LaSalle Heights disaster

LaSalle Heights is a suburban residential block of low-income rental units located at the corner of rue Bergevin and rue Jean Milot in LaSalle, Quebec, on the Island of Montreal. It was constructed by LaSalle Heights Inc. in 1955 and 1956 at a cost of $5,300,000. In 1955 construction was announced and the site was expected to consist of 678 units (54 three-bedroom houses in rows, 422 three-bedroom apartments, 136 two-bedroom apartments, 50 one-bedroom apartments, and 16 bachelor apartments). Rents ranged from $30 a month to $57 a month and were available to families whose monthly income ranged between four and six times their rent. [1] The block consisted of 25 identical 'U'-shaped buildings, each housing 36 units of various sizes.

At approximately 8:05 am a six-inch (150 mm) fissure emerged in a natural gas supply line in the cellar of 367 rue Bergevin, destroying units in it along with those in buildings 365, 363 and 361. Approximately 36 units were affected. The explosion left a twenty-foot-deep (6.1 m) crater where the three-story apartment building had stood.[2][3] During subsequent inquiries on the incident, metallurgists André Hone and William Williams concluded that a cracked pipe, most likely damaged during transportation or installation, was the cause of the explosion.[4]

At 10:00 pm on the evening of the explosion, Coroner Marcel Trahan released some names of the known dead. On March 3 a more complete list was released. At the time, four people were still missing and one deceased victim was unidentified. [5]

By 8:25 am the LaSalle fire department, along with a number of naval officers from a nearby barracks descended on the site. By the afternoon, premier Jean Lesage and multiple deputies and ministers arrived to assess the damage. In the days following a foundation was created for the victims and a radio and television telethon took place. Approximately $600,000 was raised in the effort.

Queen Elizabeth letter "I am most deeply distressed to learn of the tragic accident which has taken place in Ville LaSalle. Please convey my sincere sympathy to the mayor, to the injured, and the next-of-kin of those who have lost their lives. Elizabeth R." - March 3, 1965 [7]

The Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation along with the minister in charge of the Canadian government's housing program made approximately 60 vacant house available for the more than 200 left homeless from the disaster. Rent was provided free for two months.[8]

In November of that year Herbert Peard launched a lawsuit against Quebec Natural Gas Corporation. Peard lost his wife of 15 years and his three children. The $85,000 lawsuit includes a claim of $21,000 on behalf of his only remaining child Susan, who was seriously injured in the blast.[9]

On March 29, 1965 LaSalle Heights Inc. announced any or all tenants of the LaSalle Heights Housing Development was allowed to break their lease if they wanted.[10]

In February 1967, LaSalle Heights Inc. filed a $853,275 lawsuit against Quebec Natural Gas Corporation.[11]

The Borough of LaSalle organized a number of activities in 2015 to honour the victims' memory:

• All LaSalle churches were invited to commemorate the event as part of their Sunday service on March 1, marking the exact date of the 50th anniversary.
• A resolution was adopted and a minute of silence observed during the Borough Council meeting on March 2, the day after the anniversary of the disaster.
• The Borough granted financial assistance of $3,000 to the Société historique Cavelier-de-LaSalle, to write a monograph on the LaSalle Heights Disaster.
• The Borough organized an exhibition on the tragedy, including photos from archives and newspaper articles.
• A public square at Boulevard LaSalle and Rue Lyette, near the borough hall, was named Place du 1er-Mars-1965 after the date of the explosion, and a commemorative stela was erected as a memorial to this explosion and to another one that had occurred in the same neighbourhood on 28 August 1956.

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