Lachine, Quebec
Lachine is a former city on the
Island of Montreal in southwestern
Quebec,
Canada. It consists of the
Borough of Lachine.
The borough is located in the southwest portion of the
island of Montreal, at the inlet of the
Lachine Canal, between the city of LaSalle, and the city of Dorval. It was a separate city until the
2002 municipal mergers.
The borough is bordered to the northwest by the city of
Dorval to the northeast by
Saint-Laurent, to the east by
CĂ´te-Saint-Lucâ€"Hampsteadâ€"MontrĂ©al-Ouest and a narrow salient of
Le Sud-Ouest, and to the south by
LaSalle. Its western limit is the shore of
Lac Saint-Louis and the
Lachine Rapids.
It has an area of 17.83 km² and a population of 40,222.
Quebec Autoroute 20 passes through Lachine, which is also served by the
Lachine commuter train station.
Most noticeable of Lachine's features is of course the
Lachine Canal and its recreational facilities, including the
Lachine Canal National Historic Site. Around the canal's inlet, in the southern part of the borough, are located the
Fur Trade at Lachine National Historic Site, René Lévesque Park (on a long peninsula extending into Lac Saint-Louis), and the Musée de Lachine, which has very important collections of modern
outdoor sculpture both on its own grounds, in René Lévesque Park, and in other sites throughout the borough. Other historic buildings are also located near the canal's inlet.
One of Lachine's proudest and yet most impoverished communities is located on the southern end of 45th Avenue across from Stoney Point Park. Known as a hangout for local troubled teens, and easy access to drugs, it has a rich heritage of housing some of Lachine's less fortunate, but hard working and decent families. It is situated within walking distance of the river front which also hosts Lachine's Canada Day celebration. Major attractions to the celebration include a local store's inflated Slush Puppy(tm) balloon. In 1997 disaster struck this community, a local eatery, Orlando Patate, fell victim to a major gas fire. This continued the sad generational legacy of loss, the closing of the famous Charlie's restaurant, and the closing of equally well known Miss Dixie restaurant. Generations of Lachine youth can now only recall in memory the fine hamburgers of Charlie's Restaurant, or the hours listening to the jukebox at the Miss Dixie restaurant. Although these tragedies affected most in the neighbourhood, the area was rejuvenated with the development of condominiums. Local shops have had a high turn-around rate, but due to recent gentrification this community's economic recession has ended.
Lachine, apparently from French
la Chine (
China), is often said to have been named in
1669 in mockery of its then owner
Robert Cavelier de La Salle, who explored the interior of North America, trying to find a passage to Asia. However, this claim has been disputed and the evidence for it is unclear.
On August 5th,
1689, more than 1500
Mohawk warriors raided the small village and burned it to the ground in retaliation for the ravaging of the
Seneca lands by
governor Denonville and his men. The attack left 80 dead and terrorized the other French colonists living on the island of Montreal, and more massacres of this kind were to take place on the island during the following decade.
Lachine was incorporated as a city in
1872. It had already been merged with the town of
Saint-Pierre, Quebec before being merged into Montreal in
2002.
The entire borough is located within the federal riding of
Notre-Dame-de-Grâceâ€"Lachine, and within the provincial electoral district of Marquette.
