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History of the Montréal Botanical Garden
Chronology
1929
Brother Marie-Victorin, a brother of the Christian
Schools and President of the Société de
Biologie de Montréal, gives a speech in which he
proposes that a Botanical Garden should be created in
Montréal. In the audience is Camilien Houde, the
city's forward-thinking mayor and one of his former students.
1930
The Association du Jardin Botanique de
Montréal is founded by the Société
de Biologie de Montréal.
1931
Official year for the foundation of the Montréal Botanical Garden.
1932
- March 12. Work starts on the Garden, enabling Camilien
Houde to provide jobs for unemployed workers in
Montréal hit hard by the Great Depression.
- Architect Lucien F. Kéroack designs the administration building
in the Art Deco style.
- A small administration pavilion (which today fronts
the administration building),
service greenhouse and heating plant are built.
1933
- January 16. Camilien Houde is ousted as mayor and work on the Garden
stals for the next four years. The site is left in disorder
and the greenhouses are even turned into a rabbit hutch!
1935
Brother Marie-Victorin's book Flore Laurentienne, is
officially launched. Taking advantage of the fact that Camilien
Houde, recently re-elected mayor of Montréal, is
in the audience, Marie-Victorin reiterates the City's need
for a Botanical Garden. One passage from his speech remains
famous:
"We will soon be celebrating Montréal's three hundredth anniversary. You need to give a gift, a royal gift, to the City, our city. But Montréal is Ville-Marie, a woman...and you certainly can't give her a storm sewer or a police station...It's obvious what you must do! Give her a corsage for her lapel. Fill her arms to overflowing with all the roses and lilies of the field!"
1936
- May 6. The Botanical Garden springs to life once again!
Brother Marie-Victorin
is appointed Director. Henry Teuscher, a famous American botanist,
horticulturalist and landscape architect, with whom Marie-Victorin had
been working on the plans for the Garden by correspondence for several years
already, is appointed Chief
Horticulturalist. If Marie-Victorin is the founder of the Garden,
Teuscher is its
first designer. Work recommences and 2,000 men are hired.
1937
The main building goes up, according to the original plans drawn
by architect Lucien F. Kéroack.
1938
Greenhouses for growing and maintaining the Garden's collections are built.
1944
- July 15. Death of Marie-Victorin, who dies from injuries suffered
in a car crash.
1954
A statue of Marie-Victorin is unveiled.
1958
The exhhibition greenhouses are built.
1970
The Arboretum is created.
1975
The Société d'animation du Jardin et de l'Institut botaniques (now the Friends of the Garden) is founded.
1976
The Rose Garden is built.
1980
- Montréal City hosts the Floralies Internationales de Montréal.
- Mr. Pierre Bourque becomes director of the Montréal Botanical Garden.
1988
The Japanese Garden is built and open.
1989
The Japanese Pavilion is built and open.
1990
- The Insectarium is open.
- The Chinese Garden is built.
1991 The Chinese Garden is open.
1992
- The Forest of the Montréals of France is created.
- The Butterfly tent opens.
1994
Mr. Pierre Bourque retires as director of the Botanical Garden.
1995 The Reception Centre and the Molson Hospitality Greenhouse open.
1996
- The Chlorophyll Room opens.
- The Tree House opens.
- Fuji Pavilion opens.
- Administration building is renovated.
1999
Courtyard of the Senses opens.
2001
First-Nations Garden opens.
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Last updated : 2006 06 23
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