Вердюн: История и Трансформация Монреальского Района

Verdun (/v//əɹ/'/d//ʌ//n/; vɛʁdœ̃, ) is a borough (arrondissement) of the city of Montreal, Quebec, located in the southeastern part of the island. Long known as a working class neighbourhood, it has experienced significant gentrification and social change in the 21st century.

The borough's name is a shortening of Saverdun, in France, the hometown of its early settler Zacharie Dupuy.

There is archaeological evidence of indigenous peoples in the area as early as 5,500 years ago. A portage along what is now the boulevard LaSalle was used to pass the Lachine Rapids. A trading post was established at nearby Fort Ville Marie in 1611 and colonization of the Island of Montreal began in 1642. In 1664 the Île Saint Paul (now Nun's Island) became a seigneury. The first colonial settlers were militiamen granted concessions in 1665 in exchange for defence against the Iroquois. Afterwards, the area was known as Côte des Argoulets (Sharpshooter's Ridge), in reference to the arquebus, an infantry gun. and the St. Pierre partly covered over and partly integrated with canals. In 1671 the Fief of Verdun is created when land is granted to Zacharie Dupuy, who derived the name Verdun from his native village of Saverdun in France. Two years later he donated the land to the Congrégation de Notre Dame, who in 1710 built the building now preserved as the Maison Nivard De Saint Dizier. This house is named for Étienne Nivard Saint Dizier, whose father bought the lands from the nuns in 1769. Following the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701, farmers settled along Lower Lachine Road (now boulevard LaSalle), which connected Fort Ville Marie with Lachine. The Canal de l'Aqueduc, now Verdun's northwestern boundary, was dug in 1854 to furnish Montreal with drinking water from the St. Lawrence. In 1874, a group of local land owners met in a farmhouse called Le Pavillon, located at the corner of Lower Lachine Road and Chemin de la Rivière Saint Pierre, and decided to found the village of Rivière Saint Pierre. Chartered by the government of Quebec, it became the municipality of Verdun the following year. Settlement had been hampered due to frequent flooding, but a dyke was built starting in 1896; its completion resulted in a population boom. The dyke itself became host to Verdun's popular Boardwalk, before land reclamation in the 70s led to the expansion of the waterfront park along the whole length of Verdun's riverbank. The first Église Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs (now part of the school of the same name) was built in 1899, followed by a combined town hall, fire hall, and police station in 1908. The tramway also arrived in 1899, connecting Verdun to downtown. A larger Église Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs de Montréal was built in 1914. and the Crawford Park area in the far west of the town was built starting in 1945, in a more suburban style unlike the orthogonal grid used in the rest of Verdun. Rapid development would continue to the present day, with the erosion of the sensitive natural woodland of the Domaine Saint Pierre becoming an increasingly pressing concern. Back in Verdun proper, in the post war period, the area around the church, along rue Wellington and rue de l'Église, became the nucleus of commercial development. A new city hall was built on Rue de Verdun in 1958. The Green Line of the Montreal Metro was extended into Verdun in 1978, its construction delayed due to a collapse in rue Wellington during the construction of De L'Église station. Besides De l'Église in downtown Verdun and Verdun station in front of the town hall, LaSalle station was built in vacant land in a former industrial area in the east of the borough, left vacant by the demolition of the vast British Munitions Supply Co. facilities; the Metro station would become the heart of a new residential area called La Poudrière after the munitions factories. However, improved access to downtown Montreal meant a decline in local commerce. A program of subsidies and revitalization starting in the 1990s reinvigorated the rue Wellington commercial corridor. In December 2010, the borough announced that it was planning to allow some microbreweries or performance spaces to sell alcohol. The ban was eventually lifted entirely in 2013, and today Verdun is home to many thriving microbreweries and bars. In 2020, it was even listed as the eleventh "coolest" neighbourhood in the world by Time Out magazine, in stark contrast to its twentieth century self.

Demographics of Verdun: It is now about two thirds French speaking. +Visible Minorities (2016) Ethnicity Population Percentage (%) Not a visible minority 53,340 79.2% Visible minorities 13,995 20.8%

Verdun is served by Quebec Autoroutes 15 and 20, which skirt the northern and eastern edges of its mainland portion and merge with Autoroute 10 on Nuns' Island. The island is connected to the Island of Montreal and the South Shore via the Champlain Bridge. The borough is contemplating the possibility of building a service bridge between the Island of Montreal and Nuns' Island. The bridge would connect Boul. Marguerite Bourgeoys on Nuns' Island with Rue Galt in mainland Verdun. It would be accessible only to city services, public transit, cyclists, and pedestrians. The borough is served by the Green Line of the Montreal Metro: Verdun, De l'Église, and LaSalle stations, along with Jolicoeur station immediately across the aqueduct in Ville Émard. All of these stations have been in service since 1978. Other than the metro, there is also the bus. The following bus routes pass through Verdun: 12 Ile Des Soeurs, 21 Place Du Commerce (runs AM rush only), 37 Jolicoeur, 58 Wellington, 61 Wellington, 71 Du Centre, 107 Verdun, 108 Bannantyne and 112 Airlie. The Réseau express métropolitain light metro serves Verdun at Île des Soeurs station, with the station opening on July 31, 2023. This provides automated train service connecting Verdun to Montreal Central Station, Brossard, Downtown Montreal and other areas of Greater Montreal, including, by 2027, Montreal Trudeau International Airport at the YUL–Montréal–Trudeau Airport station.

Significant medical facilities in the borough include the Douglas Mental Health University Institute (commonly known as "the Douglas"), a McGill University psychiatric hospital. The francophone Hôpital de Verdun, affiliated with the Université de Montréal Faculty of Medicine, is also in the borough.

Recreational facilities include the Verdun Auditorium, a hockey arena and concert hall, the home of the now defunct Junior de Montréal team. Expansive parks (L'Honorable George O'Reilly, Mgr J A Richard, and Arthur Therrien) with bike paths line the banks of the St. Lawrence River, making Verdun one of the few parts of the Island of Montreal to open onto the whole length of its waterfront, a legacy of the flooding that once impeded settlement. The waterfront also features the Verdun Natatorium, public access docks and a marina, an open air dancing shell, a lawn bowling green, and football, baseball, and soccer fields. In 2019, a public beach was opened behind the Auditorium. Cycling is also available along the Canal de l'Aqueduc on the opposite edge of the borough; on rue de Verdun; and around and through Nuns' Island, including the cycle accessible Champlain Bridge ice structure connecting to Île Notre Dame and the south shore. Another of the borough's major green spaces, the Domaine Saint Paul (Boisé de l'Île des Sœurs), preserves the natural woodland of Nuns' Island, home to more than a hundred species of birds as well as the scarce brown snake. Trails lead through the woodland. The campus of the Douglas Hospital is also a major green space open to the public. The borough's community centres are the Centre communautaire Marcel Giroux, near the borough hall; the Centre communautaire Elgar on Nuns' Island; and the Centre culturel de Verdun, in the western part of the borough. The latter two facilities include public libraries and art exhibition spaces.

The Montreal Public Libraries Network operates the Île des Sœurs Branch and the Verdun Branch in Verdun.