Bytown

In the 1840s, Sister Elisabeth Bruyere and fellow Grey Nuns from Montreal came to Bytown, establishing a hospital, orphanage, school, and other social services. Sister Elisabeth's legacy remains today, with two hospitals in the city under the umbrella of the Bruyere organization, and a convent still active beside one of them.

After the Canal was built, timber was the dominant industry in the Ottawa Valley, and with both sides of the river being involved, the growing urban centers were keys to that industry. This is a remarkable artifact, a table carved by an employee of one of the lumber companies, done in three dimensions, showing the areas of the timber companies around the islands in the river.

The portrait on the wall is that of J.R. Booth, a lumber tycoon and railroad baron who established himself in what was Bytown and later became Ottawa. At one point, his lumber company was the largest in the world.

The actual work of the lumber men was a hard one, for months out of the year, out in the bush. 

This display case features some of their artifacts. 

Joseph Montferrand was one of the lumberjacks, a French-Canadian giant of a man who became a legend in the Ottawa Valley, today still remembered in folklore. It was said he once beat 150 men on the Chaudiere Bridge, members of an Irish street gang looking to make trouble.

Caulk boots, with nails or cleats on the soles, were used by the river drivers to pass over slippery logs. The bible box beside it was carved by Robert Spallin during time off in the camps.

This belt is an example of those worn by French-Canadian lumbermen.

Tools of the trade.

For a time, Bytown had a reputation as the most violent town in British North America, with riots, old-world biases spilling over into fights, and access to alcohol leading to troubles, all with minimal law enforcement in those early years.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Medicine

 The first day of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo. This month, the theme is Medicine. See how others are interpreting the theme right here.

Saint-Vincent Hospital is a place of medicine, a chronic care hospital founded a hundred years ago. It is close to home for me, but I hadn't been inside since before Covid. It seemed ideal for the theme. I came by on Saturday.

Saint-Vincent is one of two Catholic hospitals in the city jointly administered through the Bruyere organization, which has its roots in Elisabeth Bruyere, a nun who led a mission of sisters to Ottawa in the 19th century and established hospitals, education, and social services and left a huge legacy for the city that endures today. Since 1932, the hospital's location has been here, while its counterpart, the Bruyere, has been in Lowertown.

Within is a large courtyard, once exposed to the elements, but now with a glass roof. The modern touches are fascinating.

An adjoining terrace beckoned me out. Below the heights that the hospital is on- part of the same larger ridgeline that Parliament Hill is on- is Lebreton Flats. The Ottawa River can be seen, with Gatineau on the far shore.

I zoomed in. The back side of the Canadian War Museum is seen here. Off in the distance is the great rise of the Gatineau Hills.

A look westward. The low structure at centre is an LRT station.

I wanted to frame a similar view with the girders of the building.

The pillars are colourful.

Back out the main entrance I went.

Lastly, my medicine cabinet at home seemed fitting for the theme as well. Oral care and a razor blade at bottom, a couple of Tylenol bottles, soap, deodorant, and shaving gel on the middle, and some first aid and additional items on the top. The bag of cotton nose plugs is a reminder of that night in 2021 when I fell and broke my nose.

A Life That Became A Legend

Picking up where I left off yesterday, this period photograph of lumbermen in the background has artifacts in the foreground, like boots and the voyageur sash.

A display tells of a man whose life became legendary. Joseph Montferrand was a French-Canadian lumberman who became bigger than life throughout the Ottawa Valley, and stories began to be told about him. Stories are still told about him to this day, to the point that just where the real man leaves off and the stories begin is a blurred line.

Some of the tools of the trade- an axe and timber brands.

Another person whose life made a huge mark on Ottawa. Sister Elisabeth Bruyere led a group of nuns in 1845 to Ottawa, where hospitals, schools, and social agencies were quickly established by them.  Her legacy endures today. Speaking as a non-Catholic, if they ever make her a saint, that will be one that's well deserved.

This period was one of tensions in many ways in the growing town. This included the Stony Monday Riots, which added to the reputation Bytown had as the most dangerous place in British North America.

The Great Fire of 1900 was the biggest fire to ever hit here, destroying much of what's now Gatineau and leaping the river into Ottawa.

Fire is the subject of a temporary exhibit here. It includes photos of buildings destroyed by fire in the city over time, such as the original market building in what's today the Byward Market.

On Sparks Street, one building that went up in flames was almost certainly arson, in the aftermath of the D'Arcy McGee assassination.

Things change- the same location, different times.

Violence Of Bytown

I start today where I left off in the Bytown Museum. An axe of the 19th century and branding irons for marking timber are seen here.

Another icon of the 19th century in what was Bytown and what would become Ottawa was a woman whose influence remains today. Sister Elisabeth Bruyere led a company of nuns from Montreal to Bytown. She set to work establishing a school, hospital, orphanage, and other institutions. Her order of nuns is still active today, with their convent alongside the chronic care hospital that bears her name.

The Great Fire of 1900 would bring largely to an end the timber era, wrecking havoc on both sides of the Ottawa River before it finally was brought to an end.

These items speak to that time- a tea cup, a pitcher embedded with glass, and what's left of a billiard ball.

For much of its early decades, Bytown had a reputation as a rough place to live in, with violence a way of life. The Stony Monday Riots was one such example.

But even in normal times, with a population consisting of a rough sort of people, you were going to have trouble. A display case features panels and artifacts about how dangerous the town really was.

By 1855, Bytown would be incorporated as a city- with a new name, taking on the name of the river it overlooked.

A set of three display cases, side by side, shows the development over time. This first one features things as it looked at the end of the Rideau Canal building project. At lower right, at the heart of a square, is the only building to appear in all three dioramas- Notre Dame, though it started out as St. Jacques.

Here they all are, side by side. In the middle is the city as it looked upon incorporation in 1855. In the foreground, how it appeared in 1918. Things change.