Maisonneuve

District of Montréal, Québec, 5 km/3 mi north of Mount Royal (the city centre). The large Parc Maisonneuve here is a centre of recreational and sporting facilities, and was the site of the principal stadium when the city hosted the 1976 Olympic Games.

Maisonneuve was established by French-speaking speculators to counter anglophone domination of the city's west end, and varied industries and large homes grew up here before the project collapsed financially around World War I. In 1976, the showpiece stadium in the Parc Olympique, which was sited south of Rue Sherbrooke, was the subject of renewed financial scandal, as its costs soared and mechanical problems arose in erecting its cantilevered ribs and 169 m/555 ft-high inclined tower. It is now the home of the Montréal Expos baseball team, who moved here in 1977. North of Rue Sherbrooke, Parc Maisonneuve contains the noted Montréal Botanical Garden, the Insectarium, and various other facilities.