The colonization of the territory of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, located on the western and northern flanks of Mount Royal, began in the era of New France. In the beginning, Côte-des-Neiges was frequented by vacationing members of the Montreal bourgeoisie. The first inhabitants of the area worked in the tanning industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The area urbanized following the arrival of its first public and religious institutions in the late nineteenth century. The establishment of Université de Montréal in Côte-des-Neiges in the 1930s accelerated its growth.