Jarry Park
According to the city book on street names, Jarry Street and Jarry Park are named for different people. The street is named after an early 18th-century landowner, but the park is named in honour of Raoul Jarry (1885-1930), city councillor for Villeray.
The city took possession of the park lands in 1945 after having leased them for years, but a grandiose development plan designed by University of Montreal architect Ernest Cormier never materialized. Tennis courts, playgrounds, wading and swimming pools were added bit by bit. Then in 1960, a 3000-seat baseball stadium was constructed in the park.
The first home game by the National League's Montreal Expos was played at an enlarged Jarry Park arena in April 1969, and the team played there until they moved to the Olympic Stadium in April 1977.
The park was renamed Parc Jean-Paul II in 1985 in a brief flurry of enthusiasm after the Pope's celebration of mass there during his 1984 visit, but the name change never took hold and the park reverted to its original name in 1987. No longer needed for baseball, the stadium was gradually converted into a professional tennis venue, a purpose for which it is still used. There has been controversy over ongoing expansion of the tennis facility at the expense of green space, something that's at a premium in the intensely urbanized Villeray neighbourhood. Jarry Park only covers 36 hectares all told.
On any weekend afternoon from spring till fall, you can saunter in Jarry Park and enjoy the pond, the fountain, the trees and the flowers, and appreciate the multicultural cross-section of people for whom this park is an urban refuge. Kids play, people picnic. The long view southwest over to Mount Royal is pleasing, giving a sense of space and openness. Ducks and gulls flap over the pond. It's a nice scene.
There are still baseball diamonds at Jarry Park, likewise soccer, bocce, basketball, beach volleyball, swimming pools and playgrounds, a dog run, and several gazebos. In winter the pond is swept to make a skating rink.
To get to Jarry Park the best metro stop is De Castelnau (not, in fact, Jarry), or take the 55 bus up the Main. There is parking in various spots in the park, and although it isn't on a bike path it's commonly cycled through.
A restaurant has opened a small seasonal casse-croûte in one of the park's small buildings. There's also a McDonald's not far away on boulevard Saint-Laurent and several Lebanese bakeries in the area. The Jean-Talon market and Little Italy are not too far off, as are Park Extension's Indian and Greek restaurants and other shops. There is a level railway crossing in the northern part of the park giving access to that neighbourhood: the old footbridge behind the stadium is closed indefinitely for repairs.
Jarry Park is defined by Jarry and Faillon streets to the north and south, and falls between Boulevard Saint-Laurent and the railway tracks.
Centre de tennis du parc Jarry
285 Faillon West
514-273-1234
Baseball reservation
514-872-7895
Soccer reservation
514-872-3464
