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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

Photo du Jour – Public Transit Plaque

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plaque inauguration du métro montréal

Plaque at Berri-UQAM metro station commemorating the inauguration of Montreal’s public transit system in 1861 and the metro in 1966.

According to an STM timeline, the 1861 Montreal City Passenger Railway Company operated 6 miles of railway along Notre-Dame street and owned one stable, one shed, 8 vehicles and 14 horses.  By 1894, the last horse-drawn cars were replaced with electric streetcars affectionately known as Rockets.

The plaque, which is about a meter in diameter, sits face-up in the centre of the round bench at the entry to Berri-UQAM metro station. The indoor plaza between the four sets of turnstoiles is almost always packed with people – and the plaque is almost always being sat on -which probably explains why I never noticed the inscription until this week.

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4 comments

  1. Actually, I remember sitting there on more than one occasion and I’m sure I would have seen that plaque if it had been there. Maybe it was moved there recently?

  2. The plaque originally stood upright but that caused problems so it was laid into the granite. The reverse side lives in the MTC’s head offices.

  3. The plaque had also been stolen at one point, when it was standing upright.

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