Notre-Dame-de-Grâce

Historical Development

The area that became Notre-Dame-de-Grâce was first settled by Europeans in 1650, eight years after the founding of Ville-Marie. The initial settlers, Jean Descarries dit le Houx and Jean Leduc, received 30-acre land grants in a vast territory stretching from what would become Atwater Avenue to Lachine. For centuries, the area remained largely rural until the completion of the Church of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in 1853 marked a turning point. The village was officially incorporated as a municipality in December 1876, achieved town status in 1906, and was annexed by the City of Montreal on June 4, 1910. The long-established Descarries family, later known as Décarie, played a prominent role in this period, with Daniel-Jérémie Décarie serving as mayor from 1877 to 1904 and his son Jérémie-Louis Décarie becoming a Quebec parliamentarian.

The arrival of the first tramway in 1908 connected NDG to the wider city and spurred suburban development around the north side of Mount Royal from Snowdon Station. Around 1920, Anglophones began settling in the area in significant numbers, leading to the construction of numerous schools and churches. Major infrastructure projects continued to shape the neighbourhood throughout the 20th century. Décarie Boulevard was officially designated in May 1912, running north-south from Côte-des-Neiges to Saint-Henri, and the sunken Décarie Expressway opened in April 1967. The expressway's construction in the late 1950s displaced 285 families and physically divided the eastern part of NDG. Since 2002, the area has been administratively joined with Côte-des-Neiges as a single borough.

Geography and Urban Form

NDG is situated on a plateau extending southwest from Mount Royal, with its terrain cascading down in terraces from Côte-Saint-Luc Road to the steeper Saint-Jacques Escarpment to the south. The neighbourhood's layout is deeply influenced by Quebec's traditional seigneurial land division system, resulting in long, narrow property lots and a street grid with many north-south avenues but fewer east-west streets. This geographic design traces its history back to the earliest urban planning native to Canada and is an evolution of the system developed for agricultural purposes during the colonial period. The community is roughly bounded by Claremont Avenue to the east, Côte-Saint-Luc Road to the north, Brock Avenue to the west, and Highway 20 and the Saint-Jacques Escarpment to the south.

Two major linear barriers segment the neighbourhood. The Décarie Expressway trench splits eastern NDG, while the mainline of the Canadian Pacific railway also forms a distinct boundary. These barriers have contributed to the creation of well-defined sub-districts within NDG. The area between the rail line and the escarpment, from Cavendish Boulevard to Décarie, is known as Saint Raymond's and has a strong historical association with Montreal's Italian community. The easternmost section, separated by the highway trench and bordering Westmount, is sometimes called 'Old NDG', as it is near where the original village was founded. A specific district along the eastern edge, between Westmount and the Décarie Expressway, is referred to by realtors as 'Westmount Adjacent', implying housing costs and lifestyles more comparable to the affluent city next door.

Demographics and Community Character

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce is a culturally and linguistically diverse, middle-class, first-ring suburb. Historically, its development was rooted in its role as a home for an upwardly mobile French Canadian middle class that developed much of the land roughly between Confederation and the First World War. The eastern ward, focused around the original parish church at the intersection of Décarie and Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Avenue, retains a primarily francophone, middle-class character with many of the neighbourhood's oldest buildings and a strong Quebecois cultural and aesthetic character. The western ward, developed more during the interwar and post-Second World War periods, is more varied in housing styles, income levels, and cultural representation.

While NDG is associated with Montreal's multi-ethnic anglophone community due to major institutions like Loyola College and the McGill University Health Centre, bilingualism is common with many residents speaking both French and English regularly. The visible minority population is 33 percent, with significant Afro-Canadian and immigrant communities concentrated north of Somerled Avenue and south of Sherbrooke Street. The area south of the Canadian Pacific line, including Saint Raymond and Westhaven Elmhurst with a population of 5,915, has a notably high Black population of 19 percent and a Chinese population of 12 percent, both higher than Montreal averages. The neighbourhood also hosts a sizable and consistent student population drawn by affordable housing and proximity to Dawson College and Concordia University. In recent years, NDG has become highly desirable for young professionals, though gentrification has been limited mostly to the Monkland Village area.

