Saint-Antoine Street(corner Gosford)
For the Romans, Mars was the God of war. They also named the place where the Roman army exercised "Champs de Mars." It is therefore not surprising that several cities have dubbed the same name their military exercises land.
The field first belonged to Lambert Closse, a young hero in the Iroquois war, at the beginnings of the city. Due to the Indian attacks, to protect the burgeoning town, a first wooden palisade was built between 1687 and 1689. In 1712, because of the confrontation between France and England, the construction of a stone wall around the city was ordered by the king, but its building began only in 1717 and ended twenty years later. There was the exterior wall, the escarp and the inner wall, counterscarp with a gap between the two and it was more than three kilometers long and 6.4 meters high. It was conform to every French wall: small doors, loopholes, eight large doors and even drawbridges. In 1744, some improvements were made. But not a shot was fired when the British Army captured the city in 1760.
At the beginning of the 19th century, it became useless and prevented the expansion of the city, so the wall was destroyed in 1812. Then the "Champs-de-Mars" became a place for parades and military exercises and the citizens invaded it for walks and to attend hangings. It is said that everybody had to attend these events and bring their children to complement their moral education...
Different events occurred on the site. On November 22 1885, a large crowd gathered to protest against the hanging of Louis Riel. In the 1890s, a public market was put up on the fields. Then before the first world war, in 1915, rumors circulated the there was to be a compulsory conscription. It aroused many stirrings among the French Canadians and on July 26, violent speeches against the enlistment caused some brawls. The army intervened and several arrests followed. In 1926, the municipal council decided to use this land as a parking area. In 1990, Nelson Mandela’s speech attracted a large crowd. From 1986 to 1991, archaeological excavations were done to study and reveal the remains of the ramparts.
In 1991, a patriotic surge resulted in a better conservation of the remains of the ancient fortifications. In the gap between the two sides of the wall, archaeologists had discovered frogs, muskrats and even turtles bones. What we see today are replicas of the old ramparts reconstituted from the old walls stones to remind everyone a page of Montreal history.
