Fort Ville-Marie

Fort Ville-Marie
Part of Pointe-à-Callière Museum
Fort Ville-Marie in 1645
Fort Ville-Marie
Coordinates	45°30′12″N 73°33′14″W / 45.503407°N 73.553974°W / 45.503407; -73.553974Coordinates: 45°30′12″N 73°33′14″W / 45.503407°N 73.553974°W / 45.503407; -73.553974
Site information
Owner	Pointe-à-Callière Museum
Controlled by	Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal, New France
Site history
Built	1642 (1642)
Built by	Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal
In use	1611, 1642-1674
Materials	Wood
Demolished	1688
Garrison information
Past commanders	Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve

Fort Ville-Marie was a French fortress outpost in North America. It is the historic nucleus around which the original settlement of Montreal grew. Given its importance, the site of the fort was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1924.

Samuel de Champlain built a temporary fort in 1611. He established a fur-trading post where present-day Pointe-à-Callière stands as part of a project to create a French colonial empire. He and his crew spent a few weeks clearing a site that he named "Place Royale", dug two gardens and planted seed that grew well, confirming the fertility of the soil. In 1613, Samuel de Champlain returned to "Place Royale" and Sault-au-Récollet.

Before the arrival of Europeans, the junction of the Rivière St. Pierre and the Saint Lawrence River marked an area used as a Wyandot (Huron) campsite. Between 1642 and 1676, this was the location of annual fur-trading meets, as Amerindians brought their pelts to trade for various goods with the French. When the settlement was being laid out by the Sulpicians in the late 1600s, they reserved a small plot of land along the river’s shore for use as a public market, and it was known as the Place du Marché.

In 1641, some fifty French settlers, both men and women - recruited in France by Jérôme Le Royer de la Dauversière, of Anjou, on behalf of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal - set sail for New France. They hoped to convert the natives and create a model Catholic community. After a long crossing and a number of stops, the small group, led by Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve, of Champagne, arrived in Quebec with approximately 40 men, three arriving with their wives; Jean Gorry with Isabeau Panie, Antoine Damien with Marie Joly, and Nicolas Godé with Francoise Gadois and their four children; Francois (age 21), Francoise (age 15), Nicolas (age 13), and Mathurine (age 5). The Godés are often referred to as the "First Family of Montreal". There was also an unmarried woman, Catherine Lezeau. Winter was spent on the land of Pierre de Puiseaux near Sillery.