1825

• Construction of the Lachine Canal in Montreal. Major factories are then established. This is the first step in Canada's industrial development.

Image: Photograph, glass lantern slide
Entrance to Lachine Canal, Montreal, QC, 1826, watercolour by unknown artist
Anonymous
About 1910, 20th century
Silver salts on glass - Gelatin silver process
6 x 8 cm
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Cowie
MP-1976.288.2
© McCord Museum

1830

• A cholera epidemic strikes Eruope and then reaches the shores of the Saint-Lawrence by 1832.

Joseph Légaré
(1795-1855)
Cholera Plague, c. 1832
Quebec
Oil on canvas
82.2 x 111.4 cm

1842

• Joseph Légaré becomes founding member of Quebec’s Saint-John-Baptist Society, a society whose objectives are to "unite all Canadians, help them find themselves and preserve the Franco-Canadian nationality."

1856

• William Raphael studies at the Berlin Academy.

1857

• William Raphael settles in Canada.

1861

• The first horse-drawn streetcars in Montreal and Toronto offer an efficient way to travel in the fast-growing city.

Yonge Street looking north from Queen Street, Toronto, Ontario, ca 1890.
National Archives of Canada / PA-166917

1885

• Inauguration of the Transcontinental. Thanks to the railroad, artists can explore the West.

Hon. Donald A. Smith driving the last spike to complete the Canadian Pacific Railway, Craigallachie, B.C. 7 nov. 1885.
National Archives of Canada / C-003693

1891

• Almost 30% of Canada’s population lives in the city.

1904

• In the capital of Prussia, Lawren S. Harris pursues his artistic studies, which he started in Toronto.

1905-1907

• Lawren S. Harris studies painting in Berlin.

1922

• Marc-Auréle Fortin becomes a full-time artist.

1924

• Adrien Hébert does his first paintings on the port theme.

1930

• Jack Humphrey travels through Europe for almost a year.

1931

• Almost 60% of the Canadian population lives in the city.

1950

• Beginning of the construction of the Trans-Canada Highway, which would open on July 30, 1962. Extending from St. John's to Victoria, and covering 7,821 km, it is the world's longest national highway.

Rock drilling during construction of the Transcanada Highway, Algoma, Ont., August 1952.
Frank Royal / National Archives of Canada / PA-133211

1954

• Toronto’s subway is inaugurated.

1974

• Roland Brener settles in Canada.