Outremont, Quebec
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Outremont is a former city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It consists of the borough of Outremont. The neighbourhood is the traditional home of Montreal's wealthy Francophone community.
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[edit] Geography
A separate city until the 2002 municipal mergers, Outremont is located north of downtown, on the northern side of Mount Royal (its name means "beyond the mountain").
The borough is bounded to the northwest by Mount Royal, to the northeast by Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension and Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, to the east by Le Plateau-Mont-Royal and the Mile End district, to the south by Ville-Marie, and to the west by Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. The Mount Royal Cemetery is located in the south eastern extremety of the borough.
It has a population of 22,933; its area of 3,84 km² makes it the smallest of Montreal's boroughs.
[edit] Features
Outremont is served by the Outremont and Édouard-Montpetit stations on the blue line of the Montreal Metro. (Édouard-Montpetit station is actually located in Côte-des-neiges, but right on the Outremont border.)
Major thoroughfares include Van Horne Ave. and Côte Sainte Catherine Road, with Bernard and Laurier Streets as the principal shopping and dining areas. The area has some of the most sophisticated restaurants, cafes and shops in Montreal. Residents include a substantial percentage of ex-patriates from France who are able to afford the higher cost of real estate based on their euro-zone purchasing power. There is also a sizable Hassidic Jewish community which mainly resides near the Parc Avenue area.
Among the attractions in the mainly residential community are the Mount Royal Cemetery, the Salle Claude-Champagne, the Outremont Theatre, the Saint-Grégoire-l'Illuminateur Armenian Cathedral, and part of the Université de Montréal campus.
In contrast with its chic image, Outremont also includes an industrial area complete with rail yards along its northern border.
[edit] Trivia
The area was originally known as Côte Sainte-Catherine. It came to be named Outremont after a stately residence built by Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier in 1833 and named Outre-Mont. In 1875 the new Village of Outremont was named after the house, which still exists today on McDougall Street.
In 1927, Outremont became the first place in the world to use a snow blower to clear its streets in the winter. It was the first production model of Canadian inventor Arthur Sicard's Sicard Industries.
Outremont is twinned as a sister city with Oakwood, Ohio and Le Vésinet, France.
Most of the streets in this city are either going up or down, due to the fact that Mount Royal is close by.
[edit] Federal and provincial elections
The borough is entirely contained within the federal riding of Outremont and the provincial electoral district of the same name.