Rideau Hall’s little cousin: John Street’s Fraser School House

 The area surrounding where Sussex Drive meets the Rideau River was once a thriving industrial site developed by the man who founded New Edinburgh. Thomas McKay (1792-1855) was a Scottish-born stonemason who came to Canada to work on the Lachine Canal in Montreal. He and John Redpath (of the sugar

The Building Blocks of a Capital

 It may be hard to believe now, but rail tracks once crisscrossed the National Capital Region like lifelines on a palm, foretelling the life of a growing nation. In fact, the birth, expansion and perhaps the key to the Ottawa-Gatineau area clinching the capital title is largely due to the

The Early Days of Ottawa: Not a Handsome City

 Painting showing the Sapper's Bridge and Lowertown around 1845. The big street going off to the left is Rideau Street. Painted by Thomas Burrowes, he added himself into the scene, painting away on what would be Parliament Hill today - Archives on Ontario C-1-0-0-0-11 McCord Museum MP-0000.25.887 Ottawa has undergone