Herbert “Pops” Brown and his wife Estelle were among Ottawa's first Black business owners when they founded Brown’s Cleaners in 1957. The Browns would serve as an example for others of what could be achieved in Canada -- that success from the ground up for Canadians of African descent was attainable.

New immigrants to Ottawa in the decades to follow were given the advice: “Go and see the Browns.”  People of Caribbean or African origin who came to the capital to build new lives found comfort and guidance from Herbert Brown – more commonly known as “Pops” – and his wife, Estelle. Pops ran the cleaning side of the business and Estelle, a gifted seamstress, took care of the tailoring.

Pops Brown first came to Canada in 1937 and his family joined him in Ottawa in 1953. Brown enlisted in the Canadian army during the Second World War when it was a rare thing to see a Black man in the ranks –- perhaps one face among thousands. (It was Brown's wartime service that enabled him to fast-track to citizenship at a time when people of the Caribbean were not frequently accepted as immigrants.)

That first Brown’s Cleaners in 1957 was on Murray Street (after Brown initially having operated a dry-cleaning business out of the Beacon Arms Hotel).

His nickname “Pops” had come about for good reason. In the late 1950s, the Canadian government launched a domestic scheme to bring in Caribbean women for work as domestic helpers. Brown served as a stand-in father at the weddings of at least seven of them – while Estelle Brown made their wedding dresses.

Pops and Estelle retired in 1971 when Estelle’s health began to fail and the family sold the successful dry-cleaning chain in 1977.

Olivia Bowden shares the story of the Browns for this article in Black Scene Ottawa: blackottawascene.com/herbert-and-estelle-brown-earliest-black-ottawa-migrants/