The Politics of Transportation Services in Suburban Montreal: Sorting Out the ‘Mile End Muddle,’ 1893-1909

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
The Politics of Transportation Services in Suburban Montreal: Sorting Out the ‘Mile End Muddle,’ 1893-1909
Abstract
A study of how the Montreal Street Railway Company and the Park & Island Railway Company divided up the territory of Montreal and its suburbs between themselves and effectively undermined the negotiating power of suburban councils to regulate the critical public transportation service. By focusing on the Village of Mile End, the author notes that the politics of streetcar services was particularly virulent and indeed often comical. The contest between competing streetcar firms, and divisions within the council, culminated in early March 1893 when the Mayor of Mile End tore up a half-mile of the Montreal Street Railway Company's track. Though residents had long clamoured for streetcar service, most applauded the mayor’s heroics. The author attempts to make sense of the 'Mile End Muddle,' as the newspapers dubbed the strange sequence of events, and to explain the relative weakness of the council and residents in the contest for streetcar service. His aim is to show that the council and residents of Mile End, though vociferous and often violent, were unable to secure any significant degree of control of the actions of the MSRC and the Park & Island Railway Company.
Publication
Urban History Review/Revue d’histoire urbaine
Volume
Vol. 24
Issue
no. 2
Pages
25-39
Date
March 1996
Language
en
URL
Citation
Boone, Christopher G. “The Politics of Transportation Services in Suburban Montreal: Sorting Out the ‘Mile End Muddle,’ 1893-1909.” Urban History Review/Revue d’histoire urbaine Vol. 24, no. 2 (March 1996): 25–39. https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/uhr/1996-v24-n2-uhr0652/1016596ar.pdf.
Find in a library
Permalink