The old port of Montreal, like that of Buffalo and New York, connected the Wheat Belt of the Great Plains to markets beyond the continental shelf. In those cities, a complex web of shipping and rail routes would transfer cereal crops for storage across an array of piers and grain elevators and silos for export abroad. The completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1957, which provided direct maritime access from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, rendered those silos and elevators redundant, and they were left to decay over the succeeding decades.
The Grand Quai du Port de Montreal (the Grand Pier) is a site over a century old within that defunct industrial ecosystem. Formerly known as Alexandra Pier, it served as both a cargo facility and reception area for immigrants and travelers until its conversion into a cruise terminal in 1967. But, like its surroundings, it too faded with time. That is, until May 2023, when the firm Provencher_Roy, based in Montreal, wrapped up a multiphase renovation and redesign of the facility, including the newly opened Port of Montreal Tower.
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