Poster on a hydro pole: “OLD OTTAWA SOUTH EXPLORING THE The Ottawa South History Project is inviting volunteers - researchers, writers, editors, designers & fundraisers - to explore options to create an updated version of the much-loved and out-of-print Exploring the Heritage of Old Ottawa South (2013). JOIN US TO PLAN A NEW EDITION OF EXPLORING THE BUILT HERITAGE OF OLD OTTAWA SOUTH Monday, January 12, 2026 7pm - 8 pm Program Room 1B Sunnyside Branch Ottawa Public Library Further Into: HistoryProject@OldOttawaSouth.ca

I can’t believe I miss this #OldOttawaSouth history project in January! I’ll just have to email them to volunteer.

HistoryProject@OldOttawaSouth.ca
#613history #Oscar

And of course, Robert Smythe :

“More Favourite Limbs: Two Blue Spruce.” Urbsite, June 2009

#Ottawa #613history
urbsite.blogspot.com/2009/06/more...

This fantastic book is at the Ottawa Public Library.
“Beneath the Archway: Overseas Chinese in Ottawa Since 1892”
#613history #ottawa

A 1927 newspaper ad in the Ottawa Citizen from “The Motor Co. Ltd.” for Studebaker cars. “Why be a Straphanger? When you may enjoy the pleasure of driving to and from work in a Used Car sold under the guarantee of the famous Studebaker Pledge? RAmiycontend tenetime with tralyget to work feeling fit instead or "trampled on. Give yourself and your family the pleasure that comes through owning a quality car.”

It’s like Studebaker in 1927 knew what the state of OC Transpo would be almost a century in advance.
#Ottawa #613history

A blast from the past:
“Ottawa On The River, 1941”

#613history #Ottawa
youtu.be/Vegh2_B20Lo

The Parking Lots: Decades under Development It all happened so quickly. Around 1960 most of the blocks at the north end of Centretown were scooped up by developers speculating on the r...

“Around 1960 most of the blocks at the north end of Centretown were scooped up by developers speculating on the rise of the concrete slab apartment building.”
[…]
#urbangeography
#613history #Ottawa

urbsite.blogspot.com/2010/03/park...

96 Southern Avenue, not far from the Smyth Road bridge in Old Ottawa South, is one of the very oldest houses in Ottawa. It was built in the 1820s by Lewis Williams, whose family still farmed this area into the 1940s.
🚜🏡
#Ottawa #613history
www.instagram.com/p/DTHABb2jNIi/

Billings Estate grounds in December 2025, with only a bit of snow on the ground.

Time for Christmas High Tea at the Billings Estate National Historic Site in Alta Vista. One of the very oldest surviving houses in Ottawa!
🫖🎄☕️
#Ottawa #Christmas2025 #613history @en.ottawa.ca

30 Windsor Ave seen in the evening with Christmas decorations on the front entrance windows and door. A bus stop on Riverdale Ave is on the far right.

Seen from Riverdale Ave, 30 Windsor Ave in the evening with Christmas decorations on the front entrance windows and door.

Completed in 1924, 30 Windsor Avenue (called the Wilson Apartments) was the first apartment building on this stretch of Riverdale Avenue close to Windsor Park. In 1928, major flooding of the Rideau River threatened this area of Old Ottawa South. #Ottawa #613history www.instagram.com/p/DSKyyBhEei...

Yardley’s Antiques at its current spot, 1240 Bank (just south from Cameron Ave) beside Trinity Anglican church.

