In the last edition of Le Vieux-Montréal, I wrote an article on Grain Elevators 1 and 2 which were demolished (respectively in 1983 and 1978) to create the Old Port promenade. This prompted questions from readers about the one remaining elevator in this part of the port - No. 5, which stands at the base of McGill Street on the aptly named Pointe-du-Moulin. In fact, what we today call Elevator no. 5 or Silo No. 5 was constructed in several distinct sections between 1904 and 1958. These sections were joined together by a conveyor system in 1963 and it was at that time that the name Grain Elevator No. 5 was applied to the ensemble.
History
In the early years of the 20th century, the Grand Trunk Railway decided to build a grain elevator on Pointe-du-Moulin. They selected John S. Metcalf as the engineer for this important project. Although he had been born in Sherbrooke, Metcalf made  his name and reputation in Chicago where he developed a system of square grain silos made of steel sheets to replace the wooden "boxes" formerly used. Work began on the new elevator in 1904 and it was officially inaugurated in 1906 with the name of Elevator B. With a capacity of a million bushels of grain, it was considered an engineering marvel in its time. It was also innovative in that it could receive grain from both rail cars and ships.
In 1913, the Grand Trunk constructed an extension to Elevator B just to the west, this time made of concrete cylinders. The introduction of concrete brought about rapid changes in engineering and it quickly replaced steel in much construction. In the 1920s, the Montréal Harbour Commission purchased Elevator B from the Grand Trunk (the railway had been nationalized in 1920 becoming part of Canadian National). The Harbour Commission then decided to enlarge the 1913 extension and they asked John S. Metcalf to do the work once again. By 1925, the capacity of the elevator had been increased to about three and a half million bushels of grain. (Elevator B and its additions stand at the western end of what is now Silo No. 5).
 At the end of the 1950s, the structure formerly known as Grain Elevator B-1 was built at the east end of Pointe-du-Moulin. Today, its these massive reinforced concrete silos which dominate the site. Completed in 1958, the elevator was designed by engineer C. D. Howe who is much more famous for his political career. A prominent member of Mackenzie King's government during World War II, he later served in the government of Louis Saint-Laurent. In any event, his engineering company built grain elevators across Canada especially in Port Arthur (today's Thunder Bay, Ontario). The capacity of Elevator B-1 at its prime was said to be the equivalent of filling 30 Olympic swimming pools with grain! Finally, as mentioned above, Elevators B and B-1 were connected by an overhead conveyor system which effectively merged them and in 1963 they took the new name of Silo No. 5.
Future
It was in 1995, more than twelve years ago, that Grain Elevator No. 5 stopped handling grain. It has stood empty and abandoned ever since. Suggestions for its future have ranged from pulling it down completely to converting it into apartments. (Personally, the idea of living in a concrete cylinder with no windows has little appeal -but I digress). There is certainly something that can be done to make use of this magnificent structure. Other grain elevators in ports on the Great Lakes have been successfully converted to serve other purposes. So, let's hope another twelve years won't pass by before something is tried here in Old Montréal...
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