A bit of history... |
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Contrary to what their name would have us believe, the Lachine rapids are actually in LaSalle. This is due to the fact that during the French Regime the core of the Lachine parish was situated within the present limits of LaSalle. Since then, the heart of the village gradually moved to what is now called Old Lachine while the area in front of the mighty rapids took the name of explorer Robert René Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. From the time of the fur trades until the digging of the St. Lawrence Seaway, most of the commercial organization happening in the country had to take into account ways of bypassing the famous rapids. One had to “portage” following a path alongside the river which became known as LaSalle Road and later LaSalle Boulevard. The portage ended at the top of the rapids where the great bay stood. It is from there that the entrance to the Montreal Aqueduct was excavated later in the XIXth century thus splitting LaSalle in two parts as we know it today. The bay was an important rendezvous site for voyageurs, explorers and natives all through the first quarter of the XIXth century.
The opening of the Lachine Canal in 1824 was a major event in the history of Quebec and Canada, consecrating Montreal as the economic center of the country. When it was incorporated as a municipality in 1912, LaSalle numbered only a few industries but its close proximity to the economic core of Quebec, and even of Canada, favoured its expansion. Starting around 1925, LaSalle welcomed many industries, even major ones, and became one of the most industrialized municipalities of the Montreal area and that, in spite of the great depression of the 1930s. The oldest of the LaSalle industries is without question Cie de matériaux de construction BP Canada (EMCO), heir to Standard Paint, established in LaSalle since 1906. During the 1920s, Peacock, now known as Weir Services, Seagram and Fleischmann’s all chose LaSalle as a business location. In 1937, Dewey and Almy, now Grace Canada, and a few years later, Arshinoff, previously Ross Engineering, and Arborite all decided on LaSalle as their place of business. Six companies followed suit in the 1950s, among which Labatt Brewery; eleven in the 1960s including Kruger, Domfer, Delmar Chemicals and Ideal Security; fourteen in the 1970s, among which were Vogue Pool Products, Morris National and Robertson; finally, some thirty more during the 1980s. All the rest of LaSalle industries were set up between 1990 and today.
In LaSalle it is not infrequent to find businesses created at the dawn of the third millennium established next to others that have initiated the industrialisation process at the beginning of the 20th century. This is one of the elements making this borough a unique location, where a rich industrial past is often a guarantee of a prosperous future. |
