The Harvest at Saint-Charles Farm
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For this harvest season, we present you today some pictures of the Saint-Charles Farm located on Chemin de la Côte-de-Liesse, in Saint-Laurent.
Grey Nuns of Montreal Archives, F054B, film of Sr. Flore Barrette, harvesting at Saint-Charles Farm, ca. 1951 :
The land of the Saint-Charles Farm was purchased in 1907.
With a surface area of 575 arpents (of which nearly 500 were tillable), this farm produced many varieties of cereals, vegetables and fruits, including: legumes, clover, alfalfa, hay, barley, oats, potatoes, beets, corn, carrots, beans, green peas, onions, grapes, apples, squash, etc. A herd of cows, pigs, chickens and horses were also present on the farm. The Notre-Dame-de-Liesse School, the Crèche d’Youville, the Mother House and a few other houses thus benefited from important food products.
The rapid urbanization and industrialization of the Côte-de-Liesse area prompted the community to sell the farm in 1953. The sale of the farm helped finance the Maisonneuve Hospital which was under construction at the time.