The Place de la Gare (Railway Station Place), as the name indicates, is a public building located on the site of the former railway station of the old Village de Mont-Tremblant. The building was rebuilt as it had been in the old days and became a place where local artists work and exhibit their works year round.
Contact information
1886 Chemin du Village
Phone: 819 429-5529
Exhibitions
Artists both paint and exhibit their works in the Place de la Gare. The opportunity to paint here is also offered to other artists who wish to promote their art.
An artist who wishes to take advantage of this visibility must prepare a portfolio with five photos and a résumé of his or her artistic career, presenting this to the the Department of Culture and Recreation at cultureetloisirs@villedemont-tremblant.qc.ca. When the request has been approved, the artist may present a maximum of seven paintings at a time. The weather must be favourable, as well, because the artist has to work outdoors. Minimal fees are required.
Brief history
“Erected by Canadian Pacific and located on a beautiful natural site close to the shores of Lac Mercier, the Mont-Tremblant railway station, because of its rustic architecture and the relationship between its construction style and that of the area's vacation chalets, bears witness to the principal activity that has governed the life of this little railway station: tourism.
To counter the exodus of French-Canadians to the United States, the government established, in the second half of the nineteenth century, the policy of settling the Saint Lawrence River's north shore. Parish priest Antoine Labelle decided to personally undertake promotion of the policy. In those days, the most efficient means of transportation was the railroad. Under the government of Honoré Mercier, the Saint-Jérôme - Labelle section of the track was completed and Mont-Tremblant became part of the railway network. A wind of optimism brought settlers by the hundreds into the region but after 1911, the forest reserves were exhausted and the decline of the forestry industry paralyzed development of the territory. Then in 1928, the square footage of the railway station was increased by the addition of an extension, following a surge in tourism, and skiing attracted a diversified clientele to local hotels. Snow trains were even specially organized for skiers from Montreal. The highway, however, gradually drew away railway customers and Canadian Pacific threw in the sponge in 1981.
"The Mont-Tremblant railway station and its addition are thus directly related to the evolution of the village and illustrate respectively the two principal stages of its development, the first related to a short period of forest industry operation and the second related to the vacation phenomenon and the popularity of skiing.