The History of Nepean

The History of NepeanThe History of Nepean

From Aboriginal People, Pioneer Days to Industrialization

Societies & Eras of HumankindSocieties & Eras of Humankind

Hunting & Gathering

Native Peoples

Agricultural Era

Farm life

Industrial Era

Machines & Humankind

Information Era

Age of technology

How does each society meet their basic needs