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History and Heritage 
Classified as a cultural heritage in 1983, the Moulin banal de Pointe-Claire is one of the remnants of the colonization of the shores of the Island of Montreal. An iconic symbol of Pointe-Claire, it stands as a flagship within the City's heritage, along with the Cross of Missions, which has been at its current location since 1900.
The mill was built in 1709 on land belonging to the Sulpicians, then lords of the island. They leased it to the miller for an annual rent. In 1837, Amable Saint-Julien, a farmer from Rigaud, bought the mill and the land rent of the point, thus freeing them from any seigneurial dues. Subsequently, the mill changed owners many times before being transferred to the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame in 1866, following a land exchange with the parish factory.
Under its stone masonry walls with a thickness of 1.30 meters, the mill housed at the time a complex mechanism mounted on a stationary path that allowed the wings to be oriented towards the wind. The Moulin banal de Pointe-Claire derives its name from the seigneur's right of banality, a right based on the obligation to build a mill accessible to the tenants in exchange for a milling fee. Its dimensions are 7.80 meters in height by 3.90 meters in diameter.
Designed to meet the needs of the tenants in the 17th century, the mill did not, however, meet the set quotas. It then served as a guard tower in the protection of the seigneury against the Iroquois and as a pumping station for the private aqueduct supplying the Sisters' convent. During the 1950s and 1960s, the mill underwent significant restoration work aimed at restoring its former glory. In 1967, on the occasion of the centenary of the adjacent convent, architect Marc Angers designed new wings inspired by the mills of Verchères and Isle-aux-Coudres. Although no longer housing the original mechanism, the mill retains its iconic appearance of yesteryear.
Quebec now has only about twenty windmills left. The rarity and antiquity of the Moulin banal de Pointe-Claire, and its place in the history of the west of the Island of Montreal, contribute to its value in the region's heritage.
