Heritage

As the water is drained out of the Rideau canal the remains of the Dow's Lake Causeway becomes visible.

I'm not sure when the causeway was removed but the picture below is from the Report and Correspondence of the
Ottawa Improvement Commission (Ottawa, 1912).

A quick picture taken today.

Cropped map of Ottawa from 2nd Edition, 1915, Atlas of Canada

Bell bragging about not having rich shareholders or paying out large dividends.

March 4 1929 Ottawa Citizen 

Poker on TV? Nothing new.

1927 Ottawa Citizen

Another find from the Internet Archive

Table from The public schools of Ottawa (1918) found at http://www.archive.org/details/publicschoolsofo00markuoft

In 1918 First Avenue School had 645 students occupying 13 classrooms plus a kindergarten. Connaught School, new at the time, had 604 students in 13 classrooms plus  a kindergarten. Mutchmor had 545 students in 11 classrooms plus a kindergarten for an average of almost 50 students per classroom.

Image from Ottawa Archives Code: AN-039265-001
Title: Lord Alexander, 17th Governor General of Canada, and Lady Alexander arrive in Ottawa. Alexander visited Canada many times after the end of his term as Governor General.
Date: 1955

Current image taken by me.

Former American Legation. Former American Embassy. Former future portrait gallery.

Mash of City of Ottawa Archives image AN-SC-012603-001 (1959) and current image taken with iPhone.

The older photograph is from the City Archives. Code: AN-NP-029851 CA-003021 Date: 1954-01-30

The current one was taken with my iPhone.

First attempt at mash-up between image of the Glebe Collegiate from Ottawa : the capital city of the Dominion of Canada (1922) and an image taken a few weeks ago.

I think I'll take a few more pictures of Glebe Collegiate now, maybe with something more interesting in the foreground and try again.

Lately I've been looking at old maps and landscape pictures. It is fun to try and compare the older images to the Ottawa around us. With buildings and other built heritage it is sometimes possible to find current pictures that line-up pretty well with the old images. See a bunch of previous posts for examples.

Trying to line up current maps with old maps is possible because many Ottawa streets remain the same over time. This of course only works in the oldest parts of the city. As you can see by this post, the Ottawa river shoreline has changed quite a bit over the last 150 years, especially around Chaudiere and Rideau Falls. Until recently I have been assuming that the Rideau Canal has been static since construction finished in 1832. Not so. There was a lay-by to allow large ships to turnaround and pass near where the NAC is now.

The image above is from The Hub and Spokes pg.37 (1904). The image caption reads "Ottawa in 1860, showing proposed buildings."

Image from   Illustrated historical atlas of the county of Carleton (including city of Ottawa) Ont. (1879)

In the image above from the (1908 Atlas of Canada pg. 38) the eastern half of the lay-by has been filled. I think I will return to this map later as it shows the Dow's Lake Causeway, another landmark gone away.

From a May 22 1956 editorial in the Ottawa Citizen:

Toronto's Transport Commission, faced with a deficit of more than $4,000,000 this year has decided to increase the basic fare to 12 1/2 cents from 10 cents and is appealing to Metropolitan Toronto Council for a $2,000,000 subsidy. In addition, the outer zone fare will be increased. The reasons for TTC difficulties are complex but basically they are similar to those which have contributed to public transport troubles in other cities, including Ottawa, in recent years.

For one thing, the rapid expansion of urban building in lightly populated fringe' areas has forced public transport companies such as the Ottawa Transportation Commission to extend their services uneconomically. As well. civic administrations have done too little to discourage the use of the automobile in downtown areas so that public transport has to face stern competition from the private passenger car.

Yet the life of any large city depends on an efficient solvent public transport system. Without it property values in the vital central district would decline and the taxpayers would lose much of their large investment in the downtown area-sewer, water and lighting installations, for instance.

It is in the interest of any city, including Ottawa, to do everything it can to maintain an efficient transport system. Traffic regulations which would encourage the greatest possible use of public transport are required. As well, the private automobile should be allowed to impede the movements of buses and street-cars as little as possible. Finally, a stand-by charge could be leveled on all ratepayers for the benefit of the public transport system, because good public transport benefits all citizens, including those who use a bus or street-car only occasionally. Given sufficient help, there is no reason why a public transport company could not, even ln the automobile age earn enough to maintain and expand its service.

I don't know if the Citizen would write the same editorial today. As a bonus I also learned that the 1956 Citizen carried a Bible Message on the editorial page!