Lachine, Quebec
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Lachine was a city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is now the Borough of Lachine of Montreal.
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[edit] Geography
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 municipal mergers on January 1, 2002 and did not demerge on January 1, 2006 [1].
The borough is bordered to the northwest by the city of Dorval to the northeast by Saint-Laurent, to the east by Côte-Saint-Luc, Montreal West 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.
[edit] Features
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 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 was 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. 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.
[edit] History
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 Ville Saint-Pierre, Quebec before being merged into Montreal in 2002.
[edit] Federal and provincial elections
The entire borough is located within the federal riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, and within the provincial electoral district of Marquette.
[edit] See also
