The McGill Ghetto

Student ghetto

A student quarter or a student ghetto is a residential area, usually in proximity to a college or university, that houses mostly students. Due to the youth and relative low income of the students, most of the housing is rented, with some cooperatives. Landlords have little incentive to properly...

(also known as Milton Park or officially, Milton-Parc, after the neighbourhood's two main streets, Milton and Park

Park Avenue, Montreal

Park Avenue is one of central Montreal's major north-south streets. It derives its name from Mount Royal park, by which it runs. Between Mount Royal Avenue and Pine Avenue, the street serves as the boundary between the mountain, to the west, and the smaller Jeanne Mance Park to the east...

) is a neighbourhood

Neighbourhood

A neighbourhood or neighborhood is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town or suburb. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members. "Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition...

 in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, named after McGill University

McGill University

Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

, situated directly to the east of the university campus. The Ghetto is located in the Plateau-Mont-Royal

Le Plateau-Mont-Royal

Le Plateau-Mont-Royal is a borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.The Plateau-Mont-Royal takes its name from its location on relatively flat terrain north of Sherbrooke Street and downtown, and east of Mont-Royal...

 borough of Montreal. Many McGill students live in this area, which is characterized by a mix of rowhouses and low- to mid-rise apartment buildings. The area is roughly bordered by University Street and the university campus to the west, Sherbrooke Street to the south, Pine Avenue to the north, and Park Avenue to the east, though McGill University considers this area to extend as far east as Saint Laurent Boulevard or just short of Saint-Louis Square.

The neighbourhood has many historic townhouses built in the late 19th century, which housed affluent businessmen and their families. The area remained a wealthy enclave throughout the early half of the 20th century. Eventually, many of the affluent residents of the area moved to other boroughs such as Westmount or to the suburbs.

While the space is colloquially known as the "Ghetto", the name for the area is used with the original definition of the word "ghetto": a socioeconomically homogeneous area. In recent years, more students have begun to move out of the Ghetto because of rising rent prices, with fewer moving in for the same reason. It should be noted, however, that Montreal's historic Jewish "Ghetto" coincides in part with the present student Ghetto since the old Jewish Ghetto, established at the beginning of the twentieth century and existing as such until mid-century, was centered close to the present student area, at the intersection of Duluth and Saint Laurent.

The area has many small businesses catering to the needs of the local McGill community including The Word Bookstore

The Word Bookstore

The Word Bookstore, or simply The Word is an independent bookstore in Montreal, Quebec, specializing in used philosophy and English poetry books located in the McGill Ghetto downtown...

, Café Lola Rosa, and several small convenience stores, as well as many "third places" hangouts.

Development and preservation

In the 1970s, community activists were concerned that the vast La Cité mixed-use complex (consisting of apartments, offices, a mall, and a hotel - now McGill's New Residence) would destroy the neighbourhood's character. A campaign to stop further redevelopment was led by a residents' coalition and the then-newly formed historic preservation

Historic preservation

Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...

 group Heritage Montreal

Heritage Montreal

Heritage Montreal is a Canadian non-profit organization that is dedicated to the protection of the architectural, historic, natural and cultural heritage of Greater Montreal. It was founded by architectural activist and Canadian Centre for Architecture founder Phyllis Lambert in 1975...

.

When McGill University acquired the hotel component of La Cité (at Parc and Prince Arthur) and transformed it into an undergraduate student residence (called New Residence Hall), the student population in the Ghetto increased by 650 people. In 2009, McGill University purchased a second hotel (Four-Points on Sherbrooke) and transformed it into another student residence for use starting in the 2009-2010 school year.

External links