Westmount places:
Forden Avenue and Crescent

The history behind the familiar: the former residents who called the street their home

By Michael Walsh

February 1, 2026

Quick question – which one of Westmount’s streets is the most difficult to research? I would suggest Forden Avenue – a street that contains a wealth of erroneous online information.

For example, one finds that the street runs though the former “Lacroix Farm” (of which there is no evidence), the farmland was purchased (through a Sheriff’s sale) by Susannah Sarah Rankin (no deed of sale exists), the original owner of the Forden estate is reported as Robert Bowman (the correct name is Charles Bowman), his daughter Elizabeth supposedly seamlessly inherited her father’s wealth (in fact the process was a protracted legal battle), during this period she is reported to have three surviving children (in reality there were two – one was a minor). The list could continue; the amount of online and digitized misinformation concerning this street is staggering.

Lessons learned? Never trust the accuracy of online searches based on face value – always use primary sources – especially if your name is associated with the results.

At this point, let us start from the beginning and piece together the puzzle named Forden Avenue.

It begins with Charles Bowman, whose father, William John Bowman, owned a starch works and an estate named Greystones, in the parish of Laurencekirk, Scotland. In the 1830s, Charles emigrated to Canada and settled in Montreal, becoming a “successful colonist” and senior partner in Bowman and Smith. The firm had business holdings in Trois-Rivières, Colborne, and Port Hope. In addition, he purchased several hundred acres of land in “Bowman’s Village,” which he surveyed and opened public streets. He donated land and provided funds to build two churches in the village and encouraged young emigrants from Scotland to settle in the area. Today, the area comprises the Town of Bowmanville, Ontario.

Laurencekirk from Garvock Hill – Image: Ian Kenn, Flickr

In 1830, Charles married Elizabeth Savage, and their family grew to at least eight children; three died very young. The surviving children were two sons, Charles and John, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Ann and Victoria.

During this period, Charles constructed a large Italian villa named “Forden” in Côte Saint-Antoine. The estate is described as:

“Extending from the Côte St. Antoine Road over the mountain to the Côte-des-Neiges boundary… Its handsome entrance, with lodge, and finely ornamented limestone columns, its wide frontage of hawthorn hedges and avenue of the same, winding through the grounds to the mansion on the higher level, were much in the taste of some Scottish domain… it was rich in all the choice products of garden and orchard… The mountain portion, clothed with maple, elm and other woods… forms a natural park…”
– The Canadian Horticultural Magazine, August 1897

Charles Bowman and Family – Image: Clarington Museums & Archives

Bowman, a keen horticulturist, capitalized on Cote St. Antoine’s distinctive microclimate for productive orchards. He grew apples, pears and plums on his estate. In fact, his annual yield of fruit averaged nearly 1,500 pounds. Interestingly, he grew a unique grafted apple tree (the oldest on the Island) named the “Strawberry of Montreal” and a variety of plum known as the “Forden Seedling”.

Charles died in 1848, leaving two daughters, one of whom was regarded as a minor. Following a lengthy legal process, the estate’s succession was passed onto his older daughter, Elizabeth, now Elizabeth Raynes by marriage to Captain Robert Taylor Raynes, former 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

Elizabeth and Robert Raynes continued to live in “Forden” and had children, none of whom married. At this point in time, the estate, a largely wooded property, fronted upon Forden Avenue, Forden Crescent, Bowman Avenue (the southern portion of Forden Crescent), Church Hill (formerly Churchill), Murray and Montrose Avenues.

In 1830, Charles [Bowman] married Elizabeth Savage, and their family grew to at least eight children… During this period, Charles constructed a large Italian villa named “Forden” in Côte Saint-Antoine.

In 1869, the Raynes gifted land from their property that forms the site of today’s St. Matthias Church, erected in 1901. The church purchased additional adjacent land to allow the construction of the parish hall.

In July 1899, Elizabeth Raynes ceded Forden Avenue, Forden Crescent and Bowman Avenue to the Town. This allowed Council to extend Montrose and Murray Avenues (ceded by the Murray Estate) and to open a new street, Forden Avenue, from Cote St. Antoine Road to the proposed extension of Montrose Avenue. The Raynes property was divided into thirty-four lots, and the area became known as “West Crescent Height” or the “Murray and Raynes Property”.

