Given that our 1^st English language presentation of our 2024 / 2025 series fell on September 11, it was most appropriate that our guest that night, Peter McBride, spoke about the contrast between fire fighting in Bytown and early Ottawa, as compared to fire fighting in Ottawa today. Peter is the President of the Bytown Fire Brigade, with whom we were proud to partner for this evening’s presentation. Chief McBride is a 32 year veteran of the Ottawa Fire Department, a registered safety professional, and a passionate advocate of Fire Literacy.

Peter started us at the very beginning of mechanized fire fighting in Bytown by showing us “The Dominion”, the first hand-pumper in Bytown.  It was stationed on Barrack Hill with the Royal Engineers, but, pulled by soldiers, made frequent dashes into the town to help fight fires.  Its hand-pump, which required a team of 16 men, could force a stream of water up to 3 storeys in height.  Miraculously, it survived and is now in the collection of the Bytown Fire Brigade, who, after much restoration, bring it to special events and demonstrate its operation.

Peter explained that in these early days, “fire fighting”, was more a matter of attempting to save as much of the contents of the structures than the successful extinguishing of a fire.  There was no water system, so no hydrants.  The water was carried to the scene in water carts, or, if it was lucky enough to be beside a pond or river, water could be sucked into the hand-pumper.  Most of the work was still done by bucket brigade.

Fire fighting at this time was not a service, it was a business.  Peter told us that the money needed to purchase equipment was put up by local businesses or raised from subscriptions. There were no dedicated buildings for the storage of the equipment.  He showed us a plaque, or fire mark, that would be displayed on a building to indicate that it had paid for some degree of protection or assistance. Towns were unplanned, thus there were no regulations on the types of buildings or activities that could be located together or regulations regarding the distances between buildings. In a town built primarily of wood, fires spread quickly.

In 1838, Uppertown, the most prosperous area, bought its own hand-pumper, “The Mutual”, likely with financial support from the insurance company.  Later it and the fire brigade that used it were renamed as “The Chaudière”. They were a very proficient brigade and won many firefighting championships.  Their banner survived, but in a highly deteriorated condition.  The Bytown Fire Brigade has recently digitally remastered the banner.  The story of this can be read here: Bytown Fire Brigade celebrates a banner year 

In 1847, the first Hook and Ladder Company, another hand-pulled apparatus, was paired with “The Alliance”, the hand-pumper in Lowertown. Peter explained that the rivalry and distrust that existed between Uppertown and Lowertown in all things also infected the fire brigades, causing Council, in 1851 to establish a Fire Committee and in 1853 to authorize the building of dedicated engine houses and the purchase of additional engines. In 1867, John Langford was made Ottawa’s first Fire Chief, though firefighting was still performed by the privately run brigades.  He was well respected, having come through the Chaudière, as was his Deputy from Lowertown.

In 1870, J. R. Booth purchased the first steam-powered pumper in the city, but this was far from the biggest fire related story of that year. Peter told us of the Great Fire of the Ottawa Valley, started by some railway workers clearing brush between Almonte and Pakenham.  Driven by gale-force winds it reached Ottawa two days later.  The Council called on all its citizens to fight the blaze and it was only by blowing up of the dam near Dows Lake, that flooded the Preston Street area, and a drop in the winds, that saved the rest of the city.  In 1873 another fire on Daly Street destroyed an entire block.  Change was needed.

Peter described the changes in fire protection that took place in 1874.  The most important of these was the formation of the Ottawa Fire Department, now celebrating its 150^th anniversary.  This meant paid fire fighters and the phasing out of the volunteer brigades, which disappeared by 1887.  The first hose companies were also formed in Ottawa at this time. Along with this, there was the introduction of a water works system and hydrants, though these were temperamental and unreliable.  Fire call boxes were also installed to provide a rapid reporting of fires.

