Improving The Capital City

 Upon becoming the capital of the Canadian colonies, Ottawa had work to do. While the Parliamentary blocks were being erected, the town itself still had much of its rough and tumble nature, with streets of dirt. Over time, forward thinking individuals would start the process of beautifying the capital.

These items were from the old Russell Hotel.

With Ottawa hosting the capital, so too did the Governor General come. In those days, inevitably a member of British royalty, they had their own influence on the growing city and the country.

This elegant dress or a cabinet of fine china date back to those early years of governor-generals.

The Victorian Age was one of social conservatism mixed with odd superstitions, and the Museum looks at that, in terms of how people of the time mourned and marked the passing of loved ones.

The painting here at centre is of Sarah Olmstead, who married two men of prominence in the capital years before it became a capital- Philemon Wright Jr, and upon his death, Nicholas Sparks. The families loom big in local history.

Some of the unusual contents of the cabinets- including a wreath made of human hair.

View Of The Ottawa River Looking Southeast Towards Parliament Hill And The Entrance To The Rideau Canal is by Annabella McLeod, dating to the 1880s.