Unfortunately, in 1937, Council renamed Bowman Avenue to Forden Crescent, erasing the estate’s original owner from our collective history. (As an aside – why the city still honours Alexis Nihon, an individual with no historical connection, and virtually unknown to all residents, remains a mystery.)

Robert Raynes passed away in July 1891, a few years before the construction of large residences on the former estate. Most notably, the David McNicoll (vice-president of Canadian Pacific Railway) residence on Forden Avenue and Cote St. Antoine Road.

Forden Estate, 1844 – Image: Public Domain

“Forden” remained occupied by descendants of the Bowman family until 1949, when it was demolished. One of Bowman’s granddaughters was the last to live in the house. She possessed the only known oil painting depicting Charles Bowman. After her death, the portrait’s whereabouts remain unknown to this day.

Two remains of “Forden” were spared demolition – the carriage house at 52 Forden Crescent, the adjacent barn (also a residence redesigned by architect Bruce Anderson) and the stables at 50 Forden Crescent.

Over the ensuing decades, the street remained outside of any public notice. One can assume this suited the degree of privacy offered to residents attracted to this area. Unfortunately, in June 2020, the street made front-page news when a bicyclist was fatally injured by a car at the intersection of Forden Avenue and Forden Crescent. One year later, the coroner’s report implied that the current traffic flow on Forden Avenue, Forden Crescent and Montrose Avenue contributed to this tragic accident. It also recommended that the City of Westmount reconfigure the area’s traffic directions “for the better protection of cyclists.” Council acted upon all the report’s recommendations, and today, the area safely accommodates cyclists and automobiles.

Seventeenth-century road post marker, Forden Avenue at Côte St. Antoine Road

“…WHEREAS said report recommends that the access to Forden Crescent, the first one north of Montrose Avenue, be changed to a one-way street eastbound on Forden Avenue. THAT, for a better protection of cyclists. In accordance with the Coroner’s recommendation, the access to Forden Crescent, the first one north of Montrose Avenue, be modified to a one-way street eastbound on Forden Avenue.”
– Council Proceedings, May 17, 2021

Finally, the street contains an overlooked historical artifact. Located on the north-west corner of Forden Avenue and Cote St. Antoine Road lies a three-hundred-year-old milestone marker. Installed by early settlers in the 1600s, it shows the distance to an outpost (Fort de la Montagne) built by the Sulpicians on today’s Atwater Avenue at Sherbrooke Street. Incorporated into a stone wall in 1902, it can still be seen outside 8 Forden Avenue.

James Henry Sherrard – Image: McCord Museum

One must agree that these short streets have a complex, interwoven history – one of the many facets that make the City of Westmount unique.

At this point, let us become acquainted with some of the residents by taking an early spring walk along the magnificent homes that grace these streets.

1 Forden Avenue
James H. Sherrard, president, Simmons Limited, Montreal and Alderman, City of Westmount – 1908

Mrs. Edwin R. Atwater – 1901

Edwin Atwater, businessperson and municipal politician – Image: William Notman, 1868, Public Domain

“Together with his elder brother Albert, he founded a business in paints, varnish, and plate-glass. The Atwater brothers were the first importers of glass in Canada, and their varnish factory was to considerably reduce the imports of this product on the national market… In 1846, he took part in the founding of the Montreal City and District Savings Bank… In 1846 went into partnership with some prominent people of Montreal to establish the Montreal Telegraph Company… he was elected to the city council of Montreal as a councillor (1850–51), then as an alderman (1852–57)… Atwater was made president of the Montreal Board of Trade in 1861 and thereby became a member ex officio of the Harbour Commission, according to the practice in force from 1855 to 1873. He was also on the board of directors of the Merchants’ Bank, which had been started by Hugh Allan in 1861, and of the Citizens’ Insurance Company of Canada… After an illness of some weeks, Edwin Atwater died on 18 June 1874, leaving one of the largest fortunes of Montreal, the fruit of 40 years of unremitting toil. In 1871, to thank him for his devotion to the progress of the Montreal community, the city council gave the name of Atwater to a street in Saint-Antoine ward.”
– Pierre Landry, Dictionary of Canadian Biography

