This is a pleasant and easy walk. It takes you thru the heart of Montreal’s “Little Burgundy” neighbourhood (formerly part of the city of Sainte-Cunégonde) which historically has a large percentage of Montreal’s english speaking Black community. In the late 19th century, Montreal was becoming a railway hub, and hundreds of black workers from the Maritime provinces, the United States and the Caribbean arrived in the city looking for work with the railways. They became porters and other railway service employees and this is where they laid down their roots. It is a working class area that is now gentrifying. Little Burgundy is bordered on the west by Atwater Avenue, to the east by Guy Street, to the north by Saint-Antoine Street and to the south by the Lachine Canal. This walk will highlight the history of jazz here, (Oscar Peterson, his sister Daisy, Oliver Jones), a Montreal Alouette football player (Herb Trawick), the legendary Rufus Rockhead’s Paradise nightclub and a vanished neighbourhood that was demolished in the name of urban renewal.
We did this walk on Saturday November 7th, 2020.
Above Google map highlights the route we took.
1. Parc Charlevoix-Rufus-Rockhead
2.UNIA Plaque 2741 Notre Dame West
3.Union United Church -3007 Delisle
4.Georges-Vanier Library 2450 Workman Street
5.Jazzmen Park
6.Oliver Jones Mural -corner Lionel-Groulx and Georges-Vanier Streets
7.Parc Herb Trawick
8.Oscar Peterson Mural – corner Saint-Jacques and Rue des Seigneurs
9.Daisy Peterson Mural – corner Saint-Jacques and Rue Saint-Martin
10. Parc Oscar Peterson
11. Demolished homes – all on north side of Saint-Antoine Street between Vinet and Guy Streets
12. Rufus Rockhead’s Paradise Club – demolished – stood at south east corner of Saint-Antoine and De La Montagne
We started this walk at the corner of Rue Rufus-Rockhead and Rue Daisy-Peterson-Sweeney.
Parc Charlevoix Rufus-Rockhead is right here.
In the distance to the west you can see the Atwater Market.
Union United Church (3007 Delisle, corner Atwater) – photo taken summer 2019. Founded in 1907, it has a long and rich history with Montreal’s Black community. Oscar Peterson, Daisy Peterson and Oliver Jones were members of the congregation
UNIA plaque (2741 Notre-Dame West – corner Atwater)
Corona Theatre (2490 Notre-Dame West) – built in 1912 for silent films, today it hosts live performances.
Corona Theatre
On Notre-Dame Street West, you will see these banners highlighting the history of jazz here.
Notre-Dame Street West
Georges-Vanier Library (2450 Workman Street) – built in 1904, it was the city hall of the original municipality of Sainte-Cunégonde.
Looking north at the corner of Vinet and Lionel-Groulx Avenues, Sainte-Cunégonde Church can be seen (built in 1906).
Parc Jazzmen – Lionel-Groulx Avenue – pays tribute to the Jazzmen of Montreal.
Parc Jazzmen
Oliver Jones Mural – corner of Lionel-Groulx and Georges-Vanier Avenues (created by Dan Buller in 2014). Oliver Jones was born in Little Burgundy and a great jazz pianist, studying music at the age of five at the Union United Church, as well as with Daisy Peterson when he was a child.
Oliver Jones Mural
Parc Herb Trawick – Lionel-Groulx Avenue.
Herb Trawick, the first African American to play professional football in Canada, playing 12 years with the Montreal Alouettes from 1946 to 1957. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was a player with the 1949 Grey Cup champions when Montreal defeated the Calgary Stampeders 28 to 15. Below left are the Grey Cup champions in 1949, Herb Trawick is back row, number 86.
Oscar Peterson Mural – corner of Saint-Jacques and Rue des Seigneurs.
Oscar Peterson Mural – (created by Gene Pendon in 2011).
Newspaper clipping from June 1945 introducing Oscar Peterson as a “Hot Jazz Pianist”. Oscar was 19 years of age and just cut a record.
Daisy Peterson Mural – (created by Kevin Ledo in 2018), corner of Saint-Jacques and Rue Saint-Martin.
Daisy Peterson Mural.
Sister and brother…..Daisy and Oscar Peterson in 1944 (credit to Library and Archives Canada). Oscar Peterson, the pianist. Daisy Peterson, the music teacher.
Parc Oscar Peterson
Parc Oscar Peterson
Rue Quesnel
Saint Antoine Street West
Corner of Vinet and Saint-Antoine West Streets
North side of Saint-Antoine Street West. This is the Ville-Marie Expressway, the entire north side of Saint-Antoine Street was razed to the ground, late 1960’s and early 1970’s.
Saint-Antoine Street West looking east. The Ville Marie Expressway leads directly to downtown Montreal and continues underground.
Beautify Victorian homes on Saint-Antoine Street West.
Below map from 1959 shows the area that was destroyed in the name of urban renewal. There was a neighbourhood here informally known as “Plymouth Grove”, and it centered around Plymouth Grove Street. In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, Oscar Peterson’s family lived here. These streets would lie directly under the present day Ville-Marie Expressway. Names like Plymouth Grove, Brandon Street, Woodstock Street, Richmond Square, Lymburner Street, Calumet Street have all disappeared, as have the buildings and their inhabitants.
