Morgan's Department Store

Here we are back in the 1940s. A full service department store like this is a thing of the past; the other day I saw an Amazon truck make two deliveries within five minutes on the same street, everyday I see Amazon trucks cruising our streets making deliveries, and how many deliveries does The Bay (formerly Morgan's) make on the same streets? None. Even The Bay trucks, or Eaton's trucks, are a thing of the past. 

Now we get in the Time Machine of photography and find ourselves in a different world, downtown Montreal, decade of the 1940s, pre- or post-World War Two. 

Photo taken between 1930 and 1940; this is Morgan's Department Store
before they added an extension to the rear of the store; this original 
building was called Colonial House

A winter day in the 1940s, Morgan's seen from
the entrance area of Birk's jewelry store

Furniture department display

Cosmetic department

A fashion show

Looks like the basement; now the basement leads to the Metro

Fashion department

Santa's visit

Morgan's, 1940s

A fabulous Christmas display on the store's exterior,
seen from Philips Square

Restaurant Julien near Phillips Square

We used to enjoy Friday evenings in downtown Montreal. Sometimes we'd eat at Restaurant Julien on Union Avenue; it was a great place but is now closed. When there was a hockey game at the Bell Centre this place would be full of out-of-towners; now, due to Covid, there are no out-of-towners. . . BTW, Union Avenue was named after the union of Upper and Lower Canada in 1840; before that it was called Brunswick Avenue.

The people who worked at or owned Restaurant Julien should know that many of us enjoyed their restaurant and still miss going there.  

Photos taken in 2013.

Phillips Square at night; the Canada Cement Building is on the far right

We're on Union Avenue looking back at The Bay and Phillips Square;
that's the Canada Cement Building on the right

I can see that Union Avenue isn't the greatest for foot traffic at night, maybe another reason
Restaurant Julien went out of business... location

Restaurant Julien on Union Avenue

The bus on the right is a dedicated service to Habitat 67, the still innovative housing complex
constructed for Expo 67

Interior of Restaurant Julien

Phillips Square, Some Photographs

There are thousands of historical photographs of Phillips Square, here are a few that follow the changes in the square.

Here is Phillips Square when it was still treed and rural; the AAM in the background;
the city plans to restore some of the trees

The building on the right was owned by Alfred Joyce, a prominent Montreal businessman;
the building was demolished and the Canada Cement Building constructed 
on this site in 1922

The Canada Cement Building is directly behind
the statue of King Edward VII

Morgan's Department store on the left; 

Phillips Square is across the street from Morgan's

Phillips Square, 1950s

Phillips Square, The Art Association of Montreal

Phillips Square in 1916

Phillips Square, located across the street from The Bay department store in downtown Montreal, has always interested me. Just down the street from Phillips Square was the studio of the Beaver Hall artists, and it was not a long walk from there to the Art Association of Montreal, located on the northeast side of Phillips Square. Eventually, the AAM became the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, located on Sherbrooke Street West, and it now has several buildings at that location. The AAM building was opened in 1879; the Museum's "new" building, on Sherbrooke Street, was opened in 1912. I consider the MMFA / MBAM one of the great attractions of the city, one of the great bonuses of living in Montreal, both for tourists and for Montrealers. 

    The land that became Phillips Square was donated to the city of Montreal in 1842 by the widow of Thomas Phillips, a wealthy Montreal businessman. At that time this was a residential area as it remained for many years. However, over time, businesses began to move to this area and the residents moved out. Today the square is being made more user friendly by the city, trees are being planted and the whole square is being renovated (if that is the right word). Unfortunately, condos are also being built in the area, huge ugly monstrosities that dominate the skyline. The monument in the center of the square is a statue of King Edward VII, the British monarch from 1901 to 1910; Edward was the son of Queen Victoria and, as Prince of Wales, he opened the Victoria Bridge in 1860. 

    Here are photographs of the Art Association of Montreal, on the northeast corner of the square.

The Art Association of Montreal

Art Association building, Phillips' Square, Montreal, QC, about 1890

Art Association of Montreal exhibition, 1905

The Art Association of Montreal is on the right, on the left is
Morgan's Department Store, now The Bay

Phillips Square in 1907, the Art Association of Montreal is on the left behind the horse and sleigh 

Phillips Square from The Bay on March 26

Phillips Square seen from The Bay in February 2011

In the foreground is Birk's; Place Ville Marie is in the background.