May 18 2012
Following on from yesterday’s post celebrating the 370 year anniversary of the founding of Montreal and the announcement that Jeanne Mance was to be recognized as the co-founder of the city alongside Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, I decided today to photograph the monument, park and street named in her honor.
First a little history lesson on who Jeanne Mance was.
She was born in 1606 in Haute-Marne, France and at the age of 34 was recruited by the Society of Our Lady of Montreal to voyage to New France (Canada). Mance left France and began her voyage to Canada in 1641. In 1642, she and Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve founded the city of Montreal. That year, Mance also ran a hospital out of her home. In 1645, she established the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal on the Rue Saint-Paul – the second hospital in North America north of Mexico, the first being the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec. The hospital was moved to its current location at the foot of Mount Royal on rue Saint Urbain in 1861.
She returned twice to France, once in 1650 for money for her hospital, and the second time several years later to recruit three Hospital Sisters to assist her in Montreal. In addition she was key in saving the colony by securing funds from France.
Jeanne Mance died in Montreal and was interred in the chapel of the Hôtel-Dieu on June 19, 1673.
Mance is remembered in Montreal with a monument, together with a park and street named in her honor.
The Jeanne Mance Monument
Unlike Maisonneuve’s monument that is located in the middle of Place d’Armes in front of the Basilica Notre Dame, the Jeanne Mance monument is located in the center of a car park in front of the Hotel Dieu hospital. The monument was sculpted by Louis-Philippe Hébert (who also sculpted the Maisonneuve monument) and unveiled on September 2 1909.
Parc Jeanne Mance
The park named after Mance is situated between avenue des Pins and avenue du Mont Royal and along avenue du Parc. The park is popular for various sports, having a number of tennis courts , 2 baseball diamonds and an astro turf football field at the north end adjacent to avenue Mont Royal. There is also a childrens playground and splash pool towards the southern end and in winter an outdoor ice hockey rink is created. On the southern most end between avenue des Pins and avenue Duluth there is an area set aside for beach volleyball.
The following pictures hopefully give you a flavor for the park and it’s activities mentioned above.
You don’t have to be a sports fanatic to enjoy the park, and is a great place to take a stroll, picnic or just sit and watch the world go by.
Rue Jeanne Mance
Rue Jeanne Mance runs north-south between avenue Viger and avenue Van Horne. It actually crosses rue Maisonneuve (which runs east-west), which I thought would make a symbolic shot – though no doubt this sign post has been photographed hundreds of times before, so not an original idea.
I only walked between Maisonneuve and des Pins, but grabbed a couple of shots to give a little taste of the street in the area.
On avenue des Pins near rue Jeanne Mance is a hospital museum next to the Hotel Dieu hospital. It costs 6$ entry but was told they don’t allow photographs, so didn’t enter. However, in the chapel is where the remains of Jeanne Mance are laid.
In rounding up today’s post, it was great news that after 370 years, Jeanne Mance has been officially recognized and having dug a little into her background she certainly was a pioneer of her time. I only wish that they would find a better location for her monument, such as the southern side of the Jeanne Mance Park next to the hospital rather than the car park. If not then perhaps commission another to be placed in the park. At the very least, the monument is in need of renovation, particularly the base inscriptions that are no longer readable. Okay, rant over.
Have a great weekend everyone…here in Canada it’s a long one 🙂
To view images in gallery format, simply click on one of the images below.
Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.
– Martin
4 Comments
nice tribute and write up!!
more than hell’s angels and filles de roi,
Thanks Steve…not sure I get the reference to the Hell’s Angels – care to elaborate ?
just to say
that the amazing spectrum of your photos
turns hyped notions like the montreal quebec biker war
into a kaleidoscope of fresh possibilities.
montreal is so much more and you’re demonstrating that with your fine work.
Ah-Ha…Thankfully the biker wars were before I arrived, now we just have student v police wars…Thanks for the support and kind words 🙂
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[…] Hébert and was unveiled in 1914. Hébert also sculpted the Maisionneuve (place d’Armes) and Jeanne Mance (Hotel Dieu Hospital) […]