Peter explained that, as a lumber town, Ottawa faced extraordinary risks.  These erupted in 1900 with the Great Fire that started in Hull and spread to Ottawa fueled by the tremendous piles of stacked lumber.  The Historical Society has a pamphlet that provides more information on this fire 009. The Great Fire of Ottawa. By 1903, much of Ottawa had been rebuilt, as had the lumber piles of J.R. Booth. Fire broke out again, consuming much of the same area of Ottawa as it had just three years earlier.  More on this now almost forgotten fire can be read in this fine article When the Great fire of 1903 ravaged through Preston. Despite two devastating fires, the lumber barons continued to stack timber within the city, seeming to have an unusual amount of influence over the decisions makers at Council.

Peter recounted a story that demonstrated the cooperative nature of fire fighters in different communities. In 1915 there was a fire in the Village of Russell and a call went out for help.  Ottawa’s Silsby steamer was loaded onto a train and taken to save the village.  The story has since been retold in a children’s book Silsby Saves the Day.

Peter concluded his look into the past with a reference to the 1916 fire that claimed the Centre Block of the parliament Buildings, and switched his attention to a brief review of the Ottawa Fire Service as it exists today.

The Historical Society of Ottawa has a pamphlet available online that also tells part of this story.  038. The Early Days of Fire Fighting in Ottawa

Peter described the challenges faced at amalgamation in 2001, when multiple fire departments, each with different staffing, training, equipment and expertise had to be merged into a single force. Managing this process was extremely complex and took some time. The Ottawa of today is a very complex city with multiple levels of governments, foreign embassies, heritage buildings and about 1.25 million inhabitants. It is also geographically one of the largest cities in Canada featuring everything from high-rise apartment towers to barns and silos. Naturally then the fire service of today is also large and highly complex.

Peter explained that although the public still think of fire fighters as the people who actually put out the fires, from the 45 current stations, there is now a lot more involved. The department now has divisions dedicated to the training of the crews in the newest techniques and on the newest equipment; to educate and inform the public in our multi-media world as to fire hazards; to enhance the safety of the fire fighters; a sophisticated communications structure to direct resources to and within emergencies; and to perform evidence-based research into the effects of new materials on the risk and spread of fires and how best to deal with these in the different built environments in which the fire service must operate both today and in the future.  Apart from this, the fire fighters now respond to all kinds of emergencies, as diverse as medical responses to tornadoes and other climate-driven emergencies.

Peter concluded his presentation with an invitation to anyone who has stories, photos, or memorabilia related to fire fighting in Canada, and especially in our area to please get in touch with the Bytown Fire Brigade.  They would love to talk with you.

Peter’s full presentation can be viewed at: The History of FireFighting, Early Bytown to modern Ottawa

The Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library welcomed us back on Saturday, September 28, a beautiful fall afternoon, for our first in-person English language Speaker Session of the 2024 / 2025 series. We were pleased to partner with the Workers History Museum for this presentation and honoured to have their President, David Dean, on hand to introduce our guest speaker.  Brian McDougall describes himself as a “socialist historian”, one who asks different questions and so draws different conclusions than main-stream historians.  David Dean described Brian as a former civil servant, educator, author and activist with a dedication to public history.  Brian related the stories of two early strikes and how they are now remembered. His audience of 40 was enthralled.

Brian began by giving us some background on the match industry at the turn of the 20^th century. Prior to the general electrification of the world, matches were a critical product and the E. B. Eddy factory in Hull was at one time the largest match making factory in the British Commonwealth.  The work, which involved men cutting the matches and women making the packaging and packing the matches into the boxes, was not only low paying, as was all industrial work at that time, it was also highly dangerous.  Prior to the First World War, matches were made using white phosphorous, a highly flammable and poisonous chemical which resulted in a condition called phosphorus necrosis of the jaw, (aka Phossy Jaw), in which the vapours from the white phosphorous destroyed the bones of the jaw.  Fire was another ever-present danger.

The ‘Match Girls’ (les Allumettières) were young, poorly educated, French, Catholic women, forced into the work force by the low wages paid to all members of the working class. Their living conditions were appalling, characterized by large families inadequately housed, with poor sanitation, bad nutrition and rampant disease.  Working women held the dual responsibilities of contributing to the family income while also caring for all of its members.

