Location Montreal North end Gouin Boulevard Province Québec Major cities Montreal | South end Saint-Antoine Street Inauguration 1817 Inaugurated 1817 | |
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St. Urbain Street (French: rue Saint-Urbain) is a major one-way street located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The street is named for Urbain Tessier (ca. 1624–1689), a farmer and carpenter who settled in the area. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the street was home to several of Montreal's prominent British and French merchants, notably the explorer Alexander Henry the elder. By the turn of the 20th century, the area was industrialised and had become run down, when it was settled by Jews, predominantly from Eastern Europe. Writer Mordecai Richler immortalised the area as a centre of the Jewish community in Montreal and often documented what life was like on this street in novels such as St. Urbain's Horseman. From roughly 1970 onwards, the Jewish community uprooted to Outremont and the street was settled by Greek, Portuguese and Caribbean immigrants. Today much of the street has been gentrified.