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Reeves and Mayors of Gloucester
1783
- Land purchased from the local aboriginals as part of the Crawford
Purchase
1788 - Lunenburg District created including the
area that later became Gloucester Township.
1792 - Township of Gloucester first surveyed and
known as Township B.
1793 - Gloucester Township Named. Named after William
Frederick (nicknamed Silly Billy), second Duke of Gloucester and
Edinburgh, nephew of King George III. Gloucester Township was first
known as Township B. Gloucester Township is part of Dundas County
in the Eastern District.
1800 - Russell County Established. Gloucester Township
included.
1812 - Braddish
Billings is the first permanent settler. (Information
on Ottawa's founding families including Braddish Billings)
1813 - Braddish Billings marries Lamira Dow in
Merrickville returns to Gloucester with his bride.
1815 - Sabra Billings is the first Caucasian child
born in Gloucester.
1815 - Following a visit to family in Merrickville,
the Billings family is swept over Hog's Back Falls. Philamon Wright
rescues the family.
1816 - Gloucester Township becomes part of the
Ottawa District.
1820 - Township survey completed.
1820 - François Dupuis is the first settler in
the Orleans area.
1823 - Braddish Billings constructs a sawmill on
a creek running through his property near today's Bank Street. This
creek has been known as Sawmill Creek ever since.
1825 - Braddish Billings appointed as Clerk and
Assessor for Gloucester Township. The first assessment lists 12
families.
1826 - Construction of Rideau Canal commences
1827 - James Johnston settles at Hardscrabble near
today's Rideau-Carleton Raceway
1828 - Billings Estate house known as Park Hill
constructed (now a City of Ottawa museum)
1829 - Dam at Hog's Back is washed out. A previous
washout took place in 1828. The dam was completed in 1829.
1830 - Farmer's Bridge later known as Billings
Bridge is completed linking Gloucester Township with Nepean Township
and Bytown.
1830 - Jean-Baptiste St. Louis erects the first
sawmill at Rideau Falls. This is the beginning of the industrial
complex at this location.
1831 - Thomas
McKay purchases Lot 1, 2, 3, and 4, Junction Gore. This is the
present site of New Edinburgh, most of Rockcliffe Park and parts
of Vanier.
1832 - Municipal Reform Act establishes roles
for municipal officers but not responsible to electorate
1832 - Rideau Canal completed
1832 - (January 2) First town meeting held at John
Cunningham's Inn on the site of present day Ottawa airport.
1833 - The east side of the Rideau River near Rideau
Falls is named New Edinburgh by Thomas McKay. He encouraged other
scotsmen who had worked on the Rideau Canal to settle there.
1833 - Village of Long Island Locks first settled.
1834 - Assessment lists 156 householders.
1834 - First residents arrive in area of Blackburn
Hamlet.
1834 - Stagecoach service begins between Bytown
and Prescott via Billings Bridge, Bowesville and South Gloucester.
1834 - The approximate year during which the first
church opened in Gloucester, a Methodist church at Long Island Village.
Another Methodist Church opened at Leitrim in 1837.
1836 - The community of Cummings Bridge founded
by Charles Cummings. This community later became Janeville, Eastview
and finally Vanier. The first bridge connects Rideau Street in Bytown
with Montreal Road via Cummings Island.
1837 - The first School in New Edinburgh is erected
and opens as a school in 1838. First known teacher is James Fraser.
A plaque has been erected in front of the building at 62 Sussex
Drive.
1838 - Gloucester Township becomes part of Carleton
County in the Bathurst District.
1838 - Rideau
Hall, first known as 'The Castle' was completed and owned by
Thomas McKay. Thomas McKay was the contractor who built a number
of the locks on the Rideau Canal.
1838 - Rockcliffe
Manor House, now known as the Apostolic Nunciature in Ottawa
was built by Duncan Rynier MacNab, a rival of Thomas McKay. Mr.
McNab dies before it is completed.
1842 - (March 19) District of Dalhousie proclaimed.
Gloucester Township included.
1844 - The current route of Bank Street between
Billings Bridge and South Gloucester is established.
1846 - New Edinburgh Bridge replaced at Green Island.
Early bridges built in the 1830s frequently washed out over Rideau
Falls.
1847 - Billings Bridge washed out. Further washouts
took place in 1862, 1876 and 1914.
1849 - Baldwin Act passed establishing municipal
government.
1849 - Gloucester Orange Lodge No. 222 is chartered.
The first meeting takes place in January 1850. It first meets at
various homes in the southern part of Gloucester and the first lodge
building is built in the 1860s on Bank Street near Blossom Park.
1850 - (January 1) Gloucester Township is incorporated
and the first Gloucester Reeve and council are elected.
1850 - Delorme Post Office opens. The name changed
to Lourdes in 1875 and Cyrville in 1892.
1850 - Gloucester appoints first constables who
effectively act as by-law enforcement officers.
1851 - Common Schools Act
proclaimed establishing the School Section system.
1852 - Daniel Eastman opens an inn in what is now
known as Carlsbad Springs.
1853 - The Rideau Canal ceases to be a military
canal and is turned over to Canada West for commercial use. Commercial
shipping continued until 1930. Passenger steamers continue until
1935.
1854 - Nepean and Gloucester connected by two bridges
at Long Island. From the Nepean side via a bridge at the north end
of the island and the Gloucester side via a swing bridge further
south.
1854 - Bytown and Prescott Railway completed through
the township (renamed Ottawa and Prescott Railway in 1855 and leased
to CPR in 1881) Railway runs through Gloucester from Manotick Station
to New Edinburgh via Gloucester Station, Ellwood, Billings Bridge,
Overbrook and Janeville (Vanier). Thomas McKay was instrumental
in bringing the railway to Bytown, which also explains the routing
via New Edinburgh.
1855 - (Oct. 9th) Thomas McKay dies.
1859 - Dickinson's Grist Mill opens in Manotick.
This and the opening of the railway sets the stage for the gradual
abandonment of the village at Long Island Locks. Manotick is the
Ojibwa word meaning "long island".
1864 - Thomas Coltrin Keefer subdivides the McKay
estate to establish the beginnings of the community of Rockcliffe
Park.
1864 - (April 8th) Braddish Billings dies.
1865 - Rideau Hall is leased by the government
for the Governor General's residence. It was purchased in 1868.
1865 - The first cricket pitch was established
for the Ottawa
Cricket Club at Rideau Hall. The club was originally established
in 1840 as the Carleton Cricket Club, re-established as the Bytown
Cricket Club in 1849 and renamed the Ottawa Cricket Club in 1858.
Prior to Rideau Hall, early matches were held at what is now known
as Cartier Square.
1865 - Ottawa and Prescott Railway goes bankrupt.
No trains run into Ottawa for 2 years.
1865 - Ottawa and Gloucester Road Company is established
to build and improve the road between Uppertown Ottawa and South
Gloucester. This road is now known as Bank Street.
1865 - The second Cummings Bridge opens. Its official
name is the New Rideau Bridge but not commonly known by that name.
