Ahearn Avenue was named after Thomas Ahearn . Born in LeBreton Flats in June 1855, Thomas Ahearn was the son of an Irish blacksmith on the Rideau Canal maintenance crew. At age 14 or 15 (reports vary), Ahearn got his first job in a branch telegraph office tucked away in the mills near his home....
Armstrong Street: Segment from Bayview Road to Holland Avenue formerly "James Street", By-law 2777 (1908). Christopher Armstrong (1801-1874) hailed from the County of Leitrim, Ireland. He came to Canada in 1819 with his father who had secured a substantial land grant (1,000...
Formerly "Graham Road", By-law 101-51. John Paul (J.P.) Balharrie (1883-1952) was a baker by trade, a craft learned from his father James who had emigrated from Scotland before John Paul's birth. James Balharrie's bakery business was established around 1880 on Rochester...
Billings Avenue is named after either Braddish Billings, pioneer of the Billings Bridge area, or his son Charles, who had a house where the Riverside Campus of the Ottawa Hospital stands today. Opportunist, entrepreneur, profiteer: any of these could be used to describe Braddish Billings, one of...
Booth Street is named after John Rudolphus Booth, who ranked among Canada’s most prominent lumbermen. Born in Waterloo, Quebec on April 5, 1827, Booth came to Ottawa in the 1850s to seek his fortune with a mere nine dollars in his pocket. Although he made steady progress, building a small...
Bronson Avenue is named after Erskine Henry Bronson. Born in Bolton, New York on September 12, 1844, Bronson came to Ottawa in 1852 and eventually became one of Ottawa’s most prominent businessmen. His father, Henry Franklin Bronson, founded the firm of Bronson & Harris around 1852 with a...
Formerly "Bolton Street", changed to "Water Street" by By-law 475 (1880), further change to the present name by By-law 9488 (1945). This latter change was made to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the arrival in Bytown of Mother Elisabeth Bruyère (1818-1876), founder of...
Crerar Avenue is named after Henry Duncan Graham Crerar, one of Canada’s greatest military leaders. Crerar was born in Hamilton, Ontario on April 28, 1888. He graduated from the Royal Military College at Kingston and later took a position with the Ontario Hydro Electric Commission in Toronto.
Fleming Avenue is named after Sir Sandford Fleming. Fleming-an engineer, writer, diplomat, explorer and university chancellor-belonged to the generation of “Great Victorians” who built and organized the British Empire.