Yardley’s Antiques has been an institution on Bank Street in Old Ottawa South since 1986. It’s been at its current spot, 1240 Bank (just south from Cameron Ave) near Trinity Anglican church since 1995. The building was built circa 1920. 🏢 #Ottawa #613history www.instagram.com/p/DR7QhyDkWn8/

Ye Olden Time’s Olden Tyme.
#613history #history

Ottawa Citizen story dated 25 Dec 1897: DEATH OF JAMES SMITH. Insurance companies Insinuate He Was Not Blown to Atoms. Smith's Falls, Ont., Dee. 21.-An extraordinary rumor is in circulation to the effect that the late blowing up of James Robert Smith by an explosion of dynamite on the Rideau river did not take place. It will be remembered that some weeks ago the late Mr. Smith with two companions went fishing on the Rideau, intending to use dynamite to kill the fish. An explosion occurred, blowing Mr. Smith's body into so many fragments that it could not be identified. It is alleged that Mr. Smith carried a large life insurance, and the companies inter-ested, it is said, will not now pay over the insurance money owing to the inability of identifying the body. It is admitted that the explosion took place, but it is insinuated that it was some other substance than Mr. Smith's body that was blown up. This seems extraordinary, as Mr. Smith's two companions ought to be sufficient evidence to establish his identification. Perhaps it is a case of bulldozing on the part of the insurance companies.

The Nightmare Before Christmas? Which was worse, fishing with dynamite, possible insurance fraud, or being “blown to atoms”?
#613history #Ottawa

Where the wild things are: animal sculpture in Centre Block Where the wild things are: animal sculpture in Centre Block

A good reminder of the animal art carved into Parliament Hill’s Centre Block. #Ottawa #613history 🦬🫎🦫🐌🐿️ sencanada.ca/en/sencaplus...

A side view of the CTTC building.

Looking partly at the front of the CTTC building while also seeing thr brick and window side that faces Bronson Avenue

The front entrance to the CTTC building on University Avenue.

The glass front of the CTTC building seen from the street.

Opened in 1995, Carleton University’s Technology and Training Centre (CTTC) was designed by Carrathers and Shaw Architects. It was the first fully accessible building on campus. It is visible from Bronson Avenue. #Ottawa #CarletonUniversity
#613history
www.instagram.com/p/DNB0SWLRUkr/

Carleton University’s Pigiarvik building, built in 1969. Surrounded by lawns on three sides.

Pigiarvik building seen in a 2022 aerial photo when the parking building was still standing. The Rideau River is at the bottom.

This is @carleton.ca ‘s Pigiarvik building, formerly called the Administration Building. Completed in 1969, it used to have a large parking structure right next door. It is the closest campus building to the Rideau River east of the rail tracks. #Ottawa #613history 🏛️
www.instagram.com/p/DM_Vk3qR8o2/

Ottawa Citizen article dated 3 Oct 1957: “New Carleton Arts Building” with a drawing of the then-unbuilt Paterson Hall. “

The design of @carleton.ca’s Paterson Hall as announced in October 1957. It was always intended to have that “T” shape. It’s just that, like much of the early #CarletonU, it was planned to be built in increments as funding became available. 🏗️🏛️ #Ottawa #613history

The cover of “Ottawa : An Illustrated History” by John H. Taylor, seen today at Indigo books in South Keys.

The late, great Prof. John Taylor’s “Ottawa: An Illustrated History” (who taught history at @carleton.ca ) is a fantastic book. But it deserves a second edition — it is now four decades old and a lot has happened since. #613history #Ottawa lorimer.ca/adults/produ...

Ottawa City Directory for 1927 showing Futeral & Co located at 9 O’Connor.

A 1931 aerial photo of Centretown Ottawa showing where the then-new 196 Bank St is located.

Ad by A. Futeral & Co announcing their “New Fur Store” at 196 Bank St.

A. Futeral & Co. began as a fur store a bit further south on Bank Street in Centretown, then on O’Connor, and only moved here in 1932, just after this building was completed. The building itself replaced an 1870s residential building turned into offices and retail. #Ottawa #613history

A photo of 196 to 200 Bank St taken in 2024 on a sunny afternoon.

A Google image 196 to 200 Bank St taken in 2014, showing Carmel Gallery on the right in the foreground.

196 Bank St has had two longterm commercial occupants. The first was a clothing company from circa 1931 to 1964, A. Futeral & Co., which I suspect (but do not know) had the current building constructed. From 1979 until 2014 was Carmel Art Gallery. #Ottawa #613history www.instagram.com/p/DKzJv8VgFma/

188 Bank Street at Gloucester St in Centretown, now home to a Royal Oak Pub.

Part of the cover of the @OttawaCitizen on 2 April 1984 when there was a major fire at 188 Bank at Gloucester St. The ground floor was an Italian restaurant, La Gondola.

