Lachine Canal National Historic Site of Canada

The Merchants Manufacturing Co.

A skyscraper from another era
© Parks Canada / Jacques Beardsell / CSP.051.D.0004, 1998

A major component of Montréal's industrial heritage, the old Merchants site testifies to the history of industrialization and to the rapid development of the labour movement in Montréal and Canada. Founded between 1880 and 1882, it became one of four companies that would form Dominion Textile in 1905. Until the Second World War, it was the second most important cotton factory in the country. Known as the Saint-Ambroise Complex, today it houses workshops, offices and businesses.