In 1809, brewer John Molson (1763-1836) purchased the steamboat, Accommodation, marking the beginning of steam navigation on the St.Lawrence River. By 1818 the St. Lawrence Steamboat Co., or the Molson Line, as it was popularly known, possessed seven ships in its fleet. Steam navigation on the St. Lawrence made rapid strides in the third decade of the nineteenth century. A competitor ro the St. Lawrence Steamboat Co., the John Torance & Co. of Montreal, also started running a steamboat between Quebec and Montreal in 1826. Molson tried to secure a monopoly from the government over the steamboat business on the St. Lawrence River, but his efforts were in vain. In 1845 the Richelieu Steamboat Co. was formed and there was intense competition amongst the various steamship businesses for the lucrative St. Lawrence River market. This rivalry finally gave way and the bulk of the business fell to the Richelieu Steamboat Co. In 1911, the St. Lawrence Steamboat Co. was one of several companies absorbed into the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company.

The St. James Literary Society, dedicated, in the words of its Constitution, to "the mutual improvement of its members by means of speeches, essays, debates, etc. on social, political, scientific or literary subjects", held its first meeting in 1899 in the Anglican Church of St. James the Apostle. Formal affiliation with the Church ended in 1901. The Society has pursued its aims largely through its speakers programme, and from the 1901 session has appointed an officer to maintain copies of addresses. The eclectic intellectual character of the Society has remained relatively unchanged over the years, although its membership base has broadened and its meetings are now public.