Excerpts from history textbooks

1. Industrialization | 2. Urbanization | 3. Living conditions | 4. World Wars | 5. Politics and Social Movements
 

2. URBANIZATION

2.1 The Growth of Cities

23) What is meant by urbanization?
24) Why did people leave rural areas?
25) Why did cities offer increasing number of jobs?
26) What accounted for the growth of Quebec cities in the 19th century?
27) What accounted for the growth of Canadian cities in the 19th century?
28) What are Vancouver's origins and geography?
29) What were further factors in urban Canadian growth in the 20th century?

2.2 The Workings of Cities

30) How were cities organized in Quebec?
31) What kinds of problems did 19th century cities confront?
32) What kinds of public services did cities offer?
33) How was urban transit organized?
34) How did urban planning become an object of concern?
35) What were Montreal's distinctive features among Canadian cities?
36) How did towns neighbouring Montreal develop?
37) What was it like to live in Barkerville, in British Columbia, in the 1860s ?

2. URBANIZATION

2.1 The Growth of Cities

23) What is meant by urbanization?

"At the time of Confederation, less than one-fifth of the Quebec population lived in cities; thirty years later the proportion surpassed one-third. Quebec's population remained predominantly rural, but it was becoming increasingly urbanized." [transl.]

Charpentier, Louise, René Durocher, Christian Laville and Paul-André Linteau. Nouvelle histoire du Québec et du Canada, Anjou, Centre éducatif et Culturel, 1990, p. 240.

"Urbanization was undoubtedly the most salient phenomenon in Quebec at the start of the 20th century. In 1901, only 36% of the population lived in cities; thirty years later, that proportion had reached 60%." [transl.]

Charpentier, Louise, René Durocher, Christian Laville and Paul-André Linteau. Nouvelle histoire du Québec et du Canada, Anjou, Centre éducatif et Culturel, 1990, p. 278.

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24) Why did people leave rural areas?

"Quebecers at the end of the 19th century were "footloose," but it was certainly not a matter of caprice. They were forced to move because of their economic situation. In some regions, agriculture was too marginal for many families to earn a living from it. All it took was one or two bad harvests to force an indebted farmer to sell his land and go into exile. In the older agricultural regions, there were too many children for the available land; when they reached adulthood, they had to look for another way to provide for themselves and their families. This explains the great rural exodus to the United States and the cities of Quebec, swelling the ranks of urban employment seekers. Between 1871 and 1901, the proportion of Quebecers living in cities rose from 20% to 36%." [transl.]

Charpentier, Louise, René Durocher, Christian Laville and Paul-André Linteau. Nouvelle histoire du Québec et du Canada, Anjou, Centre éducatif et Culturel, 1990, p. 226.

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25) Why did cities offer increasing number of jobs?

"Population movements were stimulated by the brisk economic activity in the cities and the jobs it created. Industry strongly influenced this trend, since it tended to be located in urban areas. In fact, some factories preceded the cities themselves. Examples were the city of Shawinigan, which grew up around an electric company in the Mauricie; and Arvida, a company town built by an aluminum manufacturer. With their denser populations, cities at the start of the 20th century also needed an increasingly wide range of services, stepping up the demand for many service occupations. Garage mechanics, hairdressers, restaurant employees, teachers, secretaries and telephone operators all became more numerous, as did small merchants and salespeople." [transl.]

Charpentier, Louise, René Durocher, Christian Laville and Paul-André Linteau. Nouvelle histoire du Québec et du Canada, Anjou, Centre éducatif et Culturel, 1990, p. 278.

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26) What accounted for the growth of Quebec cities in the 19th century?

"The growth of cities was fundamentally due to the development of industry. A large proportion of the new industrial jobs were held by immigrants or by Quebecers, both anglophone and francophone, who migrated from rural areas.

"The phenomenon was particularly visible in Montreal, then the industrial hub of Canada. Within thirty years, its population more than doubled, growing from 107,000 in 1871 to 268,000 in 1901 (or 325,000 counting the suburbs). From 1830 on, when it outgrew Quebec City, Montreal became Canada's uncontested metropolis. The largest port and a major railway centre, Montreal boasted hundreds of factories. The population was predominantly working class, yet the country's most powerful businessmen lived there as well. It was also, in outward appearance, an English city, and yet French Canadians were more numerous, their share of the population having risen from 53% to 60%.

