★ There is some North Star history about 2 minutes away from the ex Capitol building (corner St-Zotique & de l'Esplanade, i.e. where the North Star machines à piastres workshop / Rob's parts locker is)!
★ 6657 St-Urbain (halfway between Beaubien and St-Zotique on the East side) is given as the address of North Star Coin Machine Co. on a flyer for the Richelieu pinball machine, exact date unknown, but sometime between 1949 and 1951:
![[image: North Star Richelieu pinball machine flyer]](./pix/richelieu-flyer.jpg)
★ But this was also the Tremblay family home! It is a 2-storey building built in 1910 with two apartments at civic numbers 6655 and 6657 (lot number 2943). The lot next door to the South was vacant until 1958.
Note: The red dot ● marks the house.
![[image: 6657 St-Urbain aerial photo circa 1949]](./pix/1949-house-zoom.jpg)
★ The area was even more industrial than it is today. Their house was among a row of family homes across the street from a large paint works building, sharing the street with a wood yard, and javel water, armature, and sheet metal factories. Also, the train tracks used to run on a diagonal through the area, crossing the corner of Beaubien/St-Urbain through St-Zotique / de l'Esplanade right by what is now the Capitol building. One can still see the trace of it today.
★ Insurance plan map, 1955 (stitched together from several plates as best I could):
![[image: map 1943]](./pix/1955-6657map.jpg)
★ Aerial photo taken sometime between 1947 - 1949:
![[image: aerial photo 1949]](./pix/1949-6657aerial.jpg)
★ Google Earth satellite photo, 2018:
![[image: satellite photo, 2018]](./pix/2018-6657sat.jpg)
★ The first listing I found of 6657 St-Urbain is in Lovell's Annual from 1934. There is a "Tremblay, J." listed as living there. This is most likely the father of Jacques and Gérard, probably named Joseph. Jacques was about 7 or 8 years old (born in 1926 or 27).
★ That name was listed in Lovell's annuals throughout the years, as well as an Albertine Tremblay upstairs at 6655.
★ In 1960, there's a "Tremblay, Jos." listed with phone number CR1-1562. CR is the old exchange when they used to use names, CR being for CRescent, and which corresponds to the number 27. Bell started phasing out the names in 1960, and they were no longer listed in phonebooks by about 1966.
★ There is something confusing about the phone number printed on the Richelieu flyer above... it is "DO. 1562". The number part is the same as that for the family bome, yet the exchange is DO, which is short for DOminic, which corresponds to 36 and is located in Lasalle. In those days, things were hard-wired, and one could not have a phone number in one exchange be a virtual connection to one in another exchange.
★ In 1965, there's a "Tremblay, H." listed with phone 271-1562.
★ In 1982, Tremblays are still listed, but the address seems to change owners around 1983. The house still stands today. Here's a google Street View of it in 2009, with possibly the original bricks:
![[image: street view, 2009]](./pix/2009-6657street.jpg)
★ The bricks were redone sometime in 2015, along with a new paint color and it currently looks like this:
![[image: street view, 2016]](./pix/2016-6657street.jpg)
★ Researched and written by James Schidlowsky, April 2018. Revised July 2018.
References:★ Lovell's Annuals, covering 1842-2010, digitized and made available online by the BANQ (Bibliothèque et Archives National du Québec): https://www.banq.qc.ca/plateformes-numeriques/collection-dannuaires-lovell-de-montreal-et-sa-region-1842-2010/
★ Insurance plan of the city of Montreal, volume V, various years, via Carte-index des plans d'assurance-incendie de Montréal: http://numerique.banq.qc.ca/p/carte_index_MTL.html
★ Consultation du rôle d'évaluation foncière (Montréal): https://servicesenligne2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/sel/evalweb/index
★ Circa 1947-1949 aerial photos of Montreal: http://donnees.ville.montreal.qc.ca/dataset/vues-aeriennes-archives