Below map (credit to Archives Montreal) show this neighbourhood. The green circle shows where Lymburner, Brandon, Woodstock were. The yellow circle shows where Plymouth Grove was, the purple circle is where St. Anthony’s Church once stood and the blue circle indicates the vanished Richmond Square on the north side of Saint-Antoine.
Below clippings from local newspaper on the expropriation and possession of parcels of land and the demolition of buildings. You can see the addresses of the homes that were destroyed.
St. Anthony’s Church (built in 1889) that was razed. It was rebuilt on the south side of Saint-Antoine Street West.
Parc Jessie Maxwell Smith, named for a community organizer and teacher in Little Burgundy. This park is on the southside of Saint-Antoine at Richmond Square.
Parc Jessie Maxwell Smith
As you continue walking east on Saint Antoine, you will be leaving Little Burgundy but if you go to the corner of de la Montagne and Saint-Antoine, this is where the famous Rockhead’s Paradise bar stood.
Rufus Rockhead was the first black to own a nightclub in Montreal when he opened Rockhead’s Paradise in 1928. It was a jazz club that served the city until it closed in 1977. Great musicians and performers came here over the years, including Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lead Belly, Nina Simone, Fats Waller, Dizzy Gillespie, Sammy Davis Jr. and of course, Oscar Peterson and Oliver Jones.
Newspaper clipping from 1950 advertising Rockhead’s Paradise as “Harlem in Montreal”.
We hope you enjoy this walk and the history of Little Burgundy. Please let us know if there is anything we may need to correct or you wish to add. Comments always appreciated.
I was born on Plymouth Grove in 1949. My parents grew up in Little Burgundy. They were married in St. Anthony’s Church, and my brother and I were baptized there. My brother was one of the last marriages there in 1969.
Thank you so much for writing this and the photos.
Wonderful history 💕
Hi Eileen, thanks for sharing this with us. We really enjoyed this walk and discovering the history of Little Burgundy.
Hi
Were there limestone houses on Plymouth Grove and were they divided into apartments with outside fire escapes? I’m doing some research and would appreciate your help
Hi Christine; hopefully one of our readers may remember any details on Plymouth Grove.
Hi, Eileen
Do you remember what the houses were like on Plymouth Grove? Were they rowhouses? brick homes? iron staircases leading up to upper apartments? did they face the railway track? I’m researching this area and am looking for details about the street if you would be able to help, i’d be grateful
christine
Hi Christine,
I’m so sorry but I have very little memories of Plymouth Grove, as I was almost 2 when we moved away. I vaguely remember wooden stairs.I remember my mother saying she did not like my brother playing near the railway tracks with his friends. If my parents were alive today..so many questions I would have. I think we were in an upper apartment. I know the address was 2254. I would be very interested in any information you find in your research.
Hi, thanks for this piece and the photos and info! My mother grew up on Lymburner. She was born in 1928 and grew up poor. I had no idea she had lived so close to Oscar Peterson. I had only known that my dad, who was from NDG, was at school with him at Montreal High. I knew she told me her old house was destroyed in the name of progress, but this explains it all.
Thank you for sharing this Cynthia, and happy you enjoyed the website. This part of Little Burgundy suffered the same fate as “Goose Village” did back in 1964 to make way for Expo 67. Do you have any family photo’s from your mother of the area?
I am so sad to see it all go, including the Negro Community Center. This was my world, I went to Royal Arthur School, now gone; my son went to the school the last year it was open. my cousins went to Ste Cunnegonde (Girls) and D’Iberville boys. My neighbours went to St. Anthony’s and Belmont School. My home at 2358 workman street was demolished for new housing. My childhood memories have all been torn away.
Hello Carol; Thank you for sharing your memories. Very sad to see all that history disappear.
When my mom came from Halifax in early 60s , iwas3 our first house was on Plymouth Grove then we moved to 2555Coursol st. I went to Belmont school on guy street and st Anthony’s on canning with sister Litchfield as our principal, I remember Everything from that place I grew up there and seen so much not of the area is the same course between Atwater and George Vander is still the same except for my grandparents place burnt down on coursol near Atwater 2549. I still go walk through once in a awhile.
Hi Raymond, thank you for sharing that. Another poster above, Christine, was asking about houses on Plymouth Grove. And thanks for visiting WalkMontreal.
I miss Montreal, Sayyed, Trevor, Joe Bonner L”air du Temp and old Montreal.
What a wonderful piece of research. I have enjoyed reading it all. My mothe, who died many years ago, was a friend of Daisy Peterson; they cured together in the TB Sanitorium in Ste. Agathe. Oscar, who was about 14 or 15 years old, came on weekends to play the piano for them. My only regret was that I did not get more information about this area before she left the planet because I have now learned that my great grandfather, who worked for Grand Trunk Railway from 1885-1902 lived on Coursol, also on Charron and Magdalen. What happened to Magdalen Street?
Hello Barbara; Thank you for sharing this with us. This is very interesting. Will check into Magdalen Street.
I found the census from 1921 and my grandfather, his wife and family (including my Mom) lived at 15 Woodstock Ave. He was, like most men of the area, a railway porter. He was also active with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Thanks for adding this piece of the puzzle.
Thats good news Malcolm, thank you for sharing this history. Woodstock Avenue was a small street just east of Atwater, now gone.