"Quebec City's growth was slower; the population was just under 60,000 in 1871 and still below 70,000 in 1901. It was going through a difficult period; the decline of the lumber trade with England slowed activity in the port and caused the near-disappearance of the shipbuilding industry. The federal government's move to Ottawa deepened the void. Nonetheless, the arrival of new industries, particularly shoemaking, enabled Quebec City to retain a working population.

"Industrialization was also evident in smaller cities such as Hull, Sherbrooke, Valleyfield, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Jérôme and Magog. The largest of these had populations of only 11,000?14,000, but they bore witness to an important transformation in Quebec society." [transl.]

Charpentier, Louise, René Durocher, Christian Laville and Paul-André Linteau. Nouvelle histoire du Québec et du Canada, Anjou, Centre éducatif et Culturel, 1990, p. 240.

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POPULATION OF PRINCIPAL QUEBEC CITIES, 1871-1901

	1871	1901
Montreal	107 225	267 730
Quebec City	59 699	68 840
Trois-Rivières	7 570	9 981
Sherbrooke	4 432	11 765
Hull	3 800	13 993
Saint-Hyacinthe	3 746	9 210
Valleyfield	1 800	11 055

Charpentier, Louise, René Durocher, Christian Laville and Paul-André Linteau. Nouvelle histoire du Québec et du Canada, Anjou, Centre éducatif et Culturel, 1990, p. 240.

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27) What accounted for the growth of Canadian cities in the 19th century?

"Numerous cities expanded with the arrival of the railway, or took advantage of railway development to consolidate their position in the economy. Montreal, for example, which was already the business and financial hub of British North America owing to its port installations, would extend its commercial influence over an increasingly larger zone following the arrival of the railway. The phenomenon of urbanization also affected cities less closely associated with the railway system. Saint John, New Brunswick, saw its population rise from 27,000 in 1840 to nearly 39,000 in 1861. The city benefited from the growth in shipbuilding and maritime transportation, in particular. As a result, the proportion of urban dwellers in the colonies as a whole went up from 13% in 1851 to 16% in 1861. On the eve of Confederation, the largest cities in British North America were Montreal, Quebec City, Saint John, Toronto, Halifax, Hamilton, Kingston, Ottawa and London." [transl.]

Couturier, Jacques Paul. L'expérience canadienne, des origines à nos jours, Moncton, Éditions d'Acadie, 1994, p. 159.

28) What are Vancouver's origins and geography?

"Vancouver is the youngest major community in British Columbia. Virtually every other major centre got its start during the period of the fur trade or of the Cariboo Gold Rush. Burrard Inlet is not fed by a major river, and the peninsula on which Vancouver developed is covered by thick forest. During the fur-trading period and the Cariboo Gold Rush, these factors discouraged people from settling the area."

Cranny, Michael et al. Horizons. Canada Moves West, Scarborough, Ont., Prentice Hall Ginn Canada, 1999, p. 230.

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29) What were further factors in urban Canadian growth in the 20th century?

"Many colonists ultimately gave up the clearing of land for agriculture. Like the new arrivals, they opted to resettle in cities and work in factories, thus contributing to the vigour of urbanization and industrialization. These last two phenomena constitute another fundamental characteristic of Canada in the early 20th century." [transl.]

Couturier, Jacques Paul. L'expérience canadienne, des origines à nos jours, Moncton, Éditions d'Acadie, 1994, p. 239.

 

"The growth of four important Canadian cities is shown in the table [below]. This urban growth often came at the expense of rural areas and regions such as the Maritimes. After 1901, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island suffered the most from out-migration."

GROWTH OF CITIES, 1896-1931

	1896	1901	1911	1921	1931
Montreal	219 616	328 172	490 504	618 566	818 577
Toronto	181 215	209 892	381 833	521 893	631 207
Winnipeg	25 639	42 340	136 035	179 087	218 785
Quebec City	63 090	68 840	78 710	95 193	130 594
Halifax	39 500	40 832	46 619	58 372	59 275

"The number of Quebec cities with over 5,000 people doubled from ten in 1900 to 20 in 1930, Montreal dominated the province, with one-third of the population living on the Island of Montreal. The city added 200,000 people in the 1920s, giving it a population of over 1 million."

Dickinson, John A. and Brian Young. Diverse Pasts, a History of Québec and Canada, Mississauga, Copp Clark, 1995, p. 285.