George Victor Ferguson, 1959 – Image: Archives of Manitoba photo collection, personalities

George Victor Ferguson, journalist – 1950

“Born in Cupar, Fife, Scotland on 20 April 1897, he came with his parents to Nelson, British Columbia in 1903, and in 1912 moved to Calgary, Alberta. He served in France in the 196th Battalion during the First World War. On his return to Canada after the war, he attended the University of Alberta, where he was chosen as a Rhodes Scholar. In 1923, he received his BA degree from Christ Church, Oxford. While at Oxford, he heard J. W. Dafoe speak and decided that there was the man for whom he wanted to work. He joined the staff of the Manitoba Free Press in 1925, where he soon became one of the most distinguished of ‘Dafoe’s young men.’”

“In the late 1930s, he began political broadcasts on CBC Radio. On Dafoe’s death in 1944, he took over as Executive Editor of the Free Press, quitting abruptly in 1946 when he decided that he did not like the job. He moved to Montreal, Quebec, where he worked for the international service of the CBC, later becoming Editor of the Montreal Star, from which he retired in 1968. He was also well known as a television commentator and speaker in the field of foreign affairs.”

“On 27 December 1930, he married Mary Simpson Doupe (1906-?, daughter of Jacob L. Doupe) at Winnipeg. He died at Montreal on 26 January 1977.”
– Manitoba Historical Society

2 Forden Avenue
P. B. Papachristidis, Papachristidis Maritime Inc. – 1950

“Invested into the Order of Canada (1976) for his support of Canada’s Hellenic community. In addition, he endowed the P.B. Papachristidis Chair of Modern Greek & Greek-Canadian Studies at McGill University.”

“Papachristidis’s grandfather was born in Greece in 1901. He served in the First World War, studied economics at the University of Lausanne and then joined the family’s tobacco trading business in 1926. After the Great Crash in 1929, the family business was ruined, and he emigrated to Canada. Before going into shipping, he became, quite by chance, the largest wholesale postage stamp dealer in Canada. It wasn’t until the end of the Second World War that he bought his first ships.”

D. McNicoll – Image: Archives de Montréal

“The Phrixos B. Papachristidis Company, incorporated in Montreal in 1946, was later renamed Hellespont Maritime. The company’s first ships were nine Canadian-built dry cargo vessels. The company was primarily operating a Canadian-flagged fleet in deep sea and Great Lakes trades until 1972, when it expanded internationally.”
– The Maritime Executive

3 Forden Avenue
John P. Seybold, Starke-Seybold Limited, a hardware firm located on St. Peter Street – 1908

8 Forden Avenue
“Braeleigh”, designed by Edward & William S. Maxwell. Their firm is best known for designing the Saskatchewan Legislative Building in 1908.

David McNicoll, Vice-President, Canadian Pacific Railway and Director of Molson’s Bank – 1905

Charles Joseph Doherty, 1908 – Image: Public Domain

9 Forden Avenue
Right Honourable C. J. Doherty, K.C., P.C., Minister of Justice for Arthur Meighen, Canada’s ninth Prime Minister – 1931

12 Forden Avenue
Charles Ross Whitehead – 1940

“Charles Ross Whitehead was a Quebec industrialist. He founded the Wabasso Cotton Company Limited textile factory in Trois-Rivières in 1907 and the Shawinigan Cotton Company Ltd plant in Shawinigan in 1909. In 1910, he co-founded the Wayagamack Pulp and Paper Company Limited in 1910, with JN Greenshield and Rodolphe Forget.”
– McGill Archival Collections Catalogue

14 Forden Avenue
Henry Elgie Suckling, Treasurer, Canadian Pacific Railway – 1925
Canon Gilbert Oliver, Rector, St. Matthias Church. Sold by the Church in 1945 – 1944