Brian told us, perhaps surprising many, that the women match makers at E.B. Eddy were unionized: l'Union ouvrière féminine de Hull. The women, however, were not permitted to negotiate for themselves, this being done “on their behalf” by male union leaders and the Oblate Fathers, the church being central to all aspects of life in that community.  The negotiators believed in a strategy of progress through cooperation and conciliation with the English ownership rather than a strategy of confrontation.

A heavy demand for matches, led the company, in October 1919, to demand that the women work double shifts. The women refused and were locked out. After some discussions with the male leadership, the company offered a shorter work week and an increase in wages, but demanded the right to change work hours as they wished and included a “yellow-dog” clause in the proposed settlement that would ban the women from union membership.  The women refused. Shortly thereafter an agreement was reached in which the women would work double shifts for a period of 4 months, would receive a 50% pay increase (little in real terms) and would retain their union membership.  This was accepted and work resumed.

Richard Bedford Bennett, LAC 1930.Brian explained that labour issues came to a head again in September 1924, this time driven by a drop in prices for matches.  By now the company had left the control of the Eddy family, with future Prime Minister R. B. Bennett being the principle owner, who held that he was not bound to agreements signed by the previous owner. The company demanded a 50% pay cut and to seize the hiring process from the women supervisors, with the intention to hire non-French Catholics and so break the union.  In response, union president, Donalda Charron led the women out on strike.  The women picketed, fundraised, held 9 public meetings to explain their position, and so received both financial support and donations of food from the local communities. This included printed support from the French language newspaper Le Droit.

After two months the male negotiators and the company reached a settlement in which the women would return to work at their same hours and rate of pay. The union would remain in place. No improvements in working conditions were achieved. Donalda Charron was not rehired and the women supervisors lost control of the hiring process.  The women supervisors were later fired and the union was lost.

The two strikes of 1919 and 1924 were the first by solely women workers in the Province of Quebec and in this area. The match works was sold in 1927 and finally closed in 1933.

Brian went on to tell us of an earlier, larger and more radical strike, which is now less remembered. In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, the lumber industry was the backbone of the local economy. While the lumber barons lived in luxury, Brian explained that their workers did not. Long hours, (11 or 12 hour days, 6 days a week), for poor pay in a hazard-filled work place, where it was commonplace for workers to be maimed or killed,  was the norm. As there was no work in the winter, there was no pay. Thus the winters were especially hard on the families already suffering from inadequate housing, poor diet, lack of sanitation and multiple diseases.

In 1891 there was a drop in demand for lumber and a corresponding drop in price.  In response, in September, the mill owners, acting collectively, cut worker wages by 50 cents a week, almost a 20% pay cut and refused to honour an earlier promise to reduce the work day to 10 hours. The mill workers were not unionized, though an American-based union, the Knights of Labour, did have some membership in Canada, including 6 members at the Perley & Pattee Lumber Company. On the 14^th of September the workers there demanded the reinstatement of their full wages, the mill owner, George Pattee, refused, insisting that he was only following what was being done at all the other mills in the area.  The workers walked off the job, an illegal strike as 6 months notice was required. As such, the Knights of Labour did not support the action, preferring arbitration to confrontation. Representatives of the workers soon went to all the other mills and lumber yards, where these workers too put down their tools and joined the strike.

Brian pointed out that the mill owners were powerful. E. B. Eddy, who was also the Mayor of Hull, arranged, on the 16^th, to have two companies of the Governor General’s Foot Guards and two companies of the 43rd Battalion called out, armed with live ammunition, to protect the mills. The troops were sent home the next day when workers representatives, among them Napoléon Fateux and J. W. Patterson, convinced Eddy that no damage would be done and established worker teams to safeguard the mills. The owners also tried to break the strike through the use of scab labour, but the strikers blockaded the roads, dissuading the scab workers from reporting.

