Outremont (French pronunciation:[utʁəmɔ̃]) is an affluent residential borough (arrondissement) of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It consists entirely of the former city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec. The neighbourhood is inhabited largely by Francophones, and is also home to a Hasidic Jewish community. Since the 1950s, Outremont has been mostly residential, but some streets such as Van Horne, Bernard and Laurier have many commercial buildings.
A separate city until the 2000 municipal mergers, Outremont is located north of downtown, on the north-western side of Mount Royal – its name means "beyond the mountain" although it encompasses Murray Hill (colline d'Outremont), one of the three peaks that make up Mount Royal. It was named for the house – Outre-Mont – built c. 1830 for Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier, a former Sheriff of Montreal.
The area was originally known as Côte Sainte-Catherine. The name Outremont came from how it was called at the time by travelers. Travelers who wished to travel north from downtown Montreal had to go "through" the mountain as in "Outre-Mont".
In 1833, Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier built a country residence that he named Outre-Mont; it still exists today on Rue McDougall. The term Outremont gradually becomes the term used to designate the region.
History
In 1875, Louis Beaubien, a federal representative, gets a federal sanction for the village. To achieve the minimum amount of residence needed, Louis Beaubien counts barns and other farm buildings as residences. The town changes its name from Cote-Sainte-Catherine to Outremont. The village is home to only 300 souls.
In 1927, Outremont became the first place in the world to use a snow blower to clear its streets in the winter. It was the first production model of Canadian inventor Arthur Sicard's Sicard Industries.[5]
Major thoroughfares include Avenue Van Horne and chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, with avenue Bernard and avenue Laurier as the principal shopping and dining areas. The area has a number of trendy restaurants, cafés and shops. Residents include a substantial percentage of expatriates from France. There is also a sizable Hassidic Jewish community, representing about 20% of Outremont's population, which resides mainly in the eastern and northern portions of the borough.[6] Many Jewish synagogues, schools and businesses can be found on avenues Van Horne, Bernard and St-Viateur.[7]
Among the attractions in the mainly residential community are the Mount Royal Cemetery, the Salle Claude-Champagne, the Théâtre Outremont, the Saint-Grégoire-l'Illuminateur Armenian Cathedral and part of the Université de Montréal campus.
Outremont also has a rail yard along its northern border. The rail yard has been purchased by the Université de Montréal and is to be developed to house its hospital complex, its research faculties and the faculty of Health Sciences (Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal).
The borough is entirely contained within the federal riding of Outremont and the provincial riding of the Mont-Royal–Outremont.
Borough council
The borough is represented on Montreal City Council by its borough mayor alone. The borough is further divided into four districts, each of which elects one borough councillor. The current borough administration was elected in the November 2021 municipal elections.
