The Lost Code

City Life

Montréal in 1896

McCord Museum, VIEW-2943

City life was difficult, and public hygiene was sorely lacking. In Montréal, for example, the waterworks had no filter system, and sewer outlets were often located upstream from drinking water inlets. Contaminated drinking water often caused illness and epidemics.

Working class families lived crammed together in small hastily built homes without sufficient plumbing. Garbage piled up in the alleys and was not regularly collected. The air was polluted by smoke from the factories.