Author: admin
-
First public timepiece in Ottawa
Anyone interested in Lowertown history should read the April 28, 2014 article on Urbsite about the former General Hospital–now called Bruyère Hospital–at the corner of Sussex and Bruyère.It includes this fascinating fact: ‘The addition on the second storey of a matching pair of sundials, in 1851, was designed by Father Jean-François Allard, a geometry teacher. These…
-
Ice blasting has begun
Every year in March, city staff spend a couple of weeks on the Rideau River just upstream from the Rideau Falls, cutting key lines for ice floes that are first blasted apart, then freed to float down into the Ottawa River. It’s a flood management strategy that has saved many a property in Lowertown and…
-
Two firsts for The Lowertown Echo
Thanks to the support of both longstanding and new advertisers, our community newspaper has taken two leaps forward this month. For the first time, the February-March 2015 edition of The Lowertown Echo – L’Écho de la Basse-Ville includes four colour pages. Another first: it’s being delivered by Canada Post. This allows us to reach all the residential addresses…
-
What’s in a name? York Street
York Street gets its name from that “Grand Old Duke of York” referenced in the familiar children’s nursery rhyme. When Colonel By founded Bytown and laid out the street plan for Lowertown, Prince Frederick, second son of King George III and Queen Charlotte, was the Duke of York and Albany. Although this duke died in…