GREENFIELD PARK, QUEBEC

'Greenfield Park' is a borough of the city of Longueuil, Quebec, Canada. It covers an area of 5 km², with a population of 17,491 as of December 2004. Greenfield Park is the only borough of Longueuil that has an officially bilingual status. It is divided into two sections. The section between Victoria avenue and Taschereau Boulevard is known by locals as the "old part", and the other section from Grande-Allée Boulevard to the Laflèche/Saint-Hubert border is commonly known as the "new part".

Contents

History

Coat of Arms

Politics

Town Mayors

Borough Councilors

Demographics

Education

Transportation

Important Roads

Places of interest

Notable people

Geographic location

See also

External links

References

History

'Seigneury of Longueuil'


Prior to becoming a town, the area known as Greenfield Park was land belonging to the Seigneury of Longueuil. It had been an agricultural area up until the end of the 19th century. Greenfield Park benefited from its proximity to neighbouring St. Lambert's rail line connected to the newly constructed Victoria Bridge, which was the only major rail link between Montreal and the South Shore. At the time, the bridge was the longest railway bridge in the world. Development had begun to spread into Greenfield Park, which merited the establishment of a town to provide services for the population. ^[2]




'Town'


Greenfield Park was named after the area's primary geographical features, which were in fact ''green fields'' and forests. The town was established on March 24th, 1911. The original ''Charter of Greenfield Park'' gave reasoning for the town's creation:

''Whereas the rate-payers of the territory comprised in cadastral lots Nos . 225 to 244 of the parish of Longueuil have by a large majority in number and value represented that, in consequence of the rapid increase of population within the said territory being a suburb of the city of Montreal and in consequence of the necessity for local improvements similar to those of other suburbs of Montreal, it is necessary that the said territory be created into a separate municipality and they have prayed, that the general principles of the Cities and Towns' Act be applied to the said municipality and also that they be granted several powers similar to those of other suburbs of Montreal which are not contained in said act . . .'' ^[3]

With the creation of the town came to need to put infrastructure and services in place. The only way for citizens to reach nearby Montreal, was by rail, through the Grand Trunk Railway or the Montreal and Southern Counties Railway. In 1913, Greenfield Park, along with neighbouring municipalities St. Lambert, Montreal South and Longueuil, built a shared sewer system and water filtration plant. The town also used artesian wells as a source for drinking water. ^[4]




'World War I and II'


During World War I, such a high percentage of Greenfield Parkers served in the Canadian forces that regular town meetings could not be held.
Similarly, in World War II, Greenfield Park was the Canadian community that had the highest participation rate of military volunteers. This fact was recognized by both Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and the Minister of National Defence, J.L. Ralston.^{[4] [6]}
Following the war, returning veterans were able to purchase homes with financial assistance through a purchasing program put into place by the town.




'Recent History'


In the early 1960s, Greenfield Park acquired 40% more land by annexing part of Saint-Hubert. This land was located on the opposite side of Taschereau, and A large amount of veterans housing was built on these lands, particularly along Bellevue Street North. During the early 60s, over 60% of the town's population traced their ancestry to the United Kingdom, roughly half of that number live in the town today. ^[4][8]




'Merger with Longueuil'


Greenfield Park was a town until January 1, 2002, when it along with several other suburbs on Montreal's South Shore were merged into the amalgamated city of Longueuil. (On January 1, 2006, Boucherville, Brossard, St-Bruno-de-Montarville and Saint-Lambert were "demerged", or reconstituted.) Following these demergers, Greenfield Park became one of only three remaining boroughs of Longueuil, along with Saint-Hubert and Vieux-Longueuil.

Coat of Arms

Greenfield Park's coat of arms is golden, with a sable reversed chevron. The chevron supports a sinople coloured tree. Below the chevron are two red roses. Above the shield is a crown, shaped like a wall with five turrets. The shield is surrounded by branches of maple. Below the shield the branches meet, tied with a red and black ribbon. The Greenfield Park motto, "Fortis Fortunam Superat," or "Fortune Favors the Brave," is attributed to Villar.

Politics

Greenfield Park is in the federal riding of St. Lambert and its Member of Parliament is Maka Kotto (Bloc Québécois). It also belongs to the provincial riding of Laporte and its Member of the National Assembly is Nicole Ménard (Liberal Party of Quebec).

Town Mayors

Source:^[9]

Years in office	Mayor
1911-1913	W.J. Murray
1915-1918	R. C. Chalmers
1918-1922	R. J. Walker
1922-1926	C. D. Campbell
1927-1928	R. J. Walker
1928-1930	H. W. Clark
1930-1932	E. A. Nightingale
1932-1940	S. I. Coote
1940-1942	E. F. Blackburn
1942-1946	A. G. Cobb
1946-1948	A. Perras
1948-1953	J. C. Plante
1953-1967	L. Galetti
1967-1978	Maurice King
1978-1994	Stephen Olynyck
1994-2001	Marc Duclos
2002-	Merged with Longueuil

Borough Councilors

Longueuil District	Councilor	Party
District 16	Mireille Carrière	Parti municipal Rive-Sud/Équipe Gladu
District 17	Robert Myles	Independent
District 18	Bernard Constantini (Borough President)	Independent

Demographics

Language	Population	Percentage (%)
French only	8,275	48.74%
English only	5,975	35.19%
Both English and French	315	1.85%
Other languages	2,300	13.55%

Source: ^[10]

Year	Population
1921	1,112
1931	1,610
1941	1,819
1951	3,379
1961	7,807
1971	15,348
1981	18,527
1991	17,652
1996	17,337
2001	16,978
'2002'	'Merged with Longueuil'

Source: ^[11]

Education

'Primary'

★ Greenfield Park International/École Internationale de Greenfield Park

★ St. Jude Elementary

★ École Primaire Pierre Laporte
'Secondary'

★ Centennial Regional High School

★ École Secondaire Participative l'Agora

★ École Internationale Saint-Edmond
'Adult Education'

★ CEA des 16–18 ans

Transportation

Important Roads

★ Victoria Avenue

★ Churchill Boulevard

★ Taschereau Boulevard

★ Grande-Allée Boulevard

★ Bellevue Street

Places of interest

★ Mail Carnaval, shopping mall

★ Place Greenfield Park, strip mall

★ Cynthia Coull Arena

★ Pierre Laporte Park, home of the Greenfield Park Packers

Notable people

★ Elisha Cuthbert, actress

★ Garry Galley, former NHLer

★ Patrick Leduc, soccer player

★ Julie Masse, francophone singer

★ Jack Todd, ''Montreal Gazette'' columnist

★ Julie Snyder, francophone Television Presenter

Geographic location

See also

★ Municipal reorganization in Quebec

External links

★ Official Website of the city of Longueuil

★ Greenfield Park Historical Society

★ History of Greenfield Park

★ Greenfield Park Legion

References

1. Canada 2001 Census.
2. Greenfield Park Historical Society
3. History of Greenfield Park.
4. .
5. .
6. Greenfield Park Legion.
7. .
8. Ethno-Cultural Portait of Canada.
9.

10. .
11. .