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....
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...
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.
Gilmour Street is named for Allan Gilmour (1816-1895), one of Bytown’s pioneer lumbermen. He learned the trade working for his uncle (also named Allan Gilmour), a partner in the lumber firm of Pollock, Gilmour & Company in Glasgow, Scotland. The firm had branches in Quebec, Montreal and...
Grant Street is named after Sir James Alexander Grant. Born in Scotland in 1831, Grant came to Canada and opened his own medical practice in Bytown in 1854. Physician to every governor general from 1867 to 1905, he tended to all the vice-regal family’s ills. For instance, he treated...
Hinton Avenue was named after Robert Hinton, pioneer. Some time before 1821, his father Joseph arrived in the Richmond area. In 1849, the Ontario Municipal Act was passed, opening the door for the first assembly of the Municipal Corporation of the Village of Richmond on January 21, 1850. Joseph...
Holland Avenue was named after the Holland family, who owned a land development company and joined with Thomas Ahearn to create the Ottawa Land Association. The Hollands were also active in newspaper publishing. One of the most prominent members of the family was Andrew Holland, a parliamentary...
