The Lachine Canal, opened in 1825, immediately became an essential link in the shipping network between Montreal, the Ottawa River valley and the Great Lakes. This network in fact competed with its rival in New York, the long Erie Canal, running from Albany to link the Hudson River to Lake Erie.

The mouth of the Lachine Canal is an integral part of Montreal's sea port. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, ocean-going ships could traverse the locks to reach the first basins—one was even triangular shaped, to allow the great ships to turn around. In this way, goods could be transferred between inland ships, or "lakers," and their sea-going counterparts. Cargo could also be transhipped to railway cars.

Ships were repaired at the mouth of the canal, as is shown by a boat repair shop dating from the early 20th century, which has recently been carefully converted into office space for a high-tech firm.

In the 1960s, after the St. Lawrence Seaway was opened (near the other shore of the River), the Lachine Canal was closed and its entrance filled in. Later, as part of the celebrations to mark Montreal's 350th birthday (in 1992), the locks and the oldest recoverable components from the 1840s or 1870s were restored and made accessible to the public, along with the Old Port promenade.

Work on restoring the canal was still ongoing in 2002, as efforts continued to uncover most of the basins around the triangular section; a sort of in situ archaeological project, carried out as part of plans to open the entire canal to pleasure boating. Many studies, and much development work, have gone into making use of the rich archaeological resources, including the canal infrastructure, industrial water mains and railway equipment.

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