Stanley Constantine Skoryna, M.D., M.Sc., Ph.D. (Biol), FACS – 1960

“Stanley Constantine Skoryna came to Canada in 1947 on the invitation of McGill University, which offered him the Edward Archibald fellowship in experimental surgery. He was Director of the Gastro-Intestinal Research Laboratory at McGill for over forty years. As a surgeon, he practiced at St. Mary’s Hospital for more than fifty years. In 1964-65, Dr Skoryna organized and led a medical expedition to Easter Island sponsored by the World Health Organization and the Medical Research Council of Canada. The Government of Chile, in gratitude, presented him with the O’Higgins Award. Among his other honours are the 1957 Medalist in Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the 1968 Auguste Rodin Award by the Canada Research and Development Corporation. Dr Skoryna was also the first recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award presented by the City of Montreal as well as a recipient of the Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland.”
– McGill University, Health e-News

Charles E. Frost & Co, 3555 Saint-Antoine O, c 1940 – Image: Wikimedia

17 Forden Avenue
Charles E. Frosst, manufacturing pharmacist, and founder of Charles E. Frosst & Co. – 1945

“Charles Frosst was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1867. A serious man, stern at times, little is recorded about his childhood or formal schooling. At age 25, he arrived in Montreal, Quebec, to work as a salesman for American-based pharmaceutical supplier, Henry Wampole Company.”

“At age 32, Charles felt he had learned enough about the pharmaceutical trade to risk his name and limited assets and, in 1899, he founded his own company. Driven by a determination to make the Charles E. Frosst & Co. respected and successful, Charles developed his own formulas and acted as his own salesman. By necessity, he often designed the machinery needed to manufacture his products.”

Charles E. Frosst – Image: Public Domain

“Pharmaceutical research and product development were priorities for Charles as he strove to replace old-time remedies with finished products. He received the first Canadian license, in 1928, to manufacture and sell synthetic Vitamin D2. Frosst’s development of the formulas for the well-known 222 and 292 tablets revolutionized the industry.”

“Charles and his three sons worked together through two decades of major growth. Their multi-million dollar enterprise employed hundreds of people. In the 1940s, research expanded into products that would fight against bacterial infections and into veterinary medicines.”

André Desmarais – Image: Power Corporation of Canada

“Charles retired in 1943 at age 76. In 1959, under the management of his sons, the company was listed on the Montreal and Toronto Exchanges. Six years later, American pharmaceutical giant Merck & Company took control. Merck-Frosst Canada remains a leading, fully integrated multi-national pharmaceutical company.”
– The Canadian Business Hall of Fame

André Desmarais, Deputy chairman of Power Corporation of Canada and executive co-chairman of Power Financial Corporation – 1986

Power Corp. of Canada is a management and holding company which engages in the provision of financial services, asset management, and sustainable and renewable energy. It operates through the following segments: Lifeco, IGM Financial, and Pargesa… The company was founded by Arthur J. Nesbitt and Peter A. Thomson on April 18, 1925 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.
– Forbes

Siscoe Gold Mine, Quebec – Image: BaNQ

18 Forden Avenue
W. A. Fensom, Vice-President, Siscoe Gold Mines Limited – 1940

The Siscoe mine property… produced 883,000 ounces of gold between 1929 and 1949. This was Val d’Or’s first and richest mine. At its close, Siscoe had only been mined to a depth of 600 m. Deep drilling in 1997 returned high gold grades as deep as 800 m below surface, suggesting more mineralization at depth.
– Canadian Mining Journal

Thomas W. Eadie Medal – Image: Musée de la santé Armand-Frappier

Thomas Wardrope Eadie, President, Bell Canada –1970
Responsible for the implementation of the Trans Canada Microwave System that carried telephone and television signals across the nation. The system is regarded as one of the world’s major engineering accomplishments. Today, the Royal Society of Canada awards the Thomas W. Eadie Medal in recognition of major contributions to Engineering or Applied Science, with preference given to those with an impact on communications, particularly the development of the Internet.

