Bytown Progress

I have more from the Bytown Museum today.

This portrait is by an artist named Moses Pierce, depicting two sisters, Annie and Mary McLeod.

This chair was used between 1876-1903 as the mayor's office chair.

This less comfortable looking chair was actually used by Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, during a visit to North America in 1860.

This formal brass helmet was worn by Charles Eliot, a member of the Princess Louise Dragoon Guards who served a distinguished career in the Canadian military before retiring in 1910. 

In its earliest years, Bytown had a reputation for being the roughest town in British North America. Drinking, fighting, and a lack of law and order were hallmarks of the early years of the lumber town that would become Ottawa. Artifacts in this display case reflect that part of the story.

Another display case features items of the lumber trade, and a panel that goes into detail about Joseph Montferrand, a legend of the Ottawa Valley. I'll be showing you another take on him before the end of the month.

There are three models of Ottawa down through time set side by side on the third floor. The first marks the city as it stood in 1832, with the Canal first completed, and the town was still Bytown.

This model shows how the town had evolved by 1855 when it was officially renamed Ottawa. The town had been growing beyond its initial roots.

The last shows the city as it stood in 1918, with much greater development of the core, including a smaller basin on the Canal- that basin no longer exists today, but is where Confederation Park now stands. A close look at the buildings of Parliament Hill even shows Centre Block under re-construction, since in 1918, it had only been two years since the fire that had destroyed the building's predecessor.