The Old Wellington Telephone Exchange – Atwater Street at St-Antoine, Montréal, Québec

With almost impenetrable barriers of muskeg and mountain, Canada has always epitomized the triumph of communications over geography. And since their arrival in Montreal with Wolfe’s army the Scottish people have played a vital role in this triumph. In the early 19th century fur traders like Simon McTavish, George Simpson and James Douglas tied the country together through its rivers. And two generations later Scottish Canadians like Alexander Graham Bell and Andrew Robertson created the Bell Telephone Company of Canada. It is not to be wondered at that many of the company’s early exchange buildings were constructed to resemble Scottish manor houses. An example of this is the building at 915 Atwater Street, which dates from 1928. It once housed the switching equipment for the Wellington exchange. Note the bell symbol set in the stone wall under the second floor windows.