25 Forden Avenue
William Waugh, Boulter, Waugh & Co. Limited – 1906

Microwave repeater towers, Latchford, On – Image: Creative Commons

“…To carry out throughout the Dominion of Canada the business of importers, exporters, manufacturers and dealers in hats, caps, garments, furs and wearing apparel, and general furriers, clothiers and outfitters, and as dressers and dryers of furs, with powers to do all business of a like nature or incidental thereto by the name of ‘Boulter, Waugh & Co. Limited’…”
– Montreal Gazette, January 23, 1905

30 Forden Avenue
R. M. Ballantyne, Vice-President, Board of Trade and President, Montreal Produce Merchants’ Association – 1906
David C. Tobias, President, Jonergin Company Inc. – 1970
Manufacturers of products, industrial identification, and data-processing products. In 1970, the company attempted to locate the legendary Oak Island treasure buried in Nova Scotia.

32 Forden Avenue
William D. Robb, Member, Montreal Advisory Board Crown Trust. Chairman. Joseph Robb & Co. Ltd., Chairman, The Anchor Packing Co. Ltd., Vice-President, Prestonia Stationary Manufacturing Ltd. – 1970

34 Forden Avenue
James St. George Dillon, Senior Partner, Bellhouse, Dillon and Company, importers of iron and steel for railway use as well as chemicals – 1943

49 Forden Avenue
George William Huggett, President and Managing Director, Canadian Industries Limited (C.I.L.) – 1940

53 Forden Avenue
G. E. F. Aylmer, Honorary Treasurer, Bank of Montreal – 1930

55 Forden Avenue
P. Lamontagne, Lawyer, Alderman City of Westmount – 1975

57 Forden Avenue
Brian Gallery, Publisher, Mayor City of Westmount – 1975

Atlantic Sugar Company refinery, Saint John, NB, c 1927 – Image: McCord Museum, Public Domain

59 Forden Avenue
L. J. Seidensticker, President, Atlantic Sugar Refineries (today Lantic Sugar Limited) – 1950

65 Forden Avenue
J. Ralph Bourassa Jr., Vice-President, La Belle Fermiere, Director, West Indies Plantations Limited, Director, West Indies Stock Exchange, Executive Vice-President, N. Bourassa Ltd, Director, McGarry & Co. Ltd. and member of the board of directors, David & Frere Limited – 1970

66 Forden Avenue
James Harvey Roy, President and General Manager, Canadian Converters Co. Ltd and its subsidiaries: Standard Shirt Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and John P. Black and Company. His cousin, Sir Charles Gordon, was the president of the Bank of Montreal – 1936

Dominion supermarket – Image: Canadian Grocer

47 Forden Crescent

70 Forden Avenue
James Colin Kemp, Assistant to the President, Dominion supermarkets (eventually acquired by Loblaws) and Alderman, City of Westmount – 1931

33 Forden Crescent
Dr. F. J. Tees, Senior Surgeon, Montreal General Hospital, and lecturer at McGill University – 1946

38 Forden Crescent
Dr. Arthur W. Young, Neurologist, Montreal Neurological Institute, Supervisor, Dr. Colin Russel Physiotherapy Centre for Multiple Sclerosis (Royal Victoria Hospital) and Medical Officer, Sun Life Assurance Company – 1940

Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, 1984 – Image: Public Domain

47 Forden Crescent
Brian Mulroney, Lawyer, businessman and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993 – 1993

50 Forden Crescent

“THAT an out-of-court settlement in accordance with articles 2631 and following of the Civil Code of Québec (1991, chapter 64) be entered into with the owner of the building bearing civic no. 50 Forden Crescent, for an action the City took regarding some minor derogations to a building permit.”
– Council Proceedings, June 7, 2010

50 Forden Crescent, former stables for the Forden estate. Built in 1830, they were converted to a residence in 1928.

52 Forden Crescent
Roy Leggo Campbell, Mayor, City of Westmount – 1951
In addition, he was Assistant Secretary at Riordan Pulp and Paper Company (renamed the Canadian International Paper Company). Associate, Chartered Institute of Secretaries and was awarded their Distinguished Professional Service award. In addition, he was one of the organizers of the Technical Section, Canadian Pulp and Paper Association.

