| Stanley Street | |
|---|---|
| Rue Stanley | |
| Length: | 1 km (1 mi) |
| Location: | Between Doctor Penfield Avenue and De la Gauchetière Street |
| Construction | |
| Inauguration: | 1845 |
Stanley Street (officially rue Stanley) is a north-south street located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It links Doctor Penfield Avenue in the north and De la Gauchetière Street in the south. Molson's Bank was located on the street and at one time employed Joachim von Ribbentrop.
Opened in 1845, the street owes its name to Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby (1799–1869), the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.[1]
From the 1920s until the 1970s, the street had been the centre of Montreal's gay village.[2] Open since 1974 and still operating from its basement location on Stanley Street, the gay bar Le Mystique was raided by police in 1976, leading to riots. Starting in the early 1980s, Montreal's gay village relocated further east.