‘The History of the Vanier Parkway’ is a four-part series examining the multi-layered history of Vanier’s prominent north/south artery. Part One, ‘Bytown and Prescott Railway Company’, takes a historic account of the area and the route that would become the Vanier Parkway. Part Two, ‘The Gréber Plan’, and Part Three, ‘Neighbourhoods Divided’, examine the planning and (partial) execution of the arterial route. Part Four, ‘The Future of the Parkway’, examines the challenges and opportunities the parkway presents to both Vanier and its environs.
The first train to reach the Ottawa region arrived in New Edinburgh on Christmas Day, 1854. The train ran along the tracks of the Bytown and Prescott Railway Company and crossed the Rideau River into Ottawa (then Bytown) the following year. The line was built to ship lumber and farm products to the markets of Montreal and the northeastern United States.
The Bytown and Prescott Railway line (seen top right) as it connects to Upper Canada’s railway system, 1857.
Little remains of this historic railway. The passenger station, located on McTaggart near Sussex and the rail tracks have long been removed. However, part of the footings, the massive stone pillars that once held up the iron truss bridge across the Rideau River, are still visible today and can be seen from Bordeleau and New Edinburgh parks. Visible, too, is the route through which the trains reached Ottawa.
The iron truss bridge, crossing the Rideau River, seen from what is today Bordeleau Park.
The Vanier Parkway, specifically the portion between Prince Albert and Beechwood, was constructed along the same route that once carried the tracks of the Bytown and Prescott Railway Company through the commercial, industrial and residential areas of today’s Overbrook, Vanier and New Edinburgh. At the time the railway was constructed, this area of the Ottawa region was known as Junction Gore—the northwestern corner of Gloucester Township located at the junction of the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers.
The area was growing. Ottawa had become an important lumber town and, in 1857, was chosen by Queen Victoria to be the permanent capital of the Province of Canada. The village of Janeville was established in 1873 and the first post office opened on Cummings Bridge in 1879. Both Clarkstown and Clandeboye were established by the end of the 1880s.
At the turn of the century, visitors to the area found “two prosperous villages with dirt roads and plank houses—two quiet villages bordering the ‘large city’ of Ottawa.” Combined, the villages of Janeville and Clarkstown had a population of less than 300 people. Clandeboye was comparatively smaller and had only a handful of settlers.
The following account recalls Father Pondurand’s first impressions following his arrival by train in Ottawa and subsequent trip to the Janeville Mission in the summer of 1890:
Nobody was waiting for us at the station. This is understandable as we are late by half a day. Given our luggage we hire a car […] It is a twenty-minute trot by horse carriage which is equivalent to more than an hour walking! The heat is overwhelming and […] the city is already far behind us. As we cross the Rideau [river] we find ourselves in the countryside. Have we gone off track? (Laporte 62; translation: VanierNow)
The villages of Janeville and Clarkstown, seen prior to amalgamation, with Clandeboye would later form Eastview.
The area continued to grow and small businesses started to open up along Montreal Road and McArthur. By 1909, the villages of Janeville, Clarkstown and Clandeboye amalgamated to form the new village, and then town, of Eastview. Sizable vacant lots along the railway provided the opportunity for larger industries to set up shop.
Panoramic photograph of W. R. Cummings’ grain and flower mill located on the north side of Montreal road west of the rail tracks (current site of Tim Hortons); See larger version of the image here.
The Dominion Bridge Company opened a 25,000 square foot steel factory in 1911, on the site of today’s Claridge development on Landry. Betcherman Iron & Metal Company on McKay (now Charlevoix) and D. Kemp Edwards Lumber on Victora (now Montgomery) opened in the 1920s. Capital Carbon and Ribbon Company opened on John (now Deschamps) in the 1930s. Also located along the railway were W. R. Cummings (on Montreal Road), National Grocers warehouse on Elm (now Jeanne Mance) and Beechwood Steel on McArthur.
1. Betcherman Iron & Metal Company; 2. Dominion Bridge Company; 3. Capital Carbon and Ribbon Company; 4. W. R. Cummings; 5. D. Kemp Edwards Lumber; 6. National Grocers; 7. Beechwood Steel.
A 1947 full-page feature in the Ottawa Citizen described Eastview as “Ottawa’s residential and industrial suburban community”. The town of 12,000—the eastern gateway of the National Capital—was a “more highly industrialized [area] than either Ottawa or Hull”. The large industries, along with numerous food stores, restaurants, garages, retail stores and hotels, provided significant tax revenue for the town and solid employment for its residents.
The Bytown and Prescott Railway then, which originally didn’t have a single stop in Vanier, became an important commercial artery of a growing community.
By Mike Steinhauer
Upcoming Weeks
Part Two: The Gréber Plan
Part Three: Neighbourhoods Divided
Part Four: The Future of the Parkway
Author’s Note
The Bytown and Prescott Railway was renamed the Bytown and Prescott in 1855 and in 1867 became the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway. In 1884, the railway was leased for 999 years to the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Sources
Canadian County Atlas Digital Project. McGill Univeristy, 2001. Accessed, February 3, 2013. (LINK)
Gréber, Jacques. Plan for the National Capital Genera: Preliminary Report. Ottawa: National Capital Planning Service, 1948.
Laporte, Luc. Vanier. Ottawa: Centre franco-ontarien de resources pédagogiques, 1983.
“Bytown and Prescott Railway Company 1850.” Ontario's Historical Plaques (n.d.) Accessed, February 3, 2013. (LINK)
“Ottawa’s Residential and Industrial Suburban Community; Eastview.” The Ottawa Citizen. July 12, 1947. Page 13.
“Plan To Sell Eastview Lumber Yard.” The Ottawa Citizen. February 28, 1959. Page 39.
Serré, Robert. Bytown At Your Fingertips. Ottawa: Bytown Museum, 2011.
St. Pierre, Marc. “Lowertown; Evolution of an Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Neighbourhood in the 1800s.” Bytown.net (n. d.) Accessed, February 3, 2013. (LINK)
Image Sources
Main: Chuck Clark/southfacing, February 26, 2013 (colour); Rail tracks (see Panoramic Photograph below).
Railway Map: The railway map of Canada West including the latest surveys for the Canadian almanac. Maclear & Co., Toronto (1857); Toronto Public Library: M385.713 M11
Iron Truss Bridge: Bill Linley, 1965.
Villages of Janeville and Clarkstown: Twentieth Century Map of the City of Ottawa and Vicinity (detail), Basil Reid, Reid’s Book Store, Ottawa, 1909. City of Ottawa Archives C. 1-30.
Panoramic Photograph: City of Ottawa Archives (after 1915; no accession number)
Vanier Industries: VanierNow, 2013; background based on Land Use Plan, Town of Eastview, National Capital Planning Services, Ottawa, Dec. 1946 (Gréber, Jacques. Plan for the National Capital General Report, 1950; Illustration #34)