In the mid-19th century, several places of worship were opened for Québec City’s fast-growing Protestant minority. Lacking space to say Anglican Mass, Archdeacon George Jehoshaphat Mountain was reduced to saying it in the shipyards. He did, however, have the Mariner’s Chapel built to serve visiting sailors and Protestant workers in Québec City.

1840 - 1889

A partly English-speaking city

Today, the vast majority of Québec City’s population speaks French as their first language. It is hard to imagine that a great part of the city was once English! However, it was the case in the mid-19th century. A large wave of immigration from the British Isles came through Québec City, the point of entry to Canada. The Anglophone presence peaked in Québec City around 1870, when nearly half of the residents, mainly from Ireland, were English-speaking. Come and rediscover Québec City’s English-speaking past!

Mariner’s Chapel

Fred C. Würtele In the mid-19th century, several places of worship were opened for Québec City’s fast-growing Protestant minority. Lacking space to say Anglican Mass, Archdeacon George Jehoshaphat Mountain was reduced to saying it in the shipyards. He did, however, have the Mariner’s Chapel built to serve visiting sailors and Protestant workers in Québec City.

Chronoscope Can you locate this building on the map? (unilingual French for a limited time)

Depicted period: 1889

Source: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec Document in the public domain (free of copyright) - Fred C. Würtele Fonds - Date: 1889

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