It these silent walls could talk: Montreal's Windsor Station

This summer, my daughter and I visited Montreal to go on a tour of the Bell Centre, home of the Montreal Canadiens. My daughter has developed a love of hockey and chose to support Dad's team, so we went on a small train trip to the city. While there, I kept an eye out for anything railway related, as Montreal has some interesting railway relics and infrastructure in its downtown. 

One of the jewels is the former downtown passenger station that housed the Canadian Pacific Railway, Windsor Station.

Getting a photograph of this beautiful old station is a challenge, as the city has encroached on many of the sightlines surrounding the old stone building. To get this shot, I had to climb the stairs leading up to an office building across the street. Even on the top step, almost with my back against the glass of the office tower, I could barely squeeze all of Windsor Station into my frame. 

The station, located at the corner of avenue des Canadiens-de-Montréal and rue Peel, has proudly stood as a mammoth Romanesque Revival stone chateau-style monument since it was completed in 1889 and expanded in the ensuing years. It took its name from the fact that it was built on Windsor Street, which is now Peel Street. Among the major downtown railway stations built in North America during the railway boom years, Windsor Station is the oldest that is still largely intact.

Of course, Windsor Station belongs to another time, when railways were much more prominent in the day-to-day affairs of Montreal. This station's prominence cannot be understated. Think about how important railways were to Montreal, as one of Canada's most important eastern ports on the St. Lawrence, not to mention its position as Canada's once largest city and financial hub. 

The Canadian Pacific built three stations in Montreal in the late 1800s. The first was the Dalhousie Station, completed in 1884, which was the railway's original eastern terminus in Old Montreal. The site was originally a Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway concern, but the station was built by CP when it took over the QMO&O in 1882. Windsor Station was completed in 1889. The Viger Hotel and Station were completed in 1898, as a replacement for Dalhousie Station. The Viger Station and Hotel were where CP passenger trains from the north and east came into the city. Windsor Station was where trains from the south and west came into the city.

There's an interesting history of these two stations. Windsor Station, near the old Windsor Hotel, was seen as the English station. The Viger, located closer to the French Canadian part of the city, was seen as the French station. But look at any historic railway photo from Montreal, and it's a good bet that it was taken at Windsor Station. It has figured into many historic images of the city. And, I must admit, its name has always confused me, as a railway fan from southern Ontario, who spent a lot of time in Windsor, Ont.

Photo of a CP passenger train awaiting departure from the train sheds at the old Windsor Station. Photo from the Library and Archives Canada online database

A railway with multiple stations in a city is not as uncommon as you would think. In Ottawa, CP operated out of the Union Station on Rideau Street as well as at the Ottawa West station, on the edge of the Lebreton Flats, for overlapping years. At one point, it even had a station in Westboro and small platform station in Bells Corners.

Today, much of the old Windsor Hotel is but a memory, replaced by an office tower, built in the 1950s. A piece of the old hotel remains, as an office building for Desjardins. Parts of the old hotel's interior were retained, as a way to preserve its heritage.

As for Windsor Station, it operated as a passenger station well into the 1980s, as Via Rail briefly kept its former CP passenger routes operating from the building until it integrated its operations at the nearby CN Central Station, located beneath the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Still, a few RDC routes between Montreal and Quebec continued to use Windsor Station, as they used the CP trackage north of the St. Lawrence. Amtrak also used Windsor Station until 1986. 

After Via Rail and Amtrak focused their operations at Central Station, Windsor Station still hosted suburban commuter trains into the 1990s. It should be noted that the Canadian Pacific housed its headquarters in this station until 1996, when it relocated its administration to Calgary and sold off its trackage east of Montreal in order to focus on its western operations. Some of that trackage is back in CP's fold, as it purchased the Central Maine and Quebec Railway in 2020, to reestablish a route into Maine and New Brunswick, ensuring it had an Atlantic port. 

With the construction of the Bell Centre next to the old station in the early 1990s, the tracks were removed. Today, Windsor Station still connects through some tunnels to the Montreal Metro commuter services, although those operations are better connected to the Bell Centre (Lucien-Allier Metro Station).

The old station today is an office building, but its main concourse, which is richly lit by natural light on white floors, is open to the public. When my daughter and I briefly stepped into the building on our adventures, I was amazed by how quiet it was in the old station. It made me think of all the people who once used to walk through the main concourse every day. It's a nationally recognized historic structure, thankfully preserved after once being threatened with demolition. It nearly ended up like New York City's Penn Station, which was replaced by a soulless office tower. That was the plan for this Montreal station at one point.

Library and Archives Canada photograph of travellers about to head to their awaiting train.

The station's main concourse can be rented by the public for special events. That concourse also opens onto a courtyard near the Bell Centre, making for a pretty memorable site for weddings or other gala receptions. The next time you find yourself in downtown Montreal, take a stroll through this wonderful old building and let yourself imagine the history that once unfolded within its walls.