188 Bank St, now a Royal Oak, was completed in 1985 for a popular Italian restaurant, La Gondola. The previous building here burned down after two fires in 1984, after the restaurant had done major interior and exterior remodeling around 1980, adding arches to the ground floor.🍽️🔥 #Ottawa #613history

Hope for Somerset House renewed as 'major construction' finally underway | CBC News Construction is underway to renew the derelict Somerset House, a historic building in Centretown that's sat empty for almost two decades, according to the local councillor.

Now CBC has reported on the new work on Somerset House on Bank Street at Somerset, including an interview with @arieltroster.com . #Ottawa #Centretown #613history www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The Story of Us - The Women's Canadian Historical Society of Ottawa Established 1898 - The Historical Society of Ottawa The Historical Society of Ottawa (established as the Women's Canadian Historical Society of Ottawa in 1898) has been spreading awareness of Ottawa's fascinating past for 126+ years, including ...

Happy Birthday to the Historical Society of Ottawa, established this day in 1898 as the Women’s Canadian Historical Society. They founded the Bytown Museum! #613history #Ottawa #history www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/resources/vi...

I really wish he and the Historical Society of Ottawa were both here on Bluesky.
#613history #Ottawa

Garbage Collection 28 May 1906 Like most urban Canadians, Ottawa residents take their municipal services for granted. We expect clean water, prompt police and fire protection, safe parks and playgrounds, and good roa…

James Powell’s “Today in Ottawa History” #613history #Garbage #Sanitation todayinottawashistory.wordpress.com/2023/04/15/t...

The Billings Estate Museum in winter, decorated for Christmas.

Happy #InternationalMuseumDay! One of my favourites in #Ottawa is the Billings Estate Museum, in one of the oldest standing buildings in Ottawa. #613history www.instagram.com/p/C-nACLFRtcQ/

A Celtic cross in stone, placed beside the northern end of the Rideau Canal to honour all the Irish labourers who died during its construction.

The northern-most set of locks on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa

Text at the bottom of the Celtic cross beside the Rideau Canal’s northern end in Ottawa : “ GCUIMHNE AN MILE OIBRI AGUS A GUID CLANN D'EAG AG DEANAMH AN CANAIL SEO 1826-1832 “

Irish workers, who often came directly from Ireland, played an important role in the construction almost 200 years ago of the Rideau Canal linking Ottawa to Kingston, a @unesco.org World Heritage Site. #StPatricksDay 🇮🇪🪨🇨🇦 #613history parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/on/r...

Morrison-Lamothe Bakery, 95 Echo Drive, seen from the Rideau Canal in the 1970s. http://www.mainstreeter.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Remembering-Matier-4.jpg

“In the 1950s and 60s, [Old] Ottawa East residents didn’t need to go to anonymous chain store grocers or franchised eateries; almost everything we needed could be found in the few square blocks bordered by Main and Drummond streets…” #Ottawa #613history 🍞 www.mainstreeter.ca/index.php/20...

Government of Canada designates the Dominion Observatory Complex as a national historic site | Heritage Ottawa PARKS CANADA | NEWS RELEASE Today, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, announced the designation of the Dominion Obs...

“The federal government initially established a national observatory in 1890 in a small building on the present-day site of the Supreme Court. In 1901, a new observatory site was selected in the northeastern section of the Central Experimental Farm.” #613history
heritageottawa.org/news/gvt-can...

Government of Canada designates the Dominion Observatory Complex as a national historic site  - Canada.ca This outstanding collection of surviving early 20th-century scientific buildings supported research across the country.

“Constructed between 1902 and 1954, the Dominion Observatory Complex is located within another national historic site, Ottawa’s Central Experimental Farm, on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people.” #Ottawa #613history www.canada.ca/en/parks-can...