page_title: Bytown
section_title: Corktown
hierarchical_section_title: Bytown / Corktown
caption_attribution_description: Lower Bytown, from the Barrack Hill, near the head of the Eighth Lock and the “Sappers’ Bridge, 1845”.
context_page_description: Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a sod turning, and a letter from Governor General Dalhousie which authorized Lieutenant Colonel John By to divide up the town into lots. Bytown came about as a result of the construction of the Rideau Canal and grew largely due to the Ottawa River timber trade. Bytown's first mayor was John Scott, elected in 1847.
context_section_description: Corktown, not a town at all, was a series of shanties along the "Deep Cut" section of the Rideau Canal in Ottawa which existed during its construction and were erected by some of its Irish labourers.  Many of the workers came penniless from County Cork in Ireland, giving it its name.  The settlement along both sides of the canal was allowed by Colonel By due to their desperate poverty and inability to pay rent.  These men, separated from the others, had done some of the hard labour required of the canal's construction.  They built turf or log shanties along the muddy bank, and possibly without sanction extended the settlement as far as through the Lower Town swamp and the banks of the Rideau River. Eventually women and children moved to the area living among the approximately 150 houses built by 1829.  Corktown disappeared shortly after the completion of the canal, which was under construction between 1826 and 1832.
caption: 1845 painting of the Rideau Canal, “Sappers’ Bridge, and Lower Town by Thomas Burrowes
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