"The rise and concentration of industrial activity greatly contributed to the urbanization of Canadian society. The burgeoning manufacturing sector in the cities necessitated the hiring of a large number of workers. Following in the wake of the transportation industry, banks and commercial establishments proliferated. All over the country, urban areas were extending their influence over the surrounding regions, providing manufactured goods and services to rural residents. Montreal and Toronto, Canada's largest industrial cities, were both verging on populations of one-half million. Urban growth in the West, too, was spectacular. Winnipeg, Vancouver and Saskatoon underwent veritable demographic explosions. The urban population of Canada increased by 63% during the first decade of the 20th century. From 58 cities with populations over 5,000 in 1901, Canada had 90 in 1911." [transl.]

Couturier, Jacques Paul. L'expérience canadienne, des origines à nos jours, Moncton, Éditions d'Acadie, 1994, p. 240.

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GROWTH OF THE POPULATIONS OF SELECTED CITIES, 1901-1911

	POPULATION	POPULATION	GROWTH RATE
CITY	1901	1911	(%)
Halifax	40 832	46 619	14,2
Saint John (N.B.)	40 711	42 511	4,4
Quebec City	68 840	78 710	14,3
Montreal	328 172	490 504	49,5
Ottawa	59 928	87 062	45,3
Toronto	209 892	381 833	81,9
Hamilton	53 634	81 969	55,7
Winnipeg	42 340	136 035	221,3
Regina	2 249	30213	1 243,4
Saskatoon	113	12 004	10 523,0
Calgary	4 392	43 704	895,1
Edmonton	4 176	31 064	643,9
Vancouver	27 010	100 401	271,7

Couturier, Jacques Paul. L'expérience canadienne, des origines à nos jours, Moncton, Éditions d'Acadie, 1994, p. 241.

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2.2 The Workings of Cities

30) How were cities organized in Quebec?

"Not only did the role of cities in the province change, but so did their organization and operation. [In the late 19th century], large cities had much more identifiable and distinctive neighbourhoods. In the metropolis, the private residences of Old Montreal gave way to new multistory commercial and administrative buildings. The wealthy commissioned magnificent homes on the slopes of Mount Royal, while working people settled near the factories. Population growth was so explosive that it spread beyond the bounds of the city, giving birth to suburban towns like Hochelaga, Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Sainte-Cunégonde or Saint-Henri. In Quebec City, commercial buildings were erected in the old lower town (near the port), while the new neighbourhood of Saint-Sauveur filled up with French Canadian workers." [transl.]

Louise Charpentier, René Durocher, Christian Laville and Paul-André Linteau. Nouvelle histoire du Québec et du Canada, Anjou, CEC, 1990, p. 240-241.

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31) What kinds of problems did 19th century cities confront?

"The increase in the urban population created new problems to which solutions had to be found. A small fire could spread rapidly and leave hundreds of families out in the street. Volunteer firemen were overextended; municipalities responded by creating permanent fire departments, which were divided into a number of stations. Aqueducts were built, both to support firefighting and to ensure a supply of fresh water for Montrealers. These systems took the place of the itinerant water sellers, who had wheeled their product through the streets in horse-drawn barrels.

"Fires were one scourge that Montrealers had to contend with; floods were another. The waters of the Saint Lawrence regularly overflowed their banks, inundating the streets near the port. The 1886 flood, the worst on record, spurred the authorities to build dykes in order to protect the city." [transl.]

Charpentier, Louise, René Durocher, Christian Laville and Paul-André Linteau. Nouvelle histoire du Québec et du Canada, Anjou, Centre éducatif et culturel, 1990, p. 241.

"In the cities, hygiene was lacking. Garbage was thrown out in the street or piled up in people's yards. In 1876, the city of Montreal established a health bureau and took various measures to regulate sanitary conditions. In 1886, the Legislative Assembly passed a law establishing a provincial hygiene council and requiring municipalities to form local health bureaus. Nevertheless, in 1896, Montreal still had more than 5,000 dwellings with only outhouses for sanitation." [transl.]

Allard, Michel, Katy Tari and Guy Vadeboncoeur. Fenêtres sur l'histoire, (software application), Montreal, Micro-Intel, 1994.

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32) What kinds of public services did cities offer?

"With the development of cities, municipal authorities instituted a range of public services to meet basic needs. In such densely populated areas, policing too became a necessity. Water, sewer, gas, electricity, public transport, police and fire services all came into being in the latter half of the 19th century. For example, 1852 saw the construction of a new aqueduct in Montreal. In 1854, Quebec City inaugurated its water and sewer department, while in 1866, its first fire brigade was set up following a major fire that ravaged the neigbourhoods of Saint-Roch and Saint-Sauveur. In 1878, the first commercial telephone went into service in Montreal. That year, the city used electric lighting for the first time in Canada. By the following year, several streets were lit. In 1880, the Bell Telephone Company was founded. Montreal's first telephone directory was published. In 1886, electric lighting replaced gas. Urban life was becoming more organized and regulated, and the well-being of citizens as a whole underwent a corresponding improvement. However, it is worth mentioning that many of the public services were operated by private companies. The cities merely regulated and purchased services as needed." [transl.]

