From Stadacona to the REM · Drawing 14 of 36
The Horse-Drawn Streetcar
1861
In 1861, Montréal welcomed its first streetcars. Horses pulled these carriages along rails to carry people through the city.
Look together
Who makes this streetcar move?
An idea to try
Point to the drawing while making three gestures: pulling, rolling and following the rails. Your child matches each action to the horse, wheels or track.
For the adult reading along
A little more to discover
On November 27, 1861, the Montreal City Passenger Railway ran Montréal’s first horse-drawn streetcars on Notre-Dame Street. The idea is simple: on rails, one horse can pull a car far heavier and fuller than on paving stones. In winter, since the streets were not cleared of snow, sleighs on runners replaced the wheeled cars. In 1892, the company kept a thousand horses, 150 streetcars, 104 winter sleighs and 49 omnibuses. That company is the ancestor of today’s STM.
The scene brings together two things your child may know separately: an animal and a vehicle on rails. Ask them to point to what carries the people, what pulls and what guides the route. The drawing evokes the old service without reproducing a specific car.
Sources and illustration notes (2)
An imaginary horse-drawn streetcar; no particular carriage from the 1861 network is reproduced.
These links lead to other websites. Explore them with an adult. References identify the institution and the related lesson; some linked pages are in French.
- Société de transport de Montréal — Histoire des tramways (in French)Montreal City Passenger Railway Company; first line put into service on what is now Notre-Dame Street on November 27, 1861; sleigh streetcars in winter; nearly 1,000 horses at the Montreal Street Railway.
- Encyclopédie du MEM — De l’avoine à l’électricité (in French)Horse-drawn streetcar service launched in 1861; sleighs in winter; in 1892, 1,000 horses, 150 streetcars, 104 sleighs and 49 omnibuses.
Page prepared on September 15, 2026. Illustrations simplify places and scenes; they are not historical documents.
This drawing is from the book Québec’s Great Moments to Colour
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