance on the side, and it quietly exited its original business in 1993. What was left of Travelers’ travel insurance business was acquired by a private entrepreneur and is now known as Travel Insured International.”

John A. Pitt (1900) – William Dow & Company.

From: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/dow_william_9E.html

“The son of a brewmaster, William Dow emigrated to Canada in 1818 or 1819 with substantial experience in brewing. He was employed as foreman at Thomas Dunn’s brewery, one of the few in Montreal at that time; by November 1829 Dow was a partner and was joined by his younger brother, Andrew, who had also trained as a brewer. Known as William Dow and Company after 1834, the year of Dunn’s death, the firm prospered and became one of the principal competitors in Montreal to Molson’s, the largest brewery in the city. Like some of his competitors William Dow was also engaged in distilling and in this business too he was a major local supplier. By 1863 his plant was producing some 700,000 gallons of beer in comparison to the Molson’s 142,000 gallons. As his business grew, Dow took in other partners besides his brother (who died in 1853). During the early 1860s he was joined by a group of associates, headed by Gilbert Scott, to whom he eventually sold the business for £77,877 in 1864; it kept his name.”