1866 - 24
Sussex Drive is built by Joesph Merrill Currier, MP. Oringally
named 'Gorffwysta', Welsh for 'Place of Rest'.
1867 - New Edinburgh is incorporated as a village.
1868 - Ferry Service established between New Edinburgh
and Gatineau Point. It continued until about 1914.
1868 - McArthur Avenue is built through the McArthur
farm as a shortcut for residents travelling from the Cyrville area
and to reduce or evade road tolls on Montreal Road.
1869 - Terrific Snowstorms stop trains travelling
between Prescott and Ottawa.
1870 - (July 21) Ottawa City Passenger Railway
Comparny introduces horse drawn tramway along Sussex Drive as far
as the edge of Rockcliffe Park commences operation.
1870 - (August 17th) Gloucester affected by Carleton
County Fire especially near Green's Creek
1870 - First Spa and resort is built at Eastman's
Springs (now Carlsbad Springs) by Dominion Springs Company.
1871 - Branch line added to Ottawa and Prescott
Railway from Chaudiere Junction (Ellwood) to LeBreton Flats via
Dow's Lake (Today's O-Train line)
1871 - Approximate year that the Carleton County
Police Force was established covering Gloucester and the other townships
of the county.
1872 - New Edinburgh Bridge replaced again
1872 - Notre Dame Cemetery opens as a result of
an Ottawa city by-law forbidding further internments inside the
city limits.
1873 - Approximate date when the Ottawa Street
Bridge was constructed, now known as the St. Patrick Street Bridge.
1873 - Beechwood
Cemetery established on the McPhail farm and parts of the McKay/Keefer
estate
1874 - Township Hall Built at Billings Bridge (photo
above right). The previous town hall was also located at Billings
Bridge was sold at auction.
1874 - Gloucester Agricultural Fair commences on
land adjacent to Town Hall at Billings Bridge. The fair continued
until 1904. Later, this was known as Coronation Park.
1874 - Gateville subdivision established just south
of Billings Bridge.
1875 - First wooden Hurdman's Bridge opens. (Ottawa
Citizen; December 16, 1875)
1876 - Orange Lodge No. 222 relocates to Billings
Bridge.
1880 - Public stagecoach service between Billings
Bridge and Ottawa commences and is operated by William Whiten and
W.J. Parry. The service was discontinued in 1893. No further public
transit was available to the village of Billings Bridge until the
post World War II era.
1882 - Canadian Atlantic Railway opens running
through Gloucester from Hurdman's Bridge to Carlsbad Springs via
Hawthorne (Today's Ottawa-Montreal VIA rail line)
1882 - First record of a brickyard operating near
Billings Bridge. This was later known as the Merkley Brickyard
1883 - The
Ottawa Canoe Club is established and located at the foot of
the Rideau Canal locks. It soon relocates to Governor's Bay in New
Edinburgh as the Ottawa New Edinburgh Canoe Club because of navigational
difficulties created by sawdust originating from the Chaudiere sawmills.
1885 - The Grey Nuns of the Cross purchase 500
acres for Youville Farm in Orleans. This land was resold for housing
development in 1970
1886 - Swing Bridge constructed over the Hog's
Back Locks and a fixed bridge over the Hog's Back dam.
1887 - New Edinburgh including Green Island annexed
by the City of Ottawa.
1887 - Skiing introduced into Canada when Lord
Frederick Hamilton demonstrates skis acquired in Russia at Rideau
Hall.
1888 - Cyclone devastates large portions of Gloucester
particularly near Billings Bridge, Hawthorne and Ramsayville
1888 - 148 acres south of New Edinburgh (Lindenlea)
and Porter's Island annexed by Ottawa.
1889 - (August 3) Rockcliffe Park horse drawn tramway
opens but not connected to Ottawa tramway until 1891.
1890 - (August 4, 1890) Gloucester authorizes the
rent for a Police Station in Janeville.
1892 - Rideau Park subdivision established on part
of the Billings Estate to open up the land for Market Gardeners.
1893 - Rockcliffe Park purchased by City of Ottawa
to serve as a recreational area.
1893 - (June 23) Electric Street Cars start running
to Rockcliffe via New Edinburgh and the St. Patrick Street Bridge.
They were operated by the Ottawa Electric Street Railway Company
with principle officers being Thomas
Ahearn and Warren Soper.
1893 - (August 4) Electric Street Car service commences
operation on Sussex Drive.
1893 - (August 13) Ottawa City Passenger Railway
Company and Ottawa Electric Street Railway Company merge operations
and becomes named Ottawa Electric Railway Company (OER) on August
1, 1894.
1893 - The third Cummings Bridge built with iron
trusses opens. It is officially named Bingham's Bridge to honour
Samual Bingham, the alderman who headed the works committee, a later
Ottawa mayor, but protests led to the bridge signs being thrown
into the river and the bridge reverted to its popular name.
1894 - (May 3) Double track electric streetcar
service opens to Rockcliffe Park. The Ottawa Electric Railway adds
electric lighting to Rockcliffe Park pavilion and lookout and a
merry-go-round is imported from Tonawanda, NY.
1898 - Ottawa and New York Railway opens running
through Gloucester from Hurdman's Bridge to Edwards via Hawthorne,
Ramsayville and Piperville.
1898 - The
Dominion Rifle Association Rifle Range commences operation
at the site that later became Rockcliffe Airport. The Rifle Range
had previously been in Sandy Hill near the present site of the Russian
Embassy and Strathcona Park.
1900 - (August 28) Rockcliffe streetcar extended
to Dominion of Canada Rifle Association Rifle Range.
1901 - Minto Bridge opens connecting New Edinburgh
with Lowertown. Named to honour the fourth Earl of Minto, Governor
General of Canada from 1898 until 1904.
1901 - (Dec. 6) Bert Harper drowns in the Ottawa
River below Rockcliffe in a failed attempt to rescue Bessie Blair.
Both had been ice skating on the river and fell through the ice.
On November 18, 1905, a Sir Galahad statue was unveiled in memory
of this sad event and is now located in front of Parliament Hill.
1901 - The practice of maintaining township roads
by statute labour was abolished. Thereafter, residents no longer
had the option of maintaining roads themselves for a specified number
of days per year in lieu of paying taxes for road maintenance.
1902 - Eastman's Springs renamed Carlsbad Springs
after famous spa in Czechoslovakia. First bowling alley in Ottawa
area located at Spa/Hotel.
1902 - CPR short line opens running through Gloucester
from Hurdman's Bridge to Blackburn. CPR transcontinental service
to Montreal used this rail line until 1981.
1902 - (July 1) A monument was erected to the memory
of Wesley Hull, who was killed on June 7, 1900 in South Africa during
the Boer War. The monument was located next to the Orange Hall at
Billings Bridge but was removed as a result of road improvements
around 1960. It was rededicated on June 8, 1997 at St. George's
Hawthorne Cemetery on Russell Road.
1904 - (June 18) The last timber raft is sent down
the Ottawa River to Quebec City. The first raft was sent down the
river in 1806.
