Jacques Cartier Square timeline

Chateau Vaudreuil

15 Dec. 1660 Land between Notre Dame and St. Paul was granted to Joseph Charles d'Aileboust des Musseux, who served as president of the Montreal seigneurs.
1672  The property was purchased by Philippe de Riguad, Marquis de Vaudreuil. He sought to build a chateau similar to the Chateau de Ramezay nearby on Notre Dame, but facing south.

Vaudreuil

1723 Work begins on Chateau Vaudreuil, which had large gardens in behind.
1725 Vaudreuil dies in Quebec City.
1726 Vaudreuil's family lives in the house for a few years but allow it to be used as a home for governors of New France.
Aug 9. 1763 Francois Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil sells the property to Michel Chartier de Lotbiniere.
Sept. 12, 1771 Lotbiniere sells it to Joseph Fleury Deschambault, a merchant and bureaucrat born in Quebec City.
1773 The Fabrique de Notre Dame purchase the property and install the Saint Raphael College in the Chateau Vaudreuil.
June 6, 1803 A major fire claims 41 homes including the Chateau Vaudreuil. The blaze started in a nearby home belonging to someone named Chevalier. A prison and two chapels were also leveled.
Aug. 21, 1803 A half dozen local notables form a committee to sell the property.
Dec. 14, 1804. Durocher and Perreault, fur merchants, purchase the property for 300 guineas. They were also on the committee to organize the sale, a conflict of interest that went overlooked, likely because the new owners donated one third of the property to the city to use as a market. The New Market as it was called, complimented the dirty, overcrowded market nearby at what is now Place Royale. The deed donation stipulated that the property be used in perpetuity as a public square and a market, which is why you will always see flower salespeople and a few other assorted veggie salespeople on the land. A new street sprouting west was opened called Fabrique but before the name could be made official, it was called Marche Neuf (anglos called it Market St). Temporary stables were put up but they stayed 40 years. Pilloried prisoners were stuck at the top of the land and visitors would sometimes toss things at them.
1808-1809 The square was extended south from St. Paul to de la Commune (aka Common, aka Commissionners) in three separate land purchases, one from the Proux Succession and another from the John Pickell succession.

Aug 17, 1809 An eight foot high likeness of Admiral Nelson on a 50 foot stand was unveiled at the top of the square. It is the city's oldest standing monument.* In 1847 a visitor noted that it's a shame that Nelson has his back to the city but in fact he does not, which has led to some speculation as to whether it was turned around at some point. Various objections have been made over the years to the monument, seen to represent British supremacy. The Vauquelin statue across the street built in the 1930s was installed to counter the Nelson monument.

Jan 2, 1847  The market was closed and activity was relocated to the nearby Bonsecours Market. Some farmers were still permitted to sell their goods at the spot and did so until 1960. In 1847 the square was officially named Place Jacques Cartier but city council passed another decree to the same effect in 1865, suggesting that locals were calling it something else, perhaps Nelson Square.
Feb. 7, 1887 A large wooden toboggan route was installed. It proved extremely popular.
-Most of the buildings around the square are from the earliest times, although the Hotel Nelson dates from 1866. There's another ugly larger building on the west side built in the 1980s.
1989 An international contest was held to reorganize the square for the city's 375th birthday. All 117 projects from 28 countries were rejected.
*The Nelson Column is sometimes called the city's oldest monument but in fact there was one to George III from 1773 in Place d'Armes that was decapitated by invading Americans on May 1, 1775. The head was recovered from a nearby well and preserved by McGill.