Allard, Michel, Katy Tari and Guy Vadeboncoeur. Fenêtres sur l'histoire, (Software), Montreal, Micro-Intel, 1994.

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33) How was urban transit organized?

"Most city dwellers got around on foot; only the richest could afford the services of a coachman or own their own horse. With urban expansion, organized public transit came into being. The first streetcars, appearing in Montreal and Quebec City in 1861, were pulled on rails by horses. Electric streetcars would not make their appearance until 1892." [transl.]

Charpentier, Louise, René Durocher, Christian Laville and Paul-André Linteau. Nouvelle histoire du Québec et du Canada, Anjou, Centre éducatif et culturel, 1990, p. 242.

"In Canada (at the start of the 20th century), 46 urban centres had streetcar lines. Cities of Quebec with such systems included Montreal and Quebec City and their surrounding municipalities, as well as Hull, Lévis, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières."

[?]

"(In Montreal) the electric streetcars inaugurated in 1892 favoured the expansion of the suburbs, since they allowed people to live further away from their places of work without having to travel long distances on foot." [transl.]

Charpentier, Louise, René Durocher, Christian Laville and Paul-André Linteau. Nouvelle histoire du Québec et du Canada, Anjou, Centre éducatif et Culturel, 1990, p. 279.

"Electric streetcar lines, to which Montreal added bus service in 1925, brought new forms of urban life. Industrial zones expanded along the Lachine Canal to the west, along the port to the east, and along boulevard Saint-Laurent and the CPR tracks to the north. Near these zones, working-class communities like Verdun, Rosemont and Maisonneuve (?) grew rapidly."

Dickinson, John A. and Brian Young. Diverse Pasts, a History of Québec and Canada, Mississauga, Copp Clark, 1995, p. 287.

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34) How did urban planning become an object of concern?

"As cities grew, administrators across Canada became concerned about urban ugliness and unhealthiness. In the 1890s, architects and city planners of the City Beautiful movement were developing building code, zoning regulations, and plans for grand parks and public buildings. In 1904, Percy Nobbs, a professor of architecture at McGill University, explained how he thought the city should develop:

"Every street in the city should be made as beautiful as it can be, and every building, as far as possible, should cohere with the general plan; then we will have a beautiful city and not otherwise; it is not merely by erecting a fine structure here and there that you will make any great improvement. Or even laying out a little bit of park, although that may be an item; the construction of the city throughout should be made as beautiful as it can be!"

Dickinson, John A. and Brian Young. Diverse Pasts, a History of Québec and Canada, Mississauga, Copp Clark, 1995, p. 285.

"Although urban residents were never very far from the country in the 1880s (?), rapid urbanization created the need for better planning. Developing a park on Mount Royal and incorporating parks into the industrial community of Maisonneuve to the east of Montreal were two answers to ensuring that cities had sufficient green space.

"Large urban parks were an essential part of the City Beautiful movement. As cities became larger, dirtier and more spread out, planners became concerned about recreational facilities for citizens. The outdoors became important even in winter (?). At the same time, developers could increase their profits by building expensive homes on attractive sites around parks.

"As older parks such as the one on Île Sainte-Hélène became overcrowded, city fathers turned to the top of Mount Royal. The sides of the mountain were already occupied by McGill University, the city waterworks, the Hôtel-Dieu hospital, and dozens of estates belonging to the wealthy. However, about 175 hectares of forested land remained at the top of the mountain, and in the 1870s, after purchasing the land for $1 million, the city hired Frederick Law Olmsted to design a park. Olmsted, North America's leading landscape architect, had laid out Central Park in New York. He wanted Mount Royal to remain 'natural' and to serve a social purpose:

It is a great mistake to suppose that the value of charming natural scenery lies wholly in the inducement which the enjoyment of it presents to a change of mental occupation, exercise and air-taking. Beside and above this, it acts in a more directly remedial way to enable men to better resist the harmful influences of ordinary town life, and recover what they lose from them. It is thus, in medical terms, an agent of vital value; there is not one medicine in the drugstore as important to the health and strength or to the earning and tax-paying capacities of a large city. And to the mass of the people it is practically available only through such means as are provided through parks."