64 Forden Crescent
Major-General Charles Basil Price, C.B., D.S.O., D.C.M., V.D., C.D. Awarded Companion of the Order of Bath (1945), Alderman, City of Westmount (1931) – 1942

Major-General Charles Basil Price – Image: Public Domain

“… (He was) a driving force in the formation of the Royal Montreal Regiment; he was one of those mainly responsible for the construction of the armoury in Westmount… At the outbreak of the war, he was drafted as commander of the 17th Duke of York Royal Canadian Hussars and was later named to head the 3rd Infantry Brigade… After the First World War, Gen. Price was named managing director of Elmhurst Dairy, a post he held until the outbreak of the present conflict. During the tenure of office of the late Lord Tweedsmuir, he served as A.D.C. to the Governor General. Elected as alderman of the City of Westmount in 1931, he served his fellow citizens… as commissioner of roads, police, and fire. In 1935, he was honoured by his election to the position of president of the Canadian Club of Montreal and at the present time is honorary president of the Royal Empire Society.”
– Montreal Gazette, May 17, 1944

Squadron Leader Lyall Basil Burman Price, R.C.A.F., killed on active service overseas, son of Major-General C. B. Price, D.S.O., D.C.M., V.D., and Mrs. Price, 64 Forden Crescent– 1942

Dr. K. T. Macfarlane, Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Montreal General Hospital – 1950

66 Forden Crescent
William Markland Molson, independent stockbroker, board member, Montreal Children’s Hospital and President, St. John Ambulance of Canada – 1970

67 Forden Crescent
Edward Bronfman (1971)

“Edward Maurice Bronfman, the elder of the two brothers known as the Toronto Bronfmans, who created their own corporate realm after being denied a place in their better-known cousins’ Seagram liquor kingdom… Keeping a low profile, Edward and Peter F. Bronfman built one of North America’s most powerful and secretive financial conglomerates, branching into merchant banking, real estate, brewing, insurance and professional hockey. In their heyday in the early 1990s, these hundreds of diverse and intricately interlocked holdings were estimated to be worth some $80 billion.”

“Nonetheless, Edward and Peter, who died in 1996, were known as the “other” – even “lesser” – Bronfmans, as distinct from the Montreal brothers Edgar and Charles, the sons of Samuel Bronfman, who founded the Seagram distilling empire. When Samuel willed the empire to his sons, Edward and Peter were shut out as the “poor cousins,” a status they soon overcame.”
– New York Times, April 6, 2005

Former Steel Company of Canada factory – Image: Creative Commons

68 Forden Crescent
Henry Thomas Diplock, Vice-President, Steel Company of Canada (today, Stelco) – 1930

“WHEREAS the properties found at 68 Forden Crescent and 109 Columbia Avenue are in a state of decrepitude creating unsanitary conditions which are threatening the safety and security of their respective neighborhoods; WHEREAS the owners of the properties situated at 68 Forden Crescent and 109 Columbia Avenue have been given several opportunities to abate the unsanitary conditions noted on their property and to bring said property in full compliance with the City’s by-laws; WHEREAS the owners of the properties situated at 68 Forden Crescent and 109 Columbia Avenue have, to this date, refused or neglected to take the required steps to remedy the situation.”

“THAT the City ratify the mandate to undertake proceedings on its behalf, given to Irving Mitchell Kalichman by the Director of Legal Services in the matters involving the City against: – Ms. Julie Leclair of 68 Forden Crescent (S.C.M.: 500-17-094398-154) – Ms. Leopoldine Shutz of 109 Columbia Avenue (S.C.M.: 500-17-094397-166) THAT the Director of Legal Services be authorized to negotiate a timetable as to the conduct of the proceedings or the terms of a settlement in this file, if deemed in the best interests of the City; and THAT the Director of Legal Services be authorized to sign any and all documents necessary to give effect to the foregoing resolutions. Carried unanimously.”
– Council Proceedings. July 4, 2016

Images: Michael Walsh, unless indicated otherwise

Other articles by Michael Walsh
Other recent articles