Brian explained that the call for the 10 hour work day had a broad appeal across the working poor.  The 2,500 mill workers were eventually joined by an additional 1,500 workers from other industries, a large block of the workforce at that time.  Significantly, however, the more professional workers who had already achieved a reduced work week were generally not supportive. Support for the strikers, in terms of donations of funding and food, and even the creation of striker’s stores to help the families followed, but as time went on the momentum began to fade and the approach of winter caused cracks to develop on both sides of the dispute.

By mid-October, Brian explained, most workers had returned to their jobs, the mill owners having made no concessions.  Approximately 1,000 experienced mill workers had left the area during the strike, 600 of those to Michigan. This delayed the return of the industry to full capacity.  Shortly after the return to work the mill owners reversed the 50 cent pay cut and several years later a 10 hour work day was implemented.

The Historical Society of Ottawa has another article on the 1891 strike that can be read at: Strike! En Grève! Plus, you can read about more labour strife at the E.B. Eddy plant in the story: The Eddy Lock-out.

Brian pointed out that although both labour actions were ultimately unsuccessful, as a society we now only remember and honour the actions by the women match workers.  This can be seen through the naming of a Gatineau library branch for Donalda Charron, the renaming of Boulevard de l’Outaouais, in the Hull section of Gatineau, as Boulevard des Allumettières and by an event organized by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) in October 2014 as part of Women’s History Month. There has been no such recognition of the much larger strike of 1891.  Perhaps it has simply been forgotten, though Brian speculates that it has more likely been intentionally ignored.  No government or organized labour union of today would benefit from honouring a broad-based labour revolt that was led by workers themselves and not by professional leadership.

Peter McBride, President of the Bytown Fire Brigade, tells of the history of firefighting in early Bytown and today's modern Ottawa.

Under threatening skies, the Museum Club visited Dickinson Square in Manotick on Sunday, August 18, 2024, for a guided tour of Watson’s Mill and Dickinson House. Eighteen of the twenty registered participants took the chance and were rewarded with a wonderful experience.

After we gathered and were welcomed by our host Avery Geboers, we split into two groups, one starting in Watson’s Mill and the other in Dickinson House.

Inside Watson's MillWatson’s Mill was built by Moss Kent Dickinson and Joseph Merrill Currier, one of four mills to be constructed in the general location, including a sawmill (1859), a flour & grist mill (1860, Watson’s Mill), a wool carding mill (1861), and a bung, plug and spile mill (1875, 1888). The 4-storey mill was a marvel of automation for its day, powered by water turbines, rather than a waterwheel, which allowed the mill to operate year round. An ingenious combination of belts and chutes enabled the mill to be run by one person. As far as we know, we were not joined on our tour by the ghost of Ann Crosby Currier, (wife of Joseph for only 6 weeks), who died in a tragic accident in the mill in 1861 and is said to have never left.

Inside Dickinson HouseDickinson House, across the street from the mill was built in 1867 and served as the village post office, general store and home to the Dickinson family and all subsequent mill owners. The house is furnished in pieces from the late 1800s, though only one chair and a notary seal are from the Dickinson family.

The costumed interpreters in both the mill and the house were poised, polite, professional and extremely knowledgeable. They added greatly to our understanding of the site and our overall enjoyment of our visit.

When both tours were completed, we gathered again in the mill. On most summer Sunday afternoons there is a milling demonstration, but due to unfortunate circumstances, this could not be done on the day of our visit (a good reason for another trip). Our hosts did, however, arrange for us to start the water turbine so we could see some of the mill equipment in motion. The President of the Historical Society of Ottawa, Emma Kent, was put to work, turning the heavy wheel to start the mill. You can watch her in this video:

If you were unable to join us for the day, we strongly urge a visit to this very interesting complex. There is much more to learn about Watson’s Mill and Dickinson Square from their fact-filled website: Watson's Mill & Dickinson House

Grain Milling Process at Watson's Mill

Having finished at the mill site, fifteen of us took the short walk to The Vault Bistro where we enjoyed a variety of fine dishes.

