Old Montreal c1900 in the Shorpy collection
Toronto. George Dunbar writes, “Plenty of wonderful archived images for viewing and sale at this site: https://www.shorpy.com/. George used the photo at left of Jacques Cartier Square c1900 in Old Montreal as an example of the interesting and historic photos available at Shorpy.
You photo collectors need to browse Shorpy to see what they have that fits your collection.
When my family and I lived in Montreal, we visited Jacques Cartier Square and I took a photo from about the same spot! Of course the vehicles were all more modern by then. The monument and buildings looked about the same. Legally, Quebec is under the Napoleonic Code while the rest of the provinces follow the British Common Law.
In 1900, Montreal was by far the largest city in Canada. Many Canadian maps of the time were marked as drawn by a contact in Montreal. A wave of head office moves out of Quebec and Montreal took place mid last century hastened by a Francophone emphasis. Today the charming city is dwarfed by Toronto and Vancouver.
PS. If you plan to visit Montreal and its old world charm later this month, be sure to take in the Montreal Camera Show on October 29th!
