August 2018 – historynerd.ca

Bill Cadzow Views St. James Town

Shooting for his employer, the CMHC, Bill Cadzow captures a view of Toronto’s St. James Town from a building on Wellesley in July 1971. Image: CMHC 1971-528.

This shot of Toronto’s St. James Town, taken by the CMHC’s Bill Cadzow in July 1971, remains one of my favourites in what I’ve seen of the CMHC’s historic photo collection. I just wish they would digitize more of them after having done so many a few years back. A boy can dream.

Second City, Second Metro: Steady as She Goes for the Collegiate Board

Having been organized in 1873, the Collegiate Institute Board had established a system and series of agreements with the Townships that it was anxious to protect. Image: Basketball game at Lisgar Collegiate, February 1956. City of Ottawa Archives, Item CA037169.

When officials of the Collegiate Institute Board of Ottawa appeared in front of the Jones Commission, they took the time to carefully explain the system they had worked to establish, why any dramatic changes to the administration of secondary education that might come with a regional government are, at best, unnecessary, and that the existing system may be extended.

Elgin Goes From Party Palace to Golden Arches

The *Ottawa Citizen* was present for the conversion of the old Party Palace sign to McDonald’s, which still hangs proud today. Source: *Ottawa Citizen*, April 11, 1997, 20.

When I wrote about the Party Palace on Elgin Street a few years back for Ottawa Start, I remember having a hard time locating an image of its wonderful sign. One was eventually located and added to the story, but every time I find another one, I’m instantly brought back to writing that story. Above and below are two of the three I’ve since located.

Second City, Second Metro: Parkwood Hills is Satisfied with Nepean

The advertising campaign for Minto’s Parkwood Hills began in September 1959. Image: Ottawa Citizen, September 24, 1959, National Home Week Supplement, 3.

Much like Lynwood Village, Crystal Beach, and other new subdivisions in the Township of Nepean, the Parkwood Hills was also by-and-large satisfied with the foregoing arrangement in 1965. No representative of the Parkwood Hills Community Association appeared before Jones.

Metcalfe Place in Centretown

Metcalfe Place was constructed in 1984. Image: Ottawa Citizen, July 14, 1983, 19.

When I wrote about Metcalfe Court and its replacement, Metcalfe Place, a couple of years ago, I did not have such easy access to the Ottawa Citizen. In what is a happy little accident, the above was published in the July 14, 1983 edition of the paper, which I was browsing due to that being my second birthday. Leonard Koffman was likely the architect.¹”Centretown: Condo Approved,” Ottawa Citizen, June 16, 1983, 27.

Notes[+]

Notes
↥1	”Centretown: Condo Approved,” Ottawa Citizen, June 16, 1983, 27.

Second City, Second Metro: Torbolton Requests a Regional Government that is Simple, Imaginative, and Great

In 1954, Constance Bay residents hatched a plan to turn a portion of the township into a beaver sanctuary that would rival Quebec’s “Beaver Town” Image: City of Ottawa Archives, Item CA004327. May 20, 1954.

Murray Jones heard from the Township of Torbolton that regional government it something that may be supported and that any Regional Council should be elected at-large.

Second City, Second Metro: The Eastview Public School Board Supports Regional Government

The Eastview (Vanier) Public School Board declined to send a representative for the in-person hearing portion of the Jones Commission, but did submit its views in writing. The written submission indicated that it was supportive of some form of regional government.

Second City, Second Metro: Rockcliffe Park Satisfied With The Status Quo, Ready To Cooperate

The Village of Rockcliffe Park considered itself to be well-provisioned, but was not against cooperation with the region. Image: City of Ottawa Archives, CA034238.

The Village of Rockcliffe Park was next to offer up its testimony to the Jones Commission after Ottawa Mayor Charlotte Whitton. Struggles over the naming of streets aside, for the most part, in 1965, the small affluent municipality appeared somewhat calm relative to its township neighbours on the topic of regional government.

Murton A. Seymour and the Ottawa Land Inquiry (1953)

Murton A. Seymour was appointed Special Commissioner
for the Ottawa Land Inquiry. Image: Canadian Aviation
Hall of Fame.

During the Summer of 1953, after some back-and-forth with the Province of Ontario, the backup requested by Ottawa Mayor Charlotte Whitton arrived. On April 23, decorated aviation pioneer and lawyer Murton Adams Seymour was appointed as Commissioner for what became known as the Ottawa Land Inquiry.

Charlotte Whitton Calls for Backup (1952)

Charlotte Whitton sought new rights from the province to manage postwar growth in Ottawa. Image: Ted Grant / Library and Archives Canada. Accession 1981-181 NPC, Item 61-1180, fr. 25-30.

It wasn’t quite clear in 1952 how City of Ottawa could manage the rapid growth that took place after the Second World War, or if it even had the power to do so. A number of housing projects, in particular those at Manor Park and Mann Avenue (Strathcona Heights), had presented significant political and functional challenges to the city and exposed the shortcomings of an civic administration unaccustomed to managing large-scale development projects.

Update: Shenkman’s Park Square Apartments (1936)

The Park Square Apartments, 425 Elgin. One of the few remaining apartments in the city with a Deco or Moderne design and – most likely – a sister to the Normandie Apartments on King Edward. Image: C.Ryan November 2017

A few years ago, I wrote a short piece about The Park Square Apartments at 425 Elgin Street in Centretown for OttawaStart. As with pretty well anything written, there are a number of things that I would do differently now, but it still gets some of the basic idea out.

The (Ontario) Department of Planning and Development Encounters the National Capital Plan, cont’d. (1952)

The Department of Planning and Development was one of the earlier tenants in the Bay-Grovesnor Building at 880 Bay. The early modern office’s main tenant was Bell Canada, but in addition to Planning and Development, its builder, Soules Construction, occupied an office on the top floor along with its architect, Charles B. Dolphin. Image: City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 2032, Series 841, File 59, Item 17.

Picking up from the last one, it’s worth noting that it is not been entirely frequent that a planning, development, or housing issue particular to Ottawa has been considered to merit much more than the cursory attention of Ontario’s policymakers at Queen’s Park and its environs. To be certain, while these are absolutely within the Province’s purview, Ottawa has tended to be treated as something of a peripheral concern. Or at least to a greater degree than most of Ontario’s other municipalities, a bit of a self-governing colony, and even if not, it was normally easier to leave most issues to the City and the Dominion.