NDG Historical Society
The mission of the NDG Historical Society, founded in 2022, is to preserve and promote the rich histories of Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood. We pursue this through such activities as conferences, exhibitions, walking tours, archival conservation, and creative community projects.
Founded in 2022, the NDG Historical Society is dedicated to preserving, researching, and sharing the rich and diverse history of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
Its members come from a wide range of backgrounds and are united by a commitment to making NDG’s past accessible to the public.
The Society offers walking tours, public lectures, regular open houses, exhibitions, and an active social media presence. It is currently focusing its efforts on commemorating NDG’s 150th anniversary.
Directeur/ Director: Jeffrey Kastner
Membres/ Members:
Juliette Bilodeau, Bruce Bolton, Jeffrey Kastner, Maureen Lafrenière, Louise Legault, Christopher Lyons, Helen Meredith, Sara Mizannojehdehi, Delia Oltean, Rosemarie Schade, Nathalie Senécal, Ève Wertheimer, Norm Spatz, Sara Trotta
Activities & Projects
2026: 150th anniversary Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
In December 1876, the creation of the municipality of the village of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce was proclaimed. (WiKi)
In 2026, the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Historical Society is marking NDG’s 150th anniversary with an exciting program celebrating the neighbourhood’s rich history, diverse communities and enduring sense of place. Highlights include the exhibition NDG Through Time: 150 Years of Memory and Community Life, presented at the Maison de la culture Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Botrel from September 4 to November 1. Through stories of places, people, urban transformations and everyday experiences, the exhibition traces 150 years of life in NDG. Complementing the indoor exhibition is the outdoor exhibition NDG, We Shaped It Together at Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Park.
The celebration also includes participation in local festivals and the Salon du livre de Montréal, heritage walking tours, and the NDG in History speaker series featuring Dan Horner, Harold Bérubé, Nancy Marrelli and David Austin. New inventories of NDG’s exterior murals and commemorative heritage further document the neighbourhood’s remarkable past.
NDG Historical Society: Weekly drop-in every Thursday
NDG Historical Society has weekly drop-in hours every Thursday at the NDG Community Council (5964 Notre-Dame-de-Grâce #205) between 2 PM and 4 PM.
Feel free to drop by for a chat, to ask us your questions about NDG's history, or to donate any photos/diaries/newspapers to our archives!
INFORMATION
Principle activities for 2025-2026:
Walking Tour
- 4 May 2025: How's a person supposed to have fun in this place? A tour of mid-20th century drinking establishments and entertainment spots. (25 attendees)
Public Talks:
- 31 May 2025: The Empress Theatre: From Glittering Palace to Grassroots Icon (35 attendees)
- 20 Sept. 2025: The Founding of the Notre Dame de Grace Library for Boys and Girls in 1943 (25 attendees)
- 12 April 2026: A Short History of the St. Pierre River, or How to Lose a Waterway (50 attendees)
Preservation Study:
- Engaged McGill School of Urban Planning to conduct study on the preservation of the historic architecture and greenspace of the Domaine Villa-Maria
Publications:
- December 2025 : 2026 Commemorative calendar for NDG’s 150th anniversary (150 copies)
- Inventory of murals in NDG
- Inventory of commemorative markers in NDG
- Multiple informative posts on Facebook and Instagram
