Home to the Old Port of Montreal, the neighbourhood is bordered on the west by McGill Street, on the north by Ruelle des Fortifications, on the east by rue Saint-André, and on the south by the Saint Lawrence River.

Founded by French settlers in 1642 as Fort Ville-Marie, Old Montreal is home to many structures dating back to the era of New France.

The company in charge of managing the settlement was founded by the Sulpician Jean-Jacques Olier and by Jérôme Le Royer (Sieur de La Dauversière).

After the Société Notre-Dame dissolved on March 9, 1663,[3] the Sulpicians (who arrived in 1657) became the Seigneurs of Montreal, as King Louis XIV of France took personal control over the colony.

Buildings of the era include the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, the Saint-Sulpice Old Seminary and Notre Dame Church (replaced later by the Notre-Dame Basilica).

De Léry had the fortifications constructed to secure the settlement from a British invasion and to allow future expansion inside the walls.

Though the walls may have provided security from invasion, they created a different problem: a large concentration of wooden houses (with fireplaces) led to many devastating fires.

In 1849, a riot caused a fire with political consequences when, protesting against a law, a Tory crowd burned down the Parliament building in the old Marché Saint-Anne on Place d'Youville.

Old Montreal became less residential, as the rich Scottish and English merchants built extravagant homes closer to Mount Royal (in what would become the Golden Square Mile).

The character of the Victorian style of the late-19th-century buildings was a significant change from the stone masonry used during the French era and affected the appearance of Old Montreal.

During the Depression, the relocation of port facilities further east deprived Old Montreal of many companies related to the maritime trade, leaving many abandoned warehouses and commercial buildings.

The downtown-area relocation several blocks to the north, and the near-complete absence of residents, (there were only a few hundred in 1950), had the effect of emptying the district when businesses closed at the end of the day.

Dutch-born architect and urban planner Daniel van Ginkel played a major role in saving the district from destruction during the early 1960s.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism was absent from the district, which then became a centre of both civil protest against curfews[6][7] and other public health measures, and of street celebrations as restrictions lessened.

Further west, Place d'Armes is dominated by Notre-Dame Basilica on its southern side, accompanied by the Saint-Sulpice Seminary (the oldest extant building in Montreal).

The old town's riverbank is taken up by the Old Port (Vieux-Port), whose maritime facilities are surrounded with recreational space and a variety of museums and attractions.

Champ de Mars is a large public space located between Montreal City Hall and the Ville-Marie Expressway.

The two parallel lines of stone are one of the few spots in present-day Montreal where you can still see physical evidence of the fortified settlement from colonial times.

Old Montreal is accessible from downtown via the Underground City and is served by several STM bus routes and the Champ-de-Mars, Place-d'Armes, and Square-Victoria-OACI Metro stations.