The weather smiled upon us and we all left Manotick with smiles ourselves.

Video and photos courtesy of Justin Lacasse.

Publications and Presentations

Did you have a story to share about the history of Ottawa? Would you like to publish or present with the Historical Society of Ottawa? HSO looks at topics within the Ottawa-Gatineau area and the Ottawa Valley. We are dedicated to highlighting the diverse experiences of Indigenous peoples, racialized groups, underrepresented communities (including but not limited to: children/youth, low income/in poverty, women, elder, etc.), 2SLGBTQI+ groups, and others, who continue to enrich our communities. We have many options for you, presented below.

French Presentations/Publications

We offer publications and a series of conferences in French. You can contact Christine (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) for more details.

Speaker's Series

We host over a dozen Speaker's Series sessions each year, either in person at the Ottawa Public Library or virtually on Zoom, each being about one hour followed by a Q&A session. You can contact Scheherazade at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information. Past sessions are outlined in the meetings section of our website and recordings available via our YouTube channel.

Memory Project 

The HSO’s Memory Project is an initiative designed to preserve and celebrate the history of our community and its members. This project aims to collect, digitize and preserve the personal stories, photographs and documents of those who call, or have called, Ottawa home. 

Through this project, we hope to preserve these stories for future generations and to provide accessible, educational resources for all those interested in learning more about the history of our city. By celebrating our shared history, we're building a stronger, more connected community where everyone's story is valued and remembered. 

If you have a story you’d like to share, please reach out to John at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and you can view the stories on the Memory Project page of our website.

Social Media

We have active Facebook and Instagram pages. Ben (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) can help you there if you wish to make a post  or simply join us and jump with your comments on our posts on social media! 

Quarterly Newsletter

For content that is roughly of a page or two, we have the Capital Chronicle newsletter which Richard spearheads (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ). You can read past issues on the newsletters section of our website.

Blog

Are you a historian, heritage professional or member of the public who is actively engaged in historical research related to the Ottawa area? Interested in sharing your research in a shorter (500-1000 words) blog format? The HSO blog team would love to hear from you! Full details and past blog posts can be viewed on the Blog page of our website.

The HSO blog team would also love to hear from student bloggers. As an extension of the HSO blog platform, The Student Corner gives students a space to showcase their knowledge of the history of the Ottawa area through blogging. More information can be found on the Student Corner page of our website.

If you are interested in writing for us, please get in touch with Kirsten by emailing: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Pamphlet Series

Is your story or research between  10 to 60 pages, with or without photographs, that you would like to see published? HSO has been publishing a pamphlet series for over 40 years and we have well over 100 titles. You can read digital versions of them in the Bytown Pamphlets section of our website.

HSO can offer some assistance with editing and we do all the formatting. Pamphlets are assigned an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) from Library and Archives and HSO deposits copies there, at the Ottawa Public Library, and at the City of Ottawa Archives, which adds a veritable permanence to your work.

We print over 150 copies of the pamphlets and distribute them to our members along with electronic access to the public. Contact Erik at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

Other Options

For Ottawa Stories, featured interactive publications, multimedia, or anything else you would like to pitch, please send Erik an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

If you have questions, you can always reach us at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

We look forward to hearing from you! 

While not entirely present in this photograph, according to the by-laws of the same year, the club’s uniform consisted of a “Peaked Cap, Tunic, Knickerbockers, and Ribbed Stockings all of a Dark Blue Color. [with] the trimmings to be of Black Braid…”

The bicycle, in its various forms, became an established form of amusement in the 1860s. [[1]] It was however, not until the late 1890s, that the bicycle craze was in full swing. It was during this time that the bicycle became the site of much public discussion. For Ottawa, the craze had taken hold by April of 1895, with The Ottawa Journal declaring the Capital, “all hot for wheels.” [[2]] In the same year, according to the Ottawa business directory, a concentration of bicycle shops could be found on Bank and Sparks Streets, six on Sparks and two on Bank. [[3]] One of these shops was McFarlane Bros, located at 115 Bank Street, it was originally an iron foundry that took up bicycle manufacturing during this period.