1904 - Daughters of Wisdom build a prestigious
residential school and convent in Janeville (Eastview).
1905 - Snow family sells farm adjacent to Rockcliffe
Rifle Range after near misses.
1905 - Council limits the number of taverns in
the township to 8.
1906 - Reinforced Concrete Hurdman's Bridge opens.
This bridge would remain in use until 1955.
1908 - Janeville, Clarkstown and Clandeboye incorporated
as the village of Eastview.
1907
- (March 26) Telephone service being extended on Metcalfe Road between
Billings Bridge and Leitrim.
1908 - Rockcliffe Park incorporated as a Police
Village
1909 - Canadian Northern Railway opens running
through Gloucester from Hurdman's Bridge to Orleans via Cyrville.
1909 - Ottawa
Hunt Club opened by Lord Grey, Governor General of Canada.
1909 - The first Eastview Town Hall opens on Palace
Road.
1909 - Eastview Police Force and Fire Department
established.
1909 - St. Jean Baptiste Society established at
St. Charles Parish, Eastview.
1909 - First constable appointed for Cyrville.
1910 - Ashbury
College relocates to Rockcliffe Park (1911
class photo). It was originally founded in 1891 on Wellington
Street.
1910 - The Ottawa
Ski Club was formed. The club's first activities emphasized
ski jumping and the first primitive ski jump was built at 'Suicide
Hill' in Rockcliffe Park. The Canadian Jumping Championships take
place here in 1914. The club acquired Camp Fortune in 1920.
1910 - (April 6) Hiawatha Park subdivision approved.
A previous plan had been registered on August 13, 1901 and an even
earlier one for the Besserer Estate on March 11, 1897. It was not
developed until the 1950s.
1910
- Gloucester experiences Real Estate boom in which several farms
were subdivided for suburban development. The boom continued until
1912.
1911 - Gloucester votes by a slim majority to prohibit
the retail sale of liquor in every tavern, inn, or any place of
public entertainment.
1911 - Council grants a franchise to the Willowdale
Telephone Company to operate a rural telephone system in the township.
1911 - A telephone was first installed in the Township
Hall.
1911 - Blossom Park subdivision approved. Construction
did not begin until 1953.
1911 - Sir Robert Borden pledges to provide rural
mail delivery. Over the following years, rural route delivery is
introduced resulting in the closure of many rural Gloucester post
offices.
1911 - (July 31) Paardeburgh Park subdivision registered
at the corner of Walkley Road and Albion Road. Most of this subdivision
was never developed and became a transportation corridor following
World War II. The most easterly portion became part of the Ellwood
subdivision.
1911 - (August 9) Overbrook subdivision plan registered
and it would first appear on a map the following year. The first
streets are named after members of the Royal family including the
recently crowned King George V and his wife Queen Mary.
1911 - (Sept. 18) Bannermount subdivision registered.
This subdivision was developed along Tremblay Road after World War
II when it became known as Eastway Gardens. The streets were named
by letter only.
1911 - (November 17) Manor Park subdivision registered.
Most was returned to Gloucester Township because of tax arrears.
Sewer and water was extended in 1949 allowing fast development in
the area.
1912 - Canadian Northern Railway opens southwesterly
branch running through Gloucester from Hurdman's Bridge to Rideau
River at Wass via Billings Bridge. Today's VIA rail line between
Ottawa and Toronto.
1912 - The Dominion Rifle Association Rifle Range
closes in Rockcliffe and relocates to Shirley's Bay, Nepean as the
Connaught Park Rifle Range for 1913. The Rockcliffe site later becomes
the RCMP barracks "N" Division and the home of the RCMP Musical
Ride. Streetcar service to the former rifle range is discontinued
in 1922.
1912 - (March 12) Brookfield subdivision registered.
This market garden community located where Brookfield Road once
intersected with the CPR tracks, was expropriated by the federal
government between 1957 and 1964. The streets were closed in 1965
and completely disappeared when the Airport Parkway was built in
the 1970s.
1912 - Rideau Tennis Club established by former
members of the Ottawa Tennis and Lawn Bowling Club.
1912 - First street lights installed at Billings
Bridge to as far south as Heron Road
1913 - Eastview incorporated as a town. Eastview
creates its own Police Department, which was absorbed by the Ottawa
Police Service in 1984.
1913 - Construction begins on Ottawa and Morrisburgh
Electric Railway running through Gloucester from Billings Bridge
to South Gloucester following Bank Street. This railway was never
completed.
1913 - Municipal Isolation Hospital opens on Porter's
Island to treat smallpox patients replacing former buildings on
the site.
1913 - Canadian Northern Railways purchase Upton
and Langstaff farms for the purpose of creating a gravel pit. A
railway spur is extended to the site just east of Bowesville.
1914 - 'Stornoway' built in Rockcliffe Park by
Alan Keefer for Ottawa grocer Asconio J. Major.
1914 - (Jan. 25) L'Association canadienne-française
de l'Ontario relocated to Eastview after being founded in Ottawa
in 1910 in order to promote Franco-Ontario rights.
1915 - Rockcliffe
Preparatory School opens. It was renamed Elmwood School in 1923
as a school for young women.
1915 - The Novitiate of Grey Nuns of the Cross
(Grey Nuns Convent) opens near Hurdman's Bridge.
1915 - The second Eastview Town Hall was located
at the corner of Montreal Road and Cyr Street with a Fire Hall attached.
It was destroyed by fire in 1972.
1915 - (Sept. 2) Present day Billings Bridge opens.
1915 - First constable appointed for St. Joseph's
village (Orleans).
1917 - National Research Council first acquires
land on Montreal Road.
1917 - By-Law enacted to set minimum standards
for fencing and to end the practice of allowing livestock to roam
freely throughout the township.
1918 - The Royal Air Force conducts experimental
mail flights between Ottawa and Toronto using a field adjacent to
the Rifle Range at Rockcliffe.
1919 - (July 19) A Curtis JN4 is the first known
plane to land at what is now known as MacDonald-Cartier Airport,
called Hunt Club Field in the early days.
1919 - Cosy Theatre opens on Montreal Road at Ethel
Street in Eastview. It closed in 1922. This was the first movie
theatre to open in the original territory of Gloucester Township.
1919 - An agreement is signed to extend Ottawa
water and sewer services into Eastview.
1920 - Montreal Road (and St. Joseph Blvd.) becomes
a Provincial Highway and in 1925, it is numbered as King's Highway
17.
1920 - Ottawa Air Station opens at Rockcliffe.
Airfield used for military aerial photography for topographic mapping,
air transportation, and aeronautical experimentation.
1920 - The Dominion Police is merged with the Royal
Northwest Mounted Police to form the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
and the national headquarters is relocated to Ottawa. In 1921, the
RCMP began to make partial use of the former Rifle Range facility
at the north end of St. Laurent Blvd. They fully took over this
location in 1925.
1920 - William Birch is last tollgate keeper at
Billings Bridge.
1920 - The current Cummings Bridge opens bypassing
Cummings Island.