Dickinson, John A. and Brian Young. Diverse Pasts, a History of Québec and Canada, Mississauga, Copp Clark, 1995, p. 287.

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35) What were Montreal's distinctive features among Canadian cities?

"Montreal: The urban hub of Québec and Canada.

"Urban growth did not take place at the same pace throughout the territory. In fact, Montreal outpaced all the other cities. Furthermore, it was surrounded by many small municipalities, most of which it annexed at the turn of the century. The electric streetcars inaugurated in 1892 favoured the expansion of the suburbs by allowing people to live further from their places of work without having to travel long distances on foot. In 1931, the population of Montreal, with suburbs, was over one million. The large banks and the companies operating Canada-wide had their headquarters there. Although the majority of the population (about 60%) was of French origin, the metropolis was also home to a significant minority of British origin (more than a quarter of the population), who dominated the business world.

"Montreal, 'the world's second largest French-speaking city,' also had an English face, which was particularly visible in its signs. It also became much more cosmopolitan, with Chinese laundries, Jewish shops and Italian parish halls attesting to its growing ethnic diversity.

"The unique character of Montreal gave the Quebec urban fabric some particular qualities." [transl.]

Charpentier, Louise, René Durocher, Christian Laville and Paul-André Linteau. Nouvelle histoire du Québec et du Canada, Anjou, Centre éducatif et Culturel, 1990, p. 279.

"In 1915, Montreal was served by three major railway companies: the Canadian Pacific, the Grand Trunk and the Canadian Northern. Numerous lines linked the metropolis to all the major North American cities." [transl.]

Charpentier, Louise, René Durocher, Christian Laville and Paul-André Linteau. Nouvelle histoire du Québec et du Canada, Anjou, Centre éducatif et Culturel, 1990, p. 281.

"A guidebook published in 1915 explained the growth of Montreal in the following terms:

"This phenomenal development can in large part be ascribed to the unique status of the city. Other cities on this continent have comparable railway facilities; others take advantage of internal navigation; other industrial centres double as seaports; but no other city has such a favorable combination of these three advantages. Montreal can thus process raw materials and ship manufactured products with greater ease than any other city on the North American continent. Today, Montreal produces 16% of Canada's manufactured goods and pays 17% of total industrial wages." (Montreal, Old, New, 1915.)? [transl.]

Charpentier, Louise, René Durocher, Christian Laville and Paul-André Linteau. Nouvelle histoire du Québec et du Canada, Anjou, Centre éducatif et Culturel, 1990, p. 281.

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36) How did towns neighbouring Montreal develop?

"At the opposite end of Montreal from Maisonneuve, the city of Verdun developed along the St. Lawrence between the river and the Lachine Canal. In 1893 it was a village of 300 people; fifteen years later its population of 8,000 had cement sidewalks, an aqueduct, a theatre, and electric streetcar connection to Montreal. People worked in factories along the Lachine Canal; in World War I an important munitions plant was built in Verdun (?)."

Dickinson, John A. and Brian Young. Diverse Pasts, a History of Québec and Canada, Mississauga, Copp Clark, 1995, p. 287.

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37) What was it like to live in Barkerville, in British Columbia, in the 1860s?

"The largest town in the Cariboo was Barkerville, situated on the western edge of the Cariboo Mountains. It was named after Billy Barker, a sailor from Cambridgeshire, England, who struck gold in 1862. Barkerville grew up almost overnight, and was a case of ?growth via word of mouth.? Barkerville grew as fast as word of Barker's strike spread. His claim would eventually yield 1100 kilograms of gold.

"[...] At first, the town consisted only of makeshift cabins and tents. By the mid-1860s, however, Barkerville had a population of approximately 5000 people?it was the largest town north of San Francisco and west of Chicago. Even though its population was transient and largely dependent on mining, Barkerville was becoming less of a service town and more of a real community. It had several general stores and boarding houses, a drugstore that also sold newspapers and cigars, a barbershop that also cut women's hair, the ?Wake-Up Jake Restaurant and Coffee Saloon,? a theatre (the Theatre Royal), and a literary society (the Cariboo Literary Society). Horse racing and prize fighting were common entertainments. Among the so-called ?sober set,? church services were extremely well attended."

Cranny, Michael et al. Horizons. Canada Moves West, Scarborough, Ont., Prentice Hall Ginn Canada, 1999, p. 222-223.

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