Apartment on Avonmore

Our home on Avonmore in the early 1950s, before moving to Girouard for health reasons.

Near Girouard, the Chalet BarBQ

2226 Girouard Avenue

Girouard Avenue, facing south.

2226 Girouard is the door on the right.

At 2226 Girouard Avenue (on the second floor), in the west end of Montreal; where members of our family lived from the mid-1920s to 1969.

The underpass at the bottom of the street. The road to the left takes you onto the Decarie Expressway going south to the Champlain Bridge; the road to the right first to to Upper Lachine Road and then down another block to St. Jacques and turning left to downtown Montreal.

Facing north, to Sherbrooke Street West, from the flat on Girouard.

E.R. Morrissey

A portrait of Edgar Morrissey, 1940s.

Edgar Morrissey and (possibly) his first car... maybe late 1920s.

Edgar Morrissey with his banjo, now owned by his great grandson Jake Morrissey. 1930s, early 1940s?

A cover photo for The Spanner, the employee magazine of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, of passengers in one of the new, comfortable passenger cars. E.R. Morrissey on the right side, five rows back (enlarge to see more clearly).

2226 Girouard Avenue, old photos

Stephen Morrissey and his grandmother, Edith Sweeney Morrissey, around 1953; taken on the back porch of 2226 Girouard Avenue in Montreal.

Between Chaston and Green (two)

Between Chaston and Green (one)

2226 Girouard Avenue, Montreal

SM and his grandmother, Edith Sweeney Morrissey, back porch at 2226 Girouard, around 1953.

SM in front of 2226 Girouard Avenue, around 1998.

That Was Then, This Is Now (1)

                                        Photo dated on back: May 2, 1948.

                                Edith Sweeney Morrissey outside of 11th Avenue cottage.

                            Ivy Lewis Morrissey and her son, Herb Morrissey, dated 1948.

                            My Uncle Alex and Auntie Ivy (late 1950s).  ; that was then ...

                                                                 ... this is now.

From the mid-1940s to the late 1960s various members of our family had summer cottages in St. Eustache, now a half hour commute to Montreal. In the top photo, my grandmother is outside of the cottage on 11th Avenue that she bought with my Uncle Alex. In the summer my grandmother, Aunt Mable, Uncle Alex and Auntie Ivy lived together, escaping the heat of the city. My parents had a summer house built for them, but after my father died in 1956 the house was sold and my mother rented a cottage across the street from my grandmother's. They were happy summers surrounded by family. I was warned to never return to St. Eustache, that it is unrecognizable. They were right. The summer cottages have been winterized, the trees that lined the street have been cut down, and where we swam at the bottom of the street has been made into a park. Instead of summer cottages and country, the area (north of Montreal) is now expressways, big box stores, and suburban housing. What we had is gone forever.

Edgar R. Morrissey, around 1928