<P> Scottish immigrants constructed Montreal's first bridge across the Saint Lawrence River and founded many of the city's great industries, including Morgan's, the first department store in Canada, incorporated within the Hudson's Bay Company in the 1970s; the Bank of Montreal; Redpath Sugar; and both of Canada's national railroads . The city boomed as railways were built to New England, Toronto, and the west, and factories were established along the Lachine Canal . Many buildings from this time period are concentrated in the area known today as Old Montreal . Noted for their philanthropic work, Scots established and funded numerous Montreal institutions, such as McGill University, the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec and the Royal Victoria Hospital . </P> <P> Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832 . The city's growth was spurred by the opening of the Lachine Canal, which permitted ships to pass by the unnavigable Lachine Rapids south of the island . As the capital of the United Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, Montreal attracted more English - speaking immigrants: Late Loyalists, Irish, Scottish, and English . Riots led by Tories led to the burning of the Provincial Parliament . Rather than rebuild, the government chose Toronto as the new capital of the colony . In Montreal the Anglophone community built McGill, one of Canada's first universities, and the wealthy built large mansions at the foot of Mont Royal . </P> <P> Long before the Royal Military College of Canada was established in 1876, there were proposals for military colleges in Canada . Staffed by British Regulars, adult male students underwent a 3 - month - long military course in Montreal in 1865 at the School of Military Instruction in Montreal . Established by Militia General Order in 1865, the school enabled Officers of Militia or Candidates for Commission or promotion in the Militia to learn Military duties, drill and discipline, to command a Company at Battalion Drill, to Drill a Company at Company Drill, the internal economy of a Company and the duties of a Company's Officer . The school was retained at Confederation, in 1867 . In 1868, The School of Artillery was formed in Montreal . </P> <P> Montréal's status as a major inland port with direct connections to Britain and France made it a valuable asset for both sides of the American Civil War . While Confederate troops secured arms and supplies from the friendly British, Union soldiers and agents spied on their activity while similarly arranging for weapons shipments from France . John Wilkes Booth spent some time in Montréal prior to assassinating President Lincoln, and in one case was said to have drunkenly gallivanted throughout the city telling anyone who would listen of his plan to kill Lincoln . Almost all took him to be a fool . After the War, President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis stayed at a manor house located at the current site of The Bay on Sainte - Catherine's Street West; a plaque commemorating the site was installed on the West wall of the building, on Union Avenue, in 1957 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy . </P>

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