1920
- (September 1) Montreal Road east of Eastview becomes a Provincial
Highway.
1921 - Streetcar service extended on Beechwood
Avenue and into Lindenlea.
1921
- First Fire truck purchased for Eastview.
1922 - Overbrook incorporated as a Police Village
1922 - St. Joseph d'Orleans (Orleans) incorporated
as a Police Village
1923 - The
Ottawa New Edinburgh Canoe Club opens a new boathouse at Rockcliffe,
which still exists today.
1923 - Canada Theatre opens on Montreal Road at
Bradley Street in Eastview. It closed in 1926.
1923 - Bus Service first operates in Eastview.
1923
- (March 7) By-law enacted requiring all Eastview municipal employees
to be bilingual henceforth.
1923
- (September 8) Rockcliffe Lawn Tennis Club incorporated. History
of Club
1923
- (August 3) Contract awarded to George Farmer to apply bituminous
penetration pavement to Metcalfe Road. The pavement extended for
a distance of 5 miles south of Heron Road.
1924 - Eastview Town Council turns down proposal
from Ottawa Electric Railway (OER) to extend streetcar service.
Eastview contracts its own bus service (Eastview Bus Lines), which
continues in operation until it the service was taken over by the
Ottawa Transportation Commission in December 1950. The OER sets
up a competing bus service, which runs until April 3, 1929.
1924 - Electrical Power introduced into Gloucester
Township by Ontario Hydro.
1924 - A Golf Course opened at Ottawa Hunt and
Golf Club.
1924 - Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) established
with Ottawa Air Station at Rockcliffe being one of its bases.
1924
- (October 23) Eastview and Gloucester voters vote against the Ontario
Temperance Act. The vote allowed the sale of liquor under provincial
supervision.
1925 - Gloucester
Horticultural Society established. Meets at Hawthorne School.
Relocates to former Ramsayville School in 1975.
1925 - Rockcliffe Park incorporated as a village.
1926 - (Oct. 22) Commandeurs de l'ordre de Jacques
Cartier established at St. Charles Parish in Eastview as a male
society to ensure the public interest of French speaking Catholics
in Canada. It was dissolved on Feb. 27, 1965.
1926 - Bus Service to Hurdman's Bridge operated
by Mrs. M. Gorman commences operation.
1927 - (July 2) Charles Lindbergh flies into Hunt
Club airfield for Canada's 60th Anniversary celebrations. Pilot
Lieut. Thad Johnson is killed in a plane crash as he approaches
airfield. Airfield becomes known as Lindbergh Field following this
but later becomes known as Uplands Aerodrome and later, Uplands
Airport.
1927 - (Sept. 25th) Rockcliffe Streetcar Barn destroyed
by fire. 40 streetcars lost.
1927- Bank Street (Metcalfe Road) becomes Provincial
Highway 31.
1928 - (Jan. 14th) Ottawa
Flying Club incorporated and operates out of Lindbergh (Uplands)
airfield.
1928
- (October 1) The Dominion Bureau of Statistics (now Statistics
Canada) locates in the old Edwards Mill on Green Island. The facility
is shared with the National Research Council. The Dominion Bureau
of Statistics relocates to Tunney's Pasture in 1952. The Edwards
Mill was demolished in the summer of 1957.
1928 - Scheduled bus service to Cyrville commences
operation. It was taken over by the Ottawa Transportation Commission
in 1950.
1929 - (May 14) The Rockcliffe Park Crown Game
Preserve was established in order to combat excessive hunting and
poaching. It was further expanded on January 14, 1931 and covered
Rockcliffe Park, the Rockcliffe Air Station, Beechwood Cemetery,
and other lands extending as far east as Skead Road (Blair Road)
and as far south as Montreal Road. It was cancelled in 1945.
1929 - (May 29) A major sewer explosion affects
parts of Ottawa, Eastview and New Edinburgh. There was one fatality,
several injuries and considerable property damage. This was followed
by a second serious explosion on January 28, 1931. Inadequate sewer
venting, and leakage (or dumping) of illumination gas, gasoline
and dry cleaning chemicals were the suspected causes.
1930 - (August) Reeve Thomas Andrew Spratt dies
while in office.
1930 - World War I flying ace William George Barker
crashes into the frozen Ottawa River and dies while performing aerial
demonstrations at Rockcliffe airport.
1930
- Provincial Highways named "The King's Highways" to show respect
for the King and the monarchy. The familiar provincial highway sign
design with the crown is unveiled.
1931 - Hydro towers first erected across Gloucester.
Some of these collapsed during the 1998 ice storm.
1932 - (Sept. 18th) Rockcliffe Streetcar Barn again
burns. Additional equipment destroyed.
1933 - Severe Hailstorm strikes area from Rockcliffe
and Eastview through Cyrville, Hawthorne to Russell and Embrum.
Considerable damage to local greenhouses.
1936 - Carleton County Police Force disbanded.
1936
- Hog's Back Bridge rebuilt.
1936
- Hog's Back beach opens just south of the bridge. It was replaced
by Mooney's Bay in 1952.
1937 - 'The Rockeries' Park is created from land
donated by the Ottawa Electric Railway when streetcar rails are
lifted on abandoned right of way to former Dominion Rifle Association
Rifle Range at Rockcliffe. This is a location known for spectacular
displays of Daffodils.
1937 - (June 23rd) Rockcliffe Streetcar barn burns
a third time.
1938 - (August 20) Department of Transport officially
opens Uplands Airport. It is at this point that permanent runways,
hangers, and terminal are built.
1938 - (Oct. 17th) Trans-Canada Air Lines inaugerate
air express freight service at Uplands Airport.
1938 - Le Séminaire des Pères Blancs (White Fathers
Seminary) opens in Eastview in order to train missionaries for Africa.
It closed in 1974 and was demolished in 1977. The Vanier City Hall
later located on the same site in a new building.
1939 - (August) Reeve Jack Innes dies in office.
1939 - CNR abandons old Canadian Northern Railway
between Hurdman's Bridge and Orleans and beyond.
1939 - Trans Canada Airlines begin commercial passenger
flights at Uplands airport.
1939 - The first portion of Alta Vista Drive opens
between Smyth Road and Kilborn Avenue. It was known as Churchill
Avenue prior to annexation in 1950.
1939 - Rockcliffe airfield paved in preparation
for World War II operations.
1939 - French Embassy opens on Sussex Drive on
land purchased from the Blackburn family in 1931.
1939 - (September 1) No 1 Provost Company is called
into active service by the army and trains at the RCMP "N" Division,
Rockcliffe. This company is composed of RCMP volunteers.
1940
- Rail spur built from Wass Junction to Uplands Airport to facilitate
Air Training School construction.
1940
- British Commonwealth Air Training Plan begins at Uplands airfield
(construction of 37 buildings and 6 new runways commences on May
14 and the training school opens August 5) (Canadian
Forces Base Uplands History) and at Rockcliffe airport to train
pilots for the war effort using Harvard and Yale aircraft. Continues
until 1944.
