On this Day: First Car in Montreal
The first "horseless-carriage" to be driven in the streets of Montreal was a Waltham Steam . It was driven by Mr Ucal-Henri Dandurand, on the 21st of November, 1899. His passenger was the then Major of Montreal, Raymond Préfontaine . The car was bought from Massachusetts in the United States for $600, and ran on 6 water reservoirs, with a range of a whopping 24 miles before having to be refilled. It could reach a high speed of 40 mph, but had to be stopped when there was a horse-drawn carriage in view, so as not to scare the horses. By 1903, Mr Dandurand had a total of 4 automobiles, but not everyone approved of such noisy vehicles, and he was often stopped for disrupting the peace. Mr Ucal-Henri Dandurand and his wife in his first car. ( source ) Mr Dandurand outside his house, with car and chauffeur (1915) ( source ) Links CBC Radio Link (in french). M. Ucal-Henri Dandurand (in french). Maison Durand (in french). Edit 25-11-2014 MTLblog has a