What lies beyond the
Bethune tunnel

Westmount’s Corporation Yards is a vital hub for the city’s municipal operations

By Michael Walsh

Edited December 20, 2025

For a change of pace, over the weekends, we sometimes walked our dog under the embankment at Bethune towards the city’s Corporation Yards. This area contains various public recycling depots that were installed in 1987, before the city’s apartment buildings were equipped with recycling facilities. Since the late 1980s, electronics recycling has expanded well beyond the original Westmount depots, with city‑ and province‑wide programs and ecocentres offering many more options for residents.

A model city, run by people who know
Their business. Every year, we see it grow
More beautiful, with money wisely spent,
By those who have in charge its management.

Parks, Playgrounds, Civic Buildings, Streets and Lanes (So This is Westmount, Charles Benedict, 1933)

Without exception, our arrival elicits a response from a Public Works employee if we appear to be approaching the yard’s gate barriers. I began to wonder, within this area of controlled access, what is behind those barriers and inside the sheds. Specifically, what services comprise the yards? I am certain that a large proportion of the city’s population is not even aware of their existence. My main problem, however, was obtaining permission to visit this area.

“They will never let you inside – I have heard they are storing a crashed flying saucer in one of their sheds!” These were the comments from a colleague at our office (who lives in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce) when I mentioned the idea of doing a piece on the Corporation Yards.

‘They will never let you inside – I have heard they are storing a crashed flying saucer in one of their sheds!’

Undeterred, I sent a query using a form on the city’s website. A few days later, I was on the phone with Patrick Raggo, Director of Public Works, pitching my idea for an exposé on his department. Due to safety concerns, it took a few days to obtain the necessary permissions before I was granted access. On a cloudy Friday afternoon, I was teamed up with Peter Giambattista (the city’s Graphical Information Systems technician) and was treated to a fascinating tour.

Old blacksmith sign

The Corporation Yards were constructed in 1909 on a strip of land between the Trans-Canada Highway and the Canadian Pacific Railway’s tracks. In the past, the yards contained a horse stable (demolished in the mid-1950s), shoeing and blacksmith shops, and a snow-melting plant that discharged its contents under the adjacent highway. It also contained two residences for the city’s superintendents: one for parks and the other for roads.

In 1953, a Nicholas Monohearth incinerator, with a 115-foot chimney, was installed as the city’s “municipal refuse destructor. In 1963, the chimney was equipped with a “wet scrubber” that minimized the emission of ashes. No longer in use, the chimney has been demolished; however, the (condemned) incinerator building is still standing. While walking through the yards, I noticed many closed-circuit television cameras – in the past their function was provided by a staff of watchmen.

The area is currently home to about 125 city employees, including: Hydro Westmount (blue-collar), Information Technologies, Garage and Purchasing. The Mess Hall building contains changing rooms, lockers, showers, and a large lunch room for employees – equipped with a well-used ping-pong table. The Office and Stores Building – contains supplies ranging from screws to leather welding jackets.

Several of the buildings are used as municipal garages, fully equipped to perform mechanical repairs. The area has a fuel management system that includes several pumps and underground gasoline tanks. In addition, there is a paint and sign shop, a welding shop and areas where refuse from the parks is unloaded. Did you miss this week’s garbage collection? There is a place at the yards for that as well. There is also an area of asphalt used as temporary road fill during the winter season. Two large shelters contain sand and rock salt (mixed with calcium chloride) that are used on the city’s streets as winter abrasives.

Following this tour, I became more aware of what is required to serve this city, and, as such, living in Westmount is such a pleasure. As for the location of the crashed flying saucer – the jury is still out on that one!

I would like to sincerely thank Peter Giambattisto, Patrick Raggo and Ena Gucciardi from Public Works Department for arranging this visit to the Corporation Yards.

Westmount’s general manager

We are apt to take for granted,
As long as things go right,
Such services as Pavements-Drains-
Water-Electric Light.
Nor do we ever think
Just what it means to be
The man who oversees it all
In our Community.

He needs Job’s patience to contend
With Mr. Daily Jinks,
Who tries to queer things, leaving him
To straighten out the kinks.
He has to gladly suffer fools,
Bees whose bonnet buzz,
Who hint that they could run the Town,
Much better than he does

He has to keep his finger on
The pulse of Westmount’s life
And watch the temperature all day
For any signs of strife,
While if his strict attention slips,
Or judgment goes astray,
He can be sure that soon or late,
There’ll be Old Nick to pay!
So Westmount’s G.-M., we salute-
From troubles we are rid,
As long as, at the City Hall,
He’s sitting on the lid.

Charles Benedict,  Westmount in Song & Story, The Westmount News Company, March 1933.

Images: Michael Walsh

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