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Timeline of Jardin botanique

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Construction of the cascade in the Reception Gardens, 1938.
Photo: Jardin botanique (Frère Marie-Victorin)
Construction of the cascade in the Reception Gardens.
1929 Brother Marie-Victorin, a brother of the Christian Schools and President of the Société de Biologie de Montréal, gives a speech in which he proposes that a Jardin botanique should be created in Montréal. In the audience is Camilien Houde, the city's forward-thinking mayor and one of his former students.
1930 The Association du Jardin Botanique de Montréal is founded by the Société de Biologie de Montréal.
1931 Official year for the foundation of the Jardin botanique de Montréal.
1932

Work starts on the Garden, enabling Camilien Houde to provide jobs for unemployed workers in Montréal hit hard by the Great Depression.

Architect Lucien F. Kéroack designs the administration building in the Art Deco style.

A small administration pavilion (which today fronts the administration building), service greenhouse and heating plant are built.

1933 Work on the Garden stalls during four years. The site is left in disorder and the greenhouses are even turned into a rabbit hutch!
1935 Brother Marie-Victorin's book Flore Laurentienne, is officially launched. Taking advantage of the fact that Camilien Houde, recently re-elected mayor of Montréal, is in the audience, Marie-Victorin reiterates the City's need for a Jardin botanique.
1936 The Jardin botanique springs to life once again! Brother Marie-Victorin is appointed Director. Henry Teuscher, a famous American botanist, horticulturalist and landscape architect, with whom Marie-Victorin had been working on the plans for the Garden by correspondence for several years already, is appointed Chief Horticulturalist. If Marie-Victorin is the founder of the Garden, Teuscher is its first designer. Work recommences and 2,000 men are hired.
1937 The main building goes up, according to the original plans drawn by architect Lucien F. Kéroack.
1938 Greenhouses for growing and maintaining the Garden's collections are built.
1944 Death of Marie-Victorin, who dies from injuries suffered in a car crash.
1954 A statue of Marie-Victorin is unveiled.
1956 The exhibition greenhouses construction begins.
1970 The Arboretum is created.
1975 The Société d'animation du Jardin et de l'Institut botaniques (now the Friends of the Garden) is founded.
1976 The Rose Garden is built.
1980

The City of Montréal hosts the Floralies Internationales de Montréal.

Mr. Pierre Bourque becomes director of the Jardin botanique de Montréal.

1988 The Japanese Garden is built and opened.
1989 Inauguration of the Japanese Pavilion.
1990 The Insectarium opens.
1991 The Chinese Garden opens.
1994 Mr. Pierre Bourque retires as director of the Jardin botanique.
1995 The Reception Centre and the Molson Hospitality Greenhouse open.
1996

The Frédéric Back Tree Pavilion opens.

The Administration building is renovated.

1999

The Courtyard of the Senses opens.

Launch of the Jardin botanique de Montréal website.

2001 The First Nations Garden opens.
2011 Inauguration of the Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre.
2013 Mosaïcultures internationales at the Jardin botanique.
2019 Creation of the first of six Phytotechnologies stations: Filtering Marshes