page_title: History of Ottawa
section_title: City of Ottawa
hierarchical_section_title: History of Ottawa / City of Ottawa
caption_attribution_description: English: A view of Ottawa, some of Hull and of the Ottawa River circa 1859, including views of the Chaudière Falls and of Parliament Hill (formerly Barrack Hill) prior to the construction of the Parliament Buildings. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Lithograph, hand-coloured, some discolouration, water mark at top left. Crack in paper, upper centre. Title:City of Ottawa, Canada West. View of Parliament Hill and Chaudière_Falls. ca. 1859, by Stent and Laver Original caption&#58; "Recto, l.l.: Published by Mess'rs Stent &amp; Laver, Architects &amp;c. Ottawa C.W. l.c.: Copy Right secured in Canada and the United States. / CITY OF OTTAWA [coat of arms, "quiet study"] CANADA WEST. / To His Excellency the Right Honorable Sir Edmund Walker Head Baronet &amp;c. &amp;c. Governor General of British North America. This View of the City of Ottawa / is by permission most respectfully dedicated by his Excellency's obliged and very obedient servants / Stent &amp; Laver. l.r.: Sarony Major &amp; Knapp Lith. 449 Broadway N.Y., sold by: R. &amp; C. Chalmers"
context_page_description: The history of Ottawa, capital of Canada, was shaped by events such as the construction of the Rideau Canal, the lumber industry, the choice of Ottawa as the location of Canada's capital, as well as American and European influences and interactions. By 1914, Ottawa's population had surpassed 100,000 and today it is the capital of a G7 country whose metropolitan population exceeds one million.
  The origin of the name "Ottawa" is derived from the Algonquin word adawe, meaning "to trade". The word refers to the indigenous peoples who used the river to trade, hunt, fish, camp, harvest plants, ceremonies, and for other traditional uses. The first maps made of the area started to name the major river after these peoples.
  For centuries, Algonquin people have portaged through the waterways of both the Ottawa River and the Rideau River while passing through the area. French explorer Étienne Brûlé was credited as the first European to see the Chaudière Falls in 1610, and he too had to portage past them to get further inland. No permanent settlement occurred in the area until 1800 when Philemon Wright founded his village near the falls, on the north shore of the Ottawa River.
context_section_description: The St Lawrence and Ottawa Railway and Bytown and Prescott Railway linked the town to the outside world in 1854, after a lot of expense and later huge losses by the city.  Bytown, now no longer a town, was renamed and the City of Ottawa was incorporated seven days later on January 1, 1855.  Though the suggestion to give the city an aboriginal name had been published as early as 1844, Mayor Turgeon and Municipal Council proposed the name Ottawa to mark the 200th anniversary of the Ottawa people employing the river once again to come to Montreal for trade reasons.  The river had been unused for about 5 years for fear of attack but a 1654 truce with the Iroquois allowed its reuse.  While the event itself was not highly significant, it gave the name a historical context.
  In 1841, Upper Canada ceased to exist as present-day southern Quebec joined present-day southern Ontario in the Province of Canada. The capital of Upper Canada had alternated between several cities for a while, and in 1857, Queen Victoria was asked to choose a more permanent location. Among the influences of her decision were defence concerns, as well as a location that would be somewhat centralized, and she chose Ottawa (see: History of Parliament Hill).
  The Ottawa Citizen newspaper was established in 1844, known originally as the By town Packet.
  The sawed lumber industry supplanted the squared timber trade around the time Ottawa was incorporated when an influx of mostly American lumber barons decided that more money could be made if the timber was actually sawed.  Mills began to be constructed; some of Canada's largest sawmills were located near the Chaudière Falls.  Notable lumber barons in this area were Henry Franklin Bronson and John Rudolphus Booth.  The lumber industry contributed to Ottawa's growth, and evidence of it is practically nonexistent today.  The major portion of this industry lasted until shortly after the turn of the century, the decline being caused by decreased markets for lumber due to the switch to steel, Britain no longer subsidizing the market, and reduced supplies of uncut timber.  During a time of stagnation in manufacturing and a decrease in the city's industrialization, the city would see new government departments being formed and large increases in public service employment following 1900.
  Between 1860 and 1876, construction of the parliament buildings took place on Parliament Hill. In 1867, Canada East and Canada West ceased to exist and were replaced with the provinces of Quebec and Ontario.  Upon formation they united with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in Canadian Confederation.  Legislation enacted in 1870 as "An Act respecting certain Works on the Ottawa River" remains in effect to this day and mandates that the River and "all canals or other cuttings for facilitating such navigation, and all dams, slides, piers, booms, embankments and other works of what kind or nature soever in the channel or waters of the said River" fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Parliament at Ottawa, which now delegates this responsibility to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services.
  The Ottawa Academy and Young Ladies' Seminary was established on Sparks Street in 1861.
  Messrs. Nordhemier & Co. established an agency in 1866 for all kinds of music and musical instruments, under the management of J. L. Orille & Son. Magdalen Asylum, run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd was established as a religious and charitable society in 1866 on Ottawa street between Gloucester and Chapel.
  On April 7, 1868, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a Father of Confederation and Member of Parliament, was assassinated outside Mrs. Trotter's boarding house on Sparks Street between Metcalfe and O'Connor.  Yesterday's Restaurant currently stands at the location.  On February 11, 1869, Patrick J. Whelan was publicly hanged at the Carleton County Gaol on Nicholas Street.  It was the last public hanging in Canada.
caption: View of Parliament Hill and Chaudière Falls, Ottawa, ca. 1859. The hill is the second high landmass jutting into the Ottawa River on the right. Barracks were located at the hill prior to the construction of the parliament. The Union Bridge is in the foreground, but its main span has been replaced, after many years of ferry service only, with a steel suspension bridge.
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