Montreal Geography Trivia No. 71

In 1926, the city of Montreal made a request of the city of Verdun related to the latter city’s geography.

Verdun politely declined, and turned around and suggested the city of Montreal do the same.

What was it?

UPDATE: William Moss got it right on the first shot: Montreal wanted Verdun to rename Church St., because there was already a Church St. in Montreal and they were worried about confusion. Verdun said its Church St. was bigger than Montreal’s and suggested the bigger city change the name of its smaller street if it cared so much.

Of course, Church St. in Verdun is now called de l’Église.

But, for an extra point, what became of Church St. in Montreal?

Montreal’s Church St. was renamed shortly after Verdun’s response. The downtown street, which runs only from Sherbrooke to Ontario, was renamed in 1927 after John Wodehouse, count of Kimberley, on the 25th anniversary of his death.

Though it is now part of UQAM’s downtown campus and closed to traffic, Rue Kimberley still exists.

11 thoughts on “Montreal Geography Trivia No. 71

  1. Rich

    Montreal had asked Verdun to rename their Church Ave., to which Verdun replied “Up yours, Montreal. Rename your own friggin’ Church Ave!”.

    Details here.

    Umlaut me, baby!

    Reply
  2. William Moss

    Between google new Archives and WikiQuote, trvia contests are becoming more a test of Google-ability than actual knowledge or memory. But one neat thing about Google News Archives searches is the collateral finds — for example, see the article two colums over from the Verdun/Chirch street Isuse — this summary of your bosses’ predecessor’s speech on “modern” Journalism: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2totAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-YsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6555%2C3525103

    There are interesting quotes, such as about the one about “the unspeakable horrors and frightful monstrosities” that are Sunday colour comics, for example.

    Reply
  3. David Pinto

    In Ville St. Laurent, there was a Church Street in the 1950s and 1960s when I was growing up. However, it has since been renamed de l’Eglise.

    Reply

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