The Anglican Diocese of Montreal is ceding the territory surrounding 'Black Rock,' the site of a mass Irish grave on Bridge Street, to the Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation.
WATCH: A land transfer that has recently been finalized holds significant importance for its new owners. The Black Rock, a historic monument and site of a massive graveyard, is now in the hands of the Montreal Irish community. The plot of land on Bridge Street serves as the final resting place for 6,000 Irish immigrants who died of Typhus in the 19th century. As Global's Tim Sargeant reports, plans are now in the works to build a large memorial park in their honour.
The Anglican Diocese of Montreal is ceding the territory surrounding “Black Rock,” the site of a mass Irish grave on Bridge Street, to the Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation.“This piece of land of on which the Black Rock sits was always very crucial to the development of our memorial space,” Fergus Keyes, president of the Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation, told Global News.
More than 100,000 Irish people emigrated to Canada in 1847, many of them coming to Montreal. But during the trip thousands became ill during the ocean voyage and died. Workers building the Victoria Bridge in 1859 discovered the mass grave below what is now Bridge Street and installed “Black Rock” to mark the location.During the Irish famine, the mayor Montreal at the time, John Easton Mills, built sheds to segregate and care for the sick. He, too, contracted typhus and died.
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