Mayor of Montreal Valérie Plante and Mayor of Dublin Mícheál Mac Donnchahas will take part in today’s 153rd Annual Walk to the Stone to walk from St. Gabriel’s Church to the Irish Commemorative Stone, known as the Black Rock.
The Black Rock was installed in 1859 in honour of 6,000 Irish immigrants who died of typhus in 1847 and are believed to be buried under the rock and surrounding area.
For years, Montreal’s Irish community has tried to convince politicians and civic leaders to build a park around the Black Rock.
Perhaps Mayor Plante’s participation in today’s walk is a good sign for the Irish Monument Park Foundation and all Montrealers that the derelict site surrounding the Black Rock will soon be turned into a world-class Irish cultural memorial park, similar to those found in Dublin, Boston, New York, and Toronto.
When Montreal’s Victoria Bridge was being built between 1854 and 1859, workers discovered a mass grave of thousands of Irish immigrants who died in the fever sheds after being quarantined with typhus. A ten-foot high boulder that had been unearthed during the excavation for the bridge was erected and inscribed in memory of those immigrants who died.
A year ago, the plans for the memorial park had seemed somewhat in jeopardy when Hydro-Québec acquired the land facing the Black Rock to build a new electricity distribution station. After news about the land purchase reached local media, then-Mayor Denis Coderre promised to find a solution to keep the memorial park.
Hydro-Québec also said it would form a committee with the city of Montreal and representatives of the Irish community to plan the integration of the commemorative space in the provincially owned crown corporation’s project. It also committed to archeological studies of the historic site.
The walk begins at noon at St. Gabriel’s Church at 2157 Centre Street. It is open to everyone.
There will be food, drink and live traditional Irish music at the Church Hall.