1940 - Crown Princess Juliana of the Netherlands
and her children take up residence in Rockcliffe Park until 1944.
Part of their stay was at Stornoway, later the residence of the
Leader of the Opposition. Princess Margriet was born at Ottawa Civic
Hospital on January 19, 1943.
1940
- (August 17) Uplands Bus Lines commences hourly bus service from
Bank and Grove to Uplands airport and Bowesville. A terminal and
station is opened at 1270 Bank Steet in Ottawa South in 1941.
1941 - (Filming commenced
July 14 in Ottawa area) The Hollywood movie 'Captain
of the Clouds' (Wikipedia
link) (A
historical North Bay perspective of the film) starring James
Cagney was filmed at Uplands Airport with the full cooperation of
the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. This was Mr. Cagney's
first technicolor movie and was the first Hollywood movie filmed
entirely on location in Canada. The film was also shot at the Chateau
Laurier in Ottawa, and in Trenton, and near North Bay. The film
was released in 1942 and was Mr. Cagney's second top grossing film
in his career.
1941 - #1 Special Wireless Station opens at Rockcliffe.
It relocated to Leitrim in 1942, was known as Ottawa Wireless Station
starting in 1949 and has been CFS
Leitrim since 1966.
1941 - The J.H. Parkin Building is the first building
to open on the National Research Council's Montreal Road campus.
1941 - The Grey Nuns Convent, Alta Vista Drive
is sold to the federal government and becomes the Rideau Military
Hospital.
1941
- (June 17) Overbrook and Bannermount lots offered for sale by Gloucester
Township. The lots had previously been lost to tax arrears.
1942 - Parts of the Mer Bleue are expropriated
by the federal government and used for test bomb runs.
1942 - (Oct. 14) Head-on Railway Collision on CNR
line just west of Metcalfe Road (Bank Street) at Billings Bridge.
20 horses were killed or euthanized and 6 crewman were injured.
1942 - 1450 acres of Mer Bleue are expropriated
for a bomb testing zone.
1943 - Canadian
Forces Station Gloucester opens, originally named Number 1 Station
HMCS Bytown.
1943 - 24 Sussex Drive purchased by the Federal
government. Louis St. Laurent is the first Prime Minister to reside
there in 1951.
1943
- (February 16) Eastview Bus Company garage destroyed by fire including
all but 3 buses. Bus service to Eastview, Overbrook and Rockcliffe
Airport disrupted.
1944 - Rideau Veteran's Home opens on Smyth Road.
It relocated to Russell Road in 1995.
1944
- (June 5) Cowan Ice House destroyed by fire at Billings Bridge.
1945 - The first township park was purchased at
Leitrim.
1945 - Commuter service commences from Sarsfield
to Ottawa
1945 - First demonstration in Canada of jet aircraft
takes place at RCAF Station Rockcliffe.
1946 - School bus service commences to transport
high school students from Gloucester, Nepean and Cumberland to Ottawa
schools.
1946 - Remainder of Rockcliffe Streetcar Barn demolished.
1946 -
Families are living in emergency shelters at the Rockcliffe Air
Force barracks and the army barracks on Porter's Island as a result
of a post-war housing shortage. The Porter Island barracks were
demolished shortly thereafter. The Rockcliffe facility was known
as the 'Rockcliffe Emergency Shelter' with a Post Office name of
Finter. It was closed in 1954 and demolished.
1946 - (Dec. 21) Eastview Theatre opens on Montreal
Road at Kendall Street. It closed on Feb. 15, 1958.
1947 - National Capital Planning Committee, under
the direction of Jacques Gréber, develop and subsequently implement
the Gréber plan.
1947 - The Ottawa Planning Board was created to
review the administration of the National Capital Region. It recommended
a form of regional government or as an alternative, the annexation
of surrounding communities.
1947 - Uplands Bus Lines introduces bus service
to the Rideau Veterans Home on Smyth Road. Uplands Bus Lines also
operated a bus service to Uplands airport and Bowesville, which
was inaugerated around the start of World War II. These were the
first suburban bus services introduced into the southern part of
Gloucester and was taken over by the Ottawa Transportation Commission
in July 1950.
1947
- (May 15) Uplands Emergency Shelter opens in former RCAF buildings.
It closed on August 31, 1951.
1947 - (Aug. 25) Linden Theatre open on Beechwood
Avenue. It was renamed the Towne Cinema in July 1968 and became
a repertory theatre in February 1973. It was renamed the New Edinburgh
Cinema in May 1989 but closed in August of that year.
1948 - (August 13) Ottawa Electric Railway Company
including streetcars operating in New Edinburgh, Lindenlea and Rockcliffe
Park are taken over by the City of Ottawa and operate under the
name, Ottawa Transportation Commission.
1948 - (November 15) By-law passed to have the
Ontario Provincial Police patrol Gloucester, beginning with one
car. The police station is situated at Bank Street and Ridgemont.
The building still exists.
1948
- Construction begins on Roman Catholic Semenary near Hurdman's
Bridge. It became RCMP headquarters in January 1953 and never served
as a seminary.
1949-1950 - Most of the village of Ellwood is expropriated
to allow for the construction of the Walkley Rail Yards and the
Metcalfe Road (now Bank Street) overpass.
1950 - (Jan. 1st) 14,605 acres of the township
is annexed by the City of Ottawa. This included Overbrook, Hurdman's
Bridge, Billings Bridge, Ellwood, Hog's Back, Manor Park, Rideau
Park, Hawthorne and the developing communties of Riverview, and
Alta Vista
1950 - Fire Department was housed behind Town Hall.
Annexation places Gloucester Town Hall, Fire and Roads Department
miles inside of Ottawa city limits.
1950 - A citizen's trust purchases 'Stornoway'
as the home for the Leader of the Opposition. The Federal Goverment
purchases it in 1970. The Hon. George S. Drew is the first Leader
of the Opposition to reside there.
1950 - The former Grey Nuns Convent and Rideau
Military Hospital, Alta Vista Drive becomes the headquarters of
the CBNRC (Communications Branch of the National Research Council,
now the Communications Security Establishment) and is known as the
Rideau Annex. It remains there until 1961 when it relocates to the
Sir Leonard Tilley Building, Confederation Heights.
1950
- Cyrville Bus Lines taken over by Ottawa Transportation Commission.
1950
- (July) Uplands Bus Lines taken over by Ottawa Transportation Commission.
Ottawa Ottawa bus routes extended to Uplands Airport, Rideau Park,
and Metcalfe Road.
1950
- (December) Eastview Bus Company taken over by City of Ottawa.
Ottawa buses extended to serve Eastview, Overbrook, Manor Park and
Rockcliffe Airport.
1951 - Bowesville expropriated for expansion of
Uplands Airport (now Ottawa's MacDonald-Cartier International Airport)
1951 - Aladdin Drive-In Theatre opens on Albion
Road. It closed in 1993.
1951 - Star-Top Drive-In Theatre opens on Cyrville
Road. It closed in 1974.