This bicycle boom reflects Victorian ideals and preoccupations, namely that of health and respectability. At a time when there was a growing concern over cities being unhealthy spaces, bicycling was seen as the right kind of sport for the health of the nation, as it benefited both physical and moral health. Regarding morality, the perspective at the time concerning morality and sport, viewed amateur sports as pure, reflecting respectability, while professional sports, where money was earned, as corrupt. In examining the Ottawa Bicycle Club (established in 1882), this attitude regarding the bicycle comes into view, as the clubs’ mandate which stated that the club was only open to amateurs.

The stated objective of the Ottawa Bicycle Club, according to the by-laws from 1890, was “to promote the general interest of cycling and to encourage and facilitate “touring.’” [[4]] By the last decade of the 19 ^th century, there was a growing concern for the proper use of bicycles in public spaces in an era of the ‘safe bicycle.’ This era meant, not only changes to the bicycle itself but concerns for the activity of cycling. The club, and other clubs like it, engaged in family-oriented bicycling, whereby rowdy, reckless cycling (read masculine qualities) was viewed as improper. Before this, during the highwheeler (a bicycle with a large front wheel and a small back one) phase, clubs operated on a more informal basis. Members would engage in Victorian chivalry, taking on the role of ‘two-wheeled knights.’ [[5]] In highlighting ‘touring,’ the mandate of the Ottawa Bicycle Club heeded this concern for proper bicycling etiquette. Etiquette was reflected in the respectability of the club members and through maintaining proper order in public spaces. The activity of touring indicates a level of activity that was seen as being beneficial to one’s physical health while maintaining respectability.

Maintaining one’s respectability was especially important for women who, with the development of the safe bicycle, took up cycling. Admittance of women into the club likely occurred around the time that the above photograph was taken, as between 1890-1891 greater numbers of women actively took up cycling in Canada. By the late 1890s, women accounted for between one-quarter and one-third of all riders. [[6]] In addition to the Ottawa Bicycle Club opening its door to women, other ladies’ clubs within the Capital also took up learning to ride bicycles. [[7]] As The Ottawa Journal stated in 1896, “…it is no uncommon thing to see a number of women on bicycles riding along our roads.” [[8]]

Mrs. Albert H. Campbell on Wheel (1897) - James Ballantyne / Library and Archives Canada / PA-130015.

Unlike previous iterations, the safety bicycle did not pre-empt women from the activity of cycling. This was in part because Victorian Women’s dress codes, which had made it possible to ride, could be accommodated, even creating new fashions directly linked to the leisure activity. The creation of a skirt, designed to meet “every requirement of the wheelwoman,” was the subject of an article from the February 12, 1897, issue of The Ottawa Citizen , which describes the skirt as seeming to “answer every requirement of modesty as well as convenience.” [[9]] Divided in the front and back to accommodate the frame of the bicycle, the skirt concealed the movement of limbs, while at the same time affording freedom. Women taking up cycling was, as with many other things where women entered the public sphere, not without objection. Those involved in reform, for example, expressed concern that it facilitated inappropriate relations between men and women. An article from the Dominion Medical Monthly and Ontario Medical Journal states that some objection to female cyclists was “…because it is injurious to the rider herself and decidedly immoral in its tendencies.” In response to the article, both cycling organizations and publications wrote to the editor to dispute the article’s claims regarding the question of women riders. [[10]] Women who rode became a ‘flaneur[use] on wheels,’ displaying good taste, appropriate attire, commitment to healthy motherhood, and bourgeois propriety in public while touring. [[11]] In addition to touring, women, as well as children, took part in public bicycle tournaments or “bicycle gymkhana” (something originally associated with equestrian skill) which had gained popularity at the time.

