Macadam is a road surfacing technique developed by Scotsman John Loudon McAdam [1756-1836] around 1820. The process involves spreading successive layers of crushed stone of decreasing grain size, bound with sand and water, and compacted using steamrollers, onto a leveled and dried surface. The artistic work is by Carl Rakeman, 1823.
Aylmer Road: 175th anniversary of its macadamization in 2025, 3 of 4
Richard M. Bégin
On September 17, 1850, the macadamization of the road was completed, and toll gates and stations were established, along with toll rates, which in the 1850s ranged from 1½ pennies to 10 pence (for a stagecoach), or between 90 cents and $6 today. The barriers were first installed near Brasserie Creek (now Hanson Street) in Wrightstown and on the eastern edge of Aylmer, near Belmont Street. The Hull gate was later moved further west, to Saint-Joseph Boulevard, and then ultimately to the limits of Hull (including Val-Tétreau), near what is now Saint-Raymond-Sud.
Resistance to tolls soon arose. It was mainly the incorporation of Hull on February 23, 1875, that would exacerbate the situation. Starting on January 3, 1876, the City Council regularly returned to the subject: they wanted the barrier, which was then located at Road of the Gatineau (Saint-Joseph Boulevard), to be moved beyond the Hull city limits (to the location of the Moore farm or Saint-Raymond-Sud Boulevard today) to include the Tétreauville neighborhood (Val-Tétreau). Emissaries were sent to negotiate with the administrators of the Bytown & Aylmer Union Turnpike Road Co., lawyers were hired, and pressure was exerted on the member of Parliament and provincial officials. Nothing worked: it was not until 1916 that the City of Hull purchased the roads managed by the two companies (the second being the one managing the Gatineau Road) that had tolls on its territory, while the Quebec government agreed to pay three-quarters of the amount to be determined by the Quebec Public Utilities Commission. The barrier on Aylmer Road was then moved to Bisson Creek (most likely Moore Creek), outside the city limits.
However, what is interesting is that in Aylmer, this type of agreement had been negotiated with the Bytown & Aylmer Union Turnpike Road Company as early as March 4, 1901. The barrier did not have to be moved and, in any case, because of the agreement of December 17, 1849, it had never prevented traffic within the city limits. The Aylmer City Council offered $3,000 plus legal and other costs to the Bytown & Aylmer Union Turnpike Road Company: the city of Aylmer would henceforth be solely responsible for the maintenance of Main Street between Mountain (Frank-Robinson) St. and Lake Deschênes.
Already somewhat threatened by trains for a number of years, in the mid-1890s, thanks in particular to the Conroy brothers (sons of Robert Conroy) who built a hydroelectric dam in Deschênes, trams and the Hull Electric Railway (HER) appeared on the scene. On May 1, 1894, the HER obtained permission from the Hull City Council to install its rails, poles, and wires on Hull territory. In Aylmer, on October 5, 1895, the Hull Electric Co. was granted the same right along Mountain Street to Main Street, then along Front Street to Derwin, and finally to Queen's Park.
Unfortunately, the Hull Electric Co. interpreted the authorization it had obtained from Hull rather broadly, which led to a lawsuit that lasted at least two years and ended with a ruling in favor of the Bytown & Aylmer Union Turnpike Road Co. on May 16, 1898. Since the spring of 1896, the HER had installed rails and poles on Aylmer Road between Bridge and Brewery Streets (now Eddy and Montcalm) and even Front Street (now Hanson), hence the lawsuit. On May 16, 1898, the HER was ordered to pay compensation to the Bytown & Aylmer Turnpike and to remove its rails and poles installed directly on Aylmer Road.