1951 - Lester Road built between Highway 31 and
Albion Road.
1951 - Albion Road named and opened between Lester
Road and Johnston's Corners in order to provide a replacement road
for Bowesville Road being closed for airport expansion.
1951 - Rothwell Heights begins to be subdivided.
1951 - Les Soeurs Antoiniennes de Marie opens next
to the White Fathers Seminary in Eastview. It later became the Vanier
Public Library.
1951
- (April) Bus service extended to Hawthorne.
1952 - Hog's Back community expropriated for parkland.
1952 - Highway 17 rebuilt mostly following old
Canadian Northern Railway railbed in vacinity of Orleans
1952 - CMHC (Central Mortage and Housing Corporation,
later the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) opens its headquarters
on Montreal Road. It was originally established in 1946 to provide
housing to returning war veterans.
1952
- (July 1) Mooney's Bay Beach opens replacing Hog's Back beach that
closed the same day.
1953 - St. Louis de Montfort Hospital opens.
1953 - Eastview Broadcasting Corporation established
to broadcast radio. The project is abandoned.
1953
- Ottawa Dairy Ice House (also owned by Cowan family) west of Bank
Street demolished.
1953
- (January) RCMP Headquarters relocates to Hurdman's Bridge on the
former site of a seminary.
1953
- (November) Bus service extended Riverview Park.
1954 - Streetcar service discontinued along Sussex
Drive to Rockcliffe Park. This allows the construction of the new
Bytown Bridges at Green Island.
1954 - Queen Mother officially opens Bytown Bridges
connecting Lower town with New Edinburgh and Rockcliffe at Green
Island.
1954 - Passenger service discontinued on Ottawa
and New York railway between Ottawa and Cornwall
1954 - Billings Bridge Plaza opens.
1954 - Rideau River blasting commences to prevent
spring flooding in New Edinburgh, Eastview and Billings Bridge.
1955 - Walkley Railway Yards at Ellwood open
1955
- (December 19) New Hurdman's Bridge opens. The Queensway will eventually
use it.
1955
- (December 19) Dunbar Bridge opens extending Bronson Avenue to
Heron Road. Named after the Hon. George Dunbar.
1956 - (May 15) Fighter
plane crashes into the Villa St. Louis Convent operated by the
Grey Nuns near Orleans. 15 killed.
1957 - Ottawa and New York Railway (New York Central)
abandoned
1957 - Queen Elizabeth launches Queensway construction
just east of Hurdman's Bridge
1957 - CPR discontinues passenger service on old
Bytown and Prescott Railway
1957 - Military flight testing and development
operations relocated from RCAF Station Rockcliffe to RCAF Station
Uplands.
1957 - Major Seminary of Ottawa opens on Kilborn
Avenue near Bank Street.
1957 - First trees have to be removed in the Ottawa
area because of Dutch Elm Disease.
1957 - North Gloucester Little League Baseball
organized.
1958 - Construction begins at Confederation Heights
office campus.
1958 - Federal District Commission (now the National
Capital Commisstion) decides to expropriate 22,500 acres of Gloucester
farmland for the Greenbelt.
1958 - The Merkley Brickyard at Billings Bridge
closes after being expropriated by the federal government in 1954.
This became the site of the RA Centre. The
brickyard was demolished at the end of 1960.
1958 - Vincent Massey and Hog's Back Parks open.
1958 - (August 2nd) Ottawa City Hall is officially
opened by Princess Margaret on Green Island, formerly part of Gloucester
Township.
1958 - (Sept.) First library opens in the basement
of Saint Joseph School. The first library board was established
by the Orleans Police Village in 1962.
1959 - Streetcar service discontinued.
1959 - Accidental sonic boom seriously damages
new airport terminal delaying opening until the following year.
1959 - (July 1) A joint Gloucester-Nepean Police
Department was established.
1960 - (June) New terminal opens at Uplands airport.
Construction had begun in 1957.
1960 - Swing bridge over Rideau River at Manotick
replaced with high level bridge.
1960 - (Sept. 2) The Ottawa Transportation Commission
(now OC Transpo) opens its new headquarters on St. Laurent Blvd.
1960
- (November 25) Queensway opens from Hurdman's Bridge to Green's
Creek.
1961 - National Defense Medical Centre opens. First
known as Tri-Services Hospital.
1961 - Gloucester Historical Society founded.
1961
- (June 29) Elmvale Shopping Centre opens.
1962 - (June 16) New Township Hall Opens at Leitrim.
Fire and Works Departments also transferred to Leitrim
1962 - Clubhouse destroyed by fire at Ottawa Hunt
and Golf Club.
1962 - Rideau-Carleton Raceway opens for harness
racing.
1962 -
Wind Tunnel opens at Uplands Airport.
1963 - Gloucester Coat of Arms designed by Allan
Beddoe and approved by council. The coat of arms was officially
put into use on January 1, 1968.
1963 - First Official Plan for the Township approved
1963 - Eastview incorporated as a city
1963 - Gloucester High School opens, the first
high school opened in Gloucester Township.
1963 - (June 3) Green's Creek Pollution Control
Centre opens.
1964 - (January 1) Gloucester Police Department
established and begins with 3 patrol cars.
1964 - CPR abandons old Bytown and Prescott Railway
between Sussex Drive and Beechwood Avenue
1964 - National Aeronautical Collection amalgamated
at Rockcliffe Airport for public display
1964 - The first Township Recreation Board, GCCB,
is established
1964 - Uplands Airport renamed Ottawa International
Airport.
1964 - Flying Operations cease at RCAF Station
Rockcliffe.
1964 - Queensway Drive-In Theatre opens north of
Montreal Road near the Queensway. It closed in 1986.
1964 - The Carleton West-Russell Historical Society
founded amalgamating local historal groups including the members
of the Gloucester Historical Society.
1964 - St. Patrick's Home for the Aged, first established
in 1865, relocates to Riverside Drive opposite from Mooney's Bay.
1964 - The distinctive new CBC Headquarters building
opens in Confederation Heights.
1965 -
Gloucester Hydro established
1966 - (March) Gloucester Library Board established
1966 - New VIA Rail Station opens on Tremblay Road
1966 - Terminal Avenue Railway Freight Terminals
open
1966 - CPR abandons old Bytown and Prescott Railway
between Beechwood Avenue and Bank Street
1966
- (August 30) Smyth Road Bridge opens.
1966 - (Aug. 10th) Heron Road Bridge collapses
while under construction. 9 killed.
1967 - Centennial Pool, the first indoor pool opens
on Ogilvie Road next to Gloucester High School
1967 - (Jan.) Riverside Hospital opens.
1967 - St. Laurent Shopping Centre opens.
1967 - St. Laurent Cinemas open in the St. Laurent
Shopping Centre. It closed in 2001 but reopened as the Rainbow Cinemas
later.
1967 - (May 20th) Air Canada DC-8 crashes at Uplands
airport. 3 crew members die.
1967 - Canada Science and Technology Museum opens
on St. Laurent Blvd.