These tournaments brought together all the ideals of the safety bicycle era as it “favoured bicycling decorum and propriety over athleticism, though many of the events of the gymkhana required significant bicycle-handling skill.” [[12]] These events also signified the proper use of public space, usually taking place in and around a park, which was a cultivated and clean space. Taking place largely during the summer season, the gymkhana events involved such things as a bicycle parade and bicycle decoration, as well as games including obstacle races. While Ottawa held its own gymkhana as the bicycle craze was drawing to a close in 1900, it did so in what seems to be a uniquely Ottawan fashion, with the gymkhana taking place in the middle of November at the indoor Rideau rink. Jointly organized as a benefit by the lady’s auxiliaries of St Luke’s and the children’s hospitals, the program included races and drills, as well as a military musical ride. While the event was said not to have gotten as many spectators on its second night, it was said to be a success. [[13]] If low attendance was thought to be a sign of decreased interest in bicycling, ‘the number of shops related to bicycles suggests otherwise, as there were over 10 in business in 1900. [[14]]

Whether out for a leisurely tour or participating in an organized event, the bicycle boom certainly did not go unnoticed in the Capital. In taking up the sport of bicycling, Ottawa residents heeded the call that it was indeed the right kind of sport for the health of the nation. While the actual craze only lasted until around the turn of the century, the interest in cycling has remained a part of the capital’s landscape, enjoyed by many no matter the season.

Kirsten Widdes is currently an independent researcher and writer. She holds an MA in History from Carleton University, as well as a BEd in Junior/Intermediate Education from the University of Ottawa. She has been a volunteer with the Historical Society of Ottawa since August 2023 and currently serves as the managing editor of HSO blog.

The third Museum Club outing took place on Thursday, July 18, 2024, when a dozen registered participants, and two “foundlings” received a guided tour of the Merrickville Blockhouse Museum from our host, Jane Graham, who is the President of the Merrickville & District Historical Society (MDHS).  Jane explained that the Blockhouse was built in 1832 to defend the Rideau Canal but never served in its original role. Instead, it became the home of the first lockmaster, Sgt. Johnston, his wife and children. Over the years the Blockhouse has had many other uses including as a storage facility and a church. Eventually it fell into disrepair and was scheduled to be demolished in the early 1960s. It was saved by the community of Merrickville who raised funds and created the Merrickville & District Historical Society to restore and operate the Blockhouse.  The work has since become more than the volunteers of the MDHS can realistically handle, so the Town of Merrickville has now assumed responsibility for the Blockhouse Museum.

After about an hour in the Blockhouse Museum, Jane led ten of us on a guided walking tour along the main street of Merrickville pointing out many of the historic buildings and telling us the stories behind each.  Jane told us some of the details of the history of Merrickville itself, from its origin as a thriving industrial and commercial hub, through its decline into the mid twentieth century and its renaissance in the past few decades as a vibrant community and a haven for artists and artisans of all kinds. She also told us some colourful stories of a number of its more prominent early residents and of the plans of the MDHS to honour one of these, Harry McLean, with a statue.  The weather was perfect for the walking tour and there was much to see and yet more that could be explored independently based on a walking tour guide that is available through their web site.

Following our walking tour, which lasted just over an hour, we said good bye to Jane and retreated to the Mainstreet Restaurant, across the street from the Blockhouse, where the ten of us were warmly greeted.  The large menu offered many tasty choices and their own lager was enjoyed by a number of our party.  After lunch, the group dispersed, some browsing, and buying, in Merrickville’s fascinating array of shops.

Museum Club provides an opportunity for its participants to make new connections or in some cases discover existing connections they did not know they already had.  The latter occurred on our Merrickville trip when a casual lunchtime discussion revealed that one of the participants knew the grandparents of another, even though the two participants had never met and the grandparents live in south-western Ontario.  As they both agreed, it is a small world.

One of the goals of the Museum Club is to strengthen the relationships between the Historical Society of Ottawa and other organisations involved in the exploration of our local history or in preservation and conservancy.  To this end, a partnership is now being established between the HSO and the MDHS whereby the MDHS will send the HSO electronic copies of their newsletters and invitations to their speaker series presentations and the HSO will reciprocate, providing more opportunities for the members of both organizations.