Description

Set of 10 wired and CSA approved Mid-Century Modern lights salvaged from the original Blue Bonnet race track in the city of Montreal. These examples from the 1950s are well made and in excellent condition. Price per item.

HISTORY. In 1872, the Blue Bonnets racetrack for thoroughbred horse racing opened on the Jos. Decary farm[1] in the easternmost part of the Blue Bonnets community, now Montreal West. At the time there was a Grand Trunk Railway station near the site.[2] In 1886, the Ontario and Quebec Railway (a company controlled by the Canadian Pacific Railway) cut it in half. In 1905, John F. Ryan founded the Jockey Club of Montreal which on June 4, 1907 opened a new Blue Bonnets Raceway on Decarie Boulevard. In 1943, harness racing began and in 1954, thoroughbred flat racing was discontinued until resumed in 1961. In 1958, Jean-Louis Levesque built a new multimillion-dollar clubhouse. By 1961, it began to challenge the preeminence of the Ontario racing industry.[3] From 1961 and 1975, with the end of thoroughbred racing at the track, it was home to the Quebec Derby, an annual horse race conceived by Levesque.

When the metro station Namur was built in the early 1980s, there was controversy over the location chosen in close proximity to the race track. This coincided with a failed "Blue Bonnets Development" project.[4] Previously the Montreal Tramways Company had run streetcars right into the race track site. However, it was argued that the site of the metro station was actually chosen due to traffic expectations rather than to benefit Blue Bonnets.[5]