1967 - Queen Elizabeth II donates 6 pairs of white
mute swans to the City of Ottawa for Canada's Centennial. The "Royal"
Swans are housed at the City of Ottawa nursery at Leitrim each winter.
1967 - (Nov. 17) Orleans Public Library opens.
It relocates to the Orleans Recreation Complex in August 1982.
1967
- Maple Leaf-Almrausch Club opens (Bavarian Folk Dance Group and
Soccer Club). The building was destroyed by fire in February 1980
and rebuilt.
1968 -
Gloucester Lions Club established
1968 - Grant MacIntosh of MacIntosh & Watts buys
the Ottawa Montegards Junior Hockey Team and renames it the Ottawa
M&W Rangers. The team is renamed the Gloucester Rangers in 1973
and the Orleans Blues in 2005. The team played in the Earl Armstrong
Arena for most of its history.
1968 - The sod was turned to commence construction
of Highway 417 at Ramsayville.
1968 - Blair Road Queensway Interchange opens.
1969 - (Jan. 1st) Carleton County dissolved. Regional
Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton replaces it.
1969 - Ottawa-Gloucester Guardian starts publication.
1969 - City of Eastview renamed City of Vanier
to honour the memory of Governor General Georges Vanier who died
in 1967.
1969 - New main Ottawa Post Office opens on Alta
Vista Drive.
1969 - (September 27) Leitrim Arena opens. It was
renamed the Fred G. Barrett Arena July 9, 1984 following his death.
1970 - Airport Drive-In opens on Uplands Drive.
It was be converted into airport parking following the 1997 Drive-In
season.
1970 - Leitrim resident Fred Barrett joins the
NHL and he plays most of his career with the Minnesota North Stars.
He retired in 1984. Brother John also made the NHL in 1980 with
the Detroit Red Wings and played until 1987.
1970 - Gloucester Lacrosse organized.
1970 - (November 22) Gloucester Police Station
opens in the former Leitrim Public School.
1971 - (May) Earl Armstrong Arena opens including
the Ogilvie Road branch of the Public Library.
1971 - Colonel By High School opens
1971 - First section of Highway 417 opens within
Gloucester. The final leg at 'the split' was not completed until
1975.
1971 - (July 5) Beacon Hill Bullet bus service
inaugurated (to and from downtown). It was taken over by OC Transpo
on March 2, 1973.
1971 - Gloucester
Skating Club started.
1972 - Blackburn Fun Fair inaugerated.
1972 - Gloucester
Ringette Association established. The first teams in Gloucester
were established at the end of 1970. (History
Link)
1972 - Canadian Forces Station Gloucester closes
1972 - (November) OC Transpo extends city bus service
into Gloucester Township suburbs of Beacon Hill, Blackburn Hamlet,
Orleans, Blossom Park and Windsor Park.
1972 - Pineview
Golf Course revived as a joint venture between the City of Ottawa
and Gloucester Township and the National Capital Commission to serve
as a public Golf Course.
1972 - The Vanier City Hall was relocated to Dupuis
Street after the previous City Hall was destroyed by fire. This
later became a Police Station.
1972 - (October 25) Elmvale Shopping Centre converted
to enclosed mall. This subsequently reverted back to an open-air
mall.
1972 - Gloucester Coat of Arms first appears on
Gloucester Police cars.
1973 - (January) Information Gloucester established
as a volunteer staffed organization to field questions about life
in Gloucester.
1973 - Blackburn Branch of Public Library opens.
1973 - Gloucester Police Force and the Gloucester
Lions Club collaborate with the purchase of 'Lionel'. the talking
safety car.
1974 - Gloucester cedes the north half of Long
Island at Manotick and Nichol's Island to Rideau Township.
1974 - Police Village of St. Joseph d'Orleans (Orleans)
dissolved.
1974 - (Spring) Children's Hospital of Eastern
Ontario opens on Smyth Road.
1974 - Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School opens.
1974 - A pair of Australian black swans are added
to the population of "Royal" swans as a result of a donation by
the Montreal zoo. The swans are housed each winter at Leitrim.
1974 - (February) South branch of Public Library
opens in Blossom Park. This branch closed in 2006 and was replaced
with a larger library in Greenboro.
1975- Gloucester
Fair opens for the first time at the Earl Armstrong Arena. It
relocated to Rideau-Carleton Raceway sometime after 1994.
1975 - (November 25) The last section of Highway
417 within Gloucester opens.
1976 - (March) Gloucester Block Parent Program
commences.
1976 - (April) The monthly Gloucester Guide was
first published in order to distribute Gloucester Township information
and community news. It became the Gloucester Leader in September
1981 and ceased publication in April 1994, when the City of Gloucester
decided to cancel its contract to publish city proceedings with
the Leader.
1976 - (May 8)
Sawmill Creek Pool opens
1976 - (July 15) Olympic flame arrives at Gloucester
Place (Earl Armstrong Arena) on way to Montreal.
1976 - Blackburn Arena opens.
1977 - J.B. Potvin Arena opens.
1977 - New Township Garage opens south of Innes
Road near Cyrville Road.
1977 - Clubhouse at Pineview Golf Course destroyed
by fire.
1977 - (Jan.) Gloucester Synchro Swim Club is formed.
1977 - (September 7) The new Hog's Back Bridge
opens.
1977 - (October) Gloucester resident Tracey Clark
named Miss Ottawa Rough Rider.
1977 - (Dec. 9) Gloucester Community Police Committee
established.
1978 - (July 22) Gloucester Police headquarters
re-opens at Leitrim after the former Leitrim Public School was demolished
and replaced. The station had temporarily been located in the former
Johnston's Corners Public School building on Rideau Road.
1978 - (May) Gloucester Historical Society re-established.
1978 - Gloucester Songsters (Choir) established.
1979 - (March 12) Gloucester Centre for Community
Resources (social services) opens.
1979 - (May 8) Quota Club of Gloucester chartered.
This was a women's service club.
1979 - Gloucester resident, Pat Messner wins Gold
Medal in women's slalom water skiing at World Championships. Pat
also won a Bronze medal for the same event in the 1972 Summer Olympics,
amongst many other achievements in the same sport.
1980 - (Sept. 12) Orleans Recreation Complex opens.
It was renamed as the Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex following
his death in 2007.
1980- (Nov. 24) Gloucester Arts Council established.
It was renamed Arts Ottawa East after city amalgamation in 2001.
1980 - Place d'Orléans Shopping Centre opens.
1980 - Ottawa General Hospital opens on Smyth
Road.
1980 - Vanier Cineplex opens on Montreal Road just
east of the Vanier Parkway. It closed in 2000.
1980 - Developer Dorothea Athans proposes a movie
studio as part of a 126 acres development at the corner of Hawthorne
and Blais Roads. It was never built.
1980
- Gloucester Volunteer Awards established.
1981 - Township of Gloucester incorporated as a
City.
1981
- Gloucester Achievment Awards established.
