Henry Morgan and Company Limited
Henry Morgan was born in Scotland in 1819 and immigrated to Canada when he was 26 years old. Morgan settled in Montreal, where he established himself as a dry goods retailer. He founded Henry Morgan and Company in 1850. Over the next 25 years, the business grew from a simple shop with 10 clerks and apprentices into a large enterprise, eventually becoming Canada’s first retail department store and employing over 150 clerks. In 1891, the company opened its flagship department store on Sainte-Catherine Street, far from the central business district, in what was then an affluent residential neighbourhood. A mail order business launched around the same time published catalogues for general distribution twice a year. Morgan died in 1893 but his family retained control of the business until the company merged with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1960.