Architecture and Housing

The cityscape of NDG is predominantly residential and institutional, defined by antique housing constructed largely between 1910 and 1940. The architecture presents a unique mix of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Beaux-Arts influences on traditional Quebecois styles. The dominant and favoured housing style remains the red brick duplex row-house, though a variety of detached and semidetached homes are found throughout. The neighbourhood is renowned for its tree-lined streets, general walkability, and well-preserved early 20th-century suburban aesthetic, which provides considerable appeal to a wide variety of Montrealers.

An important housing project is located near the geographical centre on Cavendish Boulevard, which bisects the borough into its eastern and western halves. The Benny Farm project was originally built to house veterans returning from the Second World War and was later designated as subsidized housing. It was comprehensively rehabilitated in the early 2000s, with new low-cost housing and additional public facilities like the Benny Farm CLSC community health centre added. The community is also defined by major anglophone civic institutions anchoring its eastern and western ends, namely the MUHC super-hospital at the Glen Yards adjacent to Vendôme station and the Loyola campus of Concordia University next to the Montreal-West commuter rail station. Public schools, libraries, places of worship, parks, and athletic facilities like the local YMCA are distributed throughout the area.

Commerce and Transportation

Sherbrooke Street West runs the length of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce as the main commercial artery for the community. The neighbourhood is celebrated for its local business scene and urban village feel. Other main commercial arteries include Monkland Avenue and Somerled Avenue. Monkland Village, a cluster of businesses on the eastern part of Monkland Avenue, was revitalized in the 1990s. It is known for its independent shops, artisanal bakeries, cafés, and restaurants.

NDG is exceptionally well-served by public transit. The Orange Line of the Montreal Metro runs through the borough along the Décarie Expressway corridor, with Villa Maria and Vendôme stations located on its eastern side. The area is also served by the Montreal-Ouest commuter rail station and a dense network of STM bus lines. Key bus routes include the 24 Sherbrooke, 51 Édouard-Montpetit, 105 Sherbrooke, 90 Saint-Jacques, 103 Monkland, and 138 Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, among others. Express services like the 420 Notre-Dame-De-Grâce Express and all-night services like the 356 bus connect the neighbourhood to downtown Montreal. Several bridges span the Décarie Expressway trench, reconnecting the two sides of eastern NDG for both vehicles and pedestrians.

Recreation and Community Life

NDG is known for its many large parks and recreational facilities, which contribute significantly to its family-friendly appeal. Major green spaces include NDG Park (Girouard Park), Loyola Park, Trenholme Park, Benny Park, Somerled Park, and Parc de la Confédération. The community has three indoor hockey arenas: the public Doug Harvey Arena, formerly Confederation Arena, and the private rinks at Lower Canada College High School and Concordia University's Ed Meagher Arena. The NDG YMCA offers a pool, gym, and various recreation programs for youth and adults.

The neighbourhood has a strong community spirit supported by active local associations and events. The NDG Community Council works to support resident initiatives and link them with existing resources with the objective to mobilize them to be an active part of the community. Popular community sports organizations include NDG Hockey and NDG Baseball, the latter of which joined Baseball Québec in 2022 after many years and several championships in Little League Quebec. The Montreal Exiles Rugby Football Club, founded in 2011, is also based in NDG and uses Confederation Park as its home field, with teams ranging from mini-rugby to senior men's levels. The neighbourhood celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2026 with a series of free activities and events, and it was featured as the 'Quartier invité' at the Salon du livre de Montréal. Community events often focus on fundraising, such as supporting after-school programs at five local community centres through the 2026 edition of a community fundraiser.

Cultural Notes and Significance

In November 1987, Anthony Griffin, an unarmed 19-year-old Black resident of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, was killed by Montreal police officer Alan Gosset. The incident sparked outrage and a number of large protests. Gosset was later found not guilty due to a faulty firearm. The neighbourhood's versatile architecture and streetscapes have also made it a frequent stand-in for American locales in film and television productions. For example, in 2022, the production for the film 'Scream 6' transformed sections of Sherbrooke Street to resemble New York.

The term 'Westmount Adjacent' is used by realtors to describe a district along NDG's eastern edge, between Westmount and the Décarie Expressway. This area, which contains both the Vendôme and Villa-Maria metro stations, implies housing costs and lifestyles more comparable to affluent Westmount, one of the most affluent communities in North America. NDG's street names often reflect historical figures and institutions, with examples including Décarie Boulevard, named for the prominent local family, Monkland Avenue for former Chief Justice James Monk and landowner, and Cavendish Boulevard, most likely named for the British House of Cavendish. Other streets are named for figures like Governor General the Earl of Bessborough, Prime Minister Robert Borden, and Canadian Supreme Court Justice Désiré Girouard.

The neighbourhood first rose to prominence as an important middle-class suburb towards the end of the 19th century, initially populated by the new white-collar workforce of Montreal and accessible via tramways. In the post-Second World War period, it became home to successive waves of immigrants from Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Concurrently, anglophone Montrealers consolidated in the West End, with Montreal's Irish and Black communities shifting from Griffintown and Little Burgundy to take a more prominent demographic position within NDG. Today, it is a cosmopolitan mixed-income urban neighbourhood highly sought after for its multitude of services and proximity to Montreal's central business district.

Questions about Notre-Dame-de-Grâce

What is the population and demographic makeup of NDG?

As of the 2021 census, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce had a population of 68,152. The visible minority population is 33 percent, and the community is culturally and linguistically diverse. Specific areas, like Saint Raymond south of the CP rail line, have higher concentrations of certain groups, including a Black population of 19 percent and a Chinese population of 12 percent. The area south of the Canadian Pacific line, including Saint Raymond and Westhaven Elmhurst, is home to 5,915 people and also has 2,550 non-permanent residents, making it a key settlement area.

How is NDG served by public transportation?

NDG is well-served by Montreal's public transit network. It has two Metro stations on the Orange Line, Villa Maria and Vendôme, which follow the Décarie Expressway corridor. The area also has the Montreal-Ouest commuter rail station and is crisscrossed by numerous STM bus lines, including local, express, and all-night services. Key bus routes offer 10-minute maximum service frequencies along major corridors like Sherbrooke, Monkland, and Saint-Jacques during peak hours.

What are the boundaries of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce?

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce is roughly bounded by Claremont Avenue to the east, Côte-Saint-Luc Road to the north, Brock Avenue to the west, and Highway 20 and the Saint-Jacques Escarpment to the south. Its eastern border is shared with the City of Westmount, Quebec, while to the north and west it is bordered by the cities of Montreal West, Hampstead, and Côte-Saint-Luc. The neighbourhood is situated on a plateau extending southwest from Mount Royal, cascading down from the northern ridge towards the southern escarpment. This geographical area is part of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and serves as a commercial and cultural hub for Montreal's West End.

When was NDG annexed by Montreal?

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce was annexed to the City of Montreal on June 4, 1910. Prior to annexation, it had a history as an independent municipality, beginning with its establishment as the Village of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce by proclamation in December 1876. It was incorporated as a town in 1906. The area's origins as a settlement date back to 1650, and parts of its original territory split off earlier, with the eastern section becoming the village of Côte-Saint-Antoine, later Westmount, in 1874. The annexation integrated NDG into Montreal's urban fabric, where it now forms one half of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

What are the main commercial streets in NDG?

The main commercial streets in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce are Sherbrooke Street West, Monkland Avenue, and Somerled Avenue. Sherbrooke Street West runs the length of the community and functions as its primary commercial artery. Monkland Village, a cluster of businesses on the eastern part of Monkland Avenue, was revitalized in the 1990s and is a notable commercial district. These commercial corridors are supported by the neighbourhood's traditional land division, which features many north-south avenues but fewer east-west routes, concentrating commercial activity along these prominent boulevards.

Sources: Wikipedia and current public reporting, checked by the Your Space Hamilton desk. Last updated 2026-10-22.