1981 - Passenger service discontinued on CPR Short
Line between Hurdman's Bridge and Blackburn and Rigaud, Quebec
1981 - Gloucester
Allotment Garden Association established, taking over discontinued
NCC program. 250 Garden Plots are located in Blackburn Hamlet and
on Anderson Road.
1981 - Gloucester Meals on Wheels established.
1981 - Gloucester North Police sub-station opens
in a trailer at Shoppers City East on Ogilvie Road.
1982 - (Fall) Gloucester Leisure Service Guide
first published.
1983 - (May) TV Gloucester first broadcast on Skyline
Cablevision.
1983 - (Sept. 24) Gloucester flag designed by Harold
Diceman first flown.
1983 - Gloucester Resident, Horst Bulau finishes
second overall in World Cup Ski Jumping Final Standing. Horst is
a prominent world Ski Jumper from 1978 until 1988. He is named Ontario
Athlete of the Year for 1983.
1983 - Gloucester South Seniors' Club established.
It met at the E.D. Jones Library in Blossom Park starting on January
9, 1984 and later relocated to the former township hall in Leitrim.
1984 - Council approves a City Centre concept for
the area of Blair and Ogilvie Road.
1984 - (Jan. 14) Cyrville Community Centre opens.
1984 - (June) Innes Road water tower put into service.
1984 - (July 3) Mayor Fred G. Barrett dies in office.
Leitrim Arena renamed in his honour.
1984 - CPR abandons old Bytown and Prescott Railway
between Ellwood (near Walkley Road) and Bank Street.
1984 - Bearbrook Soccer Fields renamed Hornet's
Nest Park.
1985 - Hunt Club Road Bridge (Michael J. E. Sheflin
Bridge) opens.
1985 - Vanier City Hall relocated to 300 avenue
Pères-Blancs in the Richilieu Centre on the former site of the White
Fathers Seminary. Another building on the site was put to use as
the Vanier Public Library.
1986
- (July 2) Hope Cemetery, Leitrim approved.
1986 - Gloucester
Chamber of Commerce established
1986 - CPR abandons Short Line railway between
Hurdman's Bridge and Blackburn and beyond. VIA Rail retains rights
to convert this line into a High Speed rail link to Montreal.
1986 - Historic Hurdman's Bridge demolished.
1987 - Telesat Canada and the National Sport and
Fitness Administration Centre both open headquarters in the Gloucester
City Centre.
1988 - New City Hall opens at 1200 Blair Place.
1988 - Canada Aviation Museum opens on former site
of Rockcliffe Airport
1988 - Gloucester
"Splash" Wave Pool, the first indoor wave pool in Eastern Canada
opens. This was formerly Centennial Pool.
1988 - Handcrafted "Gold Chain of Office" was accepted
by the Mayor from the Gloucester Chamber of Commerce
1988 - Gloucester Resident, Elizabeth Manley wins
Silver Medal in Ladies' Figure Skating at Olympics in Calgary, Alta.
1988 - Hope Roman Catholic Cemetery opens on Bank
Street at Leitrim.
1988 - Gloucester Centre opens in City Centre (Ogilvie
and Blair Road).
1988 - Gloucester 5 Cinemas open at Gloucester
Centre. It closed in 2001 following the opening of the neighbouring
Silver City complex.
1989 - Gloucester Museum opens.
1990 - La Cité Collégiale, Ottawa's
french language college, opens on St. Laurent Blvd near Conroy Road.
Its permanent campus opens in 1995 on the Aviation Parkway.
1991 - Fire Training Station on Innes Road opens
1993 - Ottawa International Airport renamed Ottawa
MacDonald-Cartier International Airport.
1993 - A major expansion of Ottawa City Hall on
Green Island is completed. It was designed by Moshe Safdie. City
Hall relocates to the former Regional Headquarters on Laurier Avenue
upon amalgamation in 2001 and the old building is sold to the federal
government.
1993 - Ottawa Baseball Stadium opens at the corner
of the Vanier Parkway and Coventry Road. The Ottawa Lynx of the
International League played there until 2007. The Ottawa Rapids
of the Can-Am League played there in 2008, which to be renamed the
Ottawa Voyageurs for 2009 but the new team never played. The Lynx
were the triple A affiliate of the Montreal Expos during the early
years and the Baltimore Orioles in there last seasons.
1993
- (November 8) Lester Road extension to airport opens.
1994 - Military presence at Rockcliffe is terminated.
1995 - Uplands Military facility decommissioned
but the VIP transport unit of No. 412 Squadron continues to use
airport.
1995 - Ottawa, Gloucester and Nepean Police amalgamated
as Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police Service. This was renamed as
Ottawa Police Service in 2001.
1995 - CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service)
opens headquarters on Ogilvie Road.
1997 - South Keys Cinemas open at South Keys Shopping
Centre, Bank Street.
1997
- Gloucester Fair relocates to Rideau-Carleton Raceway on Albion
Road.
1998 - (Jan. 5th to 9th) Great Ice Storm causes
widespread blackouts in Eastern Ontario and Southern Quebec. Hydro
towers collapse near Navan Road and Edwards, the latter being an
area that experienced power outages lasting several days. Armed
Forces called in to assist in repairs.
1998 - Gloucester City Hall relocates to 1595 Telesat
Road. This was its final location.
1999 - CPR abandons old Bytown and Prescott Railway
between Leitrim Road and Manotick Station and beyond.
1999 - City of Gloucester becomes sole owner of
Pineview Golf Course.
1999 - (May 19) Silver City Theatre Complex opens
on City Park Drive.
2000 - Slots open at Rideau-Carleton Raceway.
2000 - Gloucester Hydro amalgamated with Hydro
Ottawa.
2001 - City of Gloucester amalgamated with the
City of Ottawa
2001 - O-Train opens between Greenboro (formerly
Ellwood) and Bayview via Carleton University. This uses the rail
line opened in 1871
2002
- (December) Albion Road is closed to through traffic at Lester
Road amidst ongoing controversy. The intersection was re-opened
on November 28, 2007.
2003 - New terminal opens at MacDonald-Cartier
International Airport, formerly known as Uplands Airport.
2005 - Gloucester Chamber of Commerce renamed Eastern
Ottawa Chamber of Commerce.
2006 - (October 11) Vanier Museopark opens in the
former Vanier City Hall.
2006 - With considerable controversy because of
a Avian flu scare, the "Royal" Swans spend the entire
summer in captivity at the Leitrim swan house. They were again be
released on the Rideau River in 2007.
2006 - (June 7) Greenboro District Library opens
replacing the Blossom Park Library.
2008 - (Sept. 24) Cancer
Survivors Park opens at Alta Vista Drive and Industrial Avenue.
2008 - First ash trees killed by Emerald Bark Beetle
in the vacinity of St. Laurent Blvd. and Ogilvie Road. This imported
pest is expected to eliminate all ash trees in the Ottawa area over
the next 10 years.
2009
- (May) Ottawa Rotary Home opens at Leitrim. This is a respite facility
for those with disabilities and under 21.
2009
- (July 31) The former Rockcliffe Air Base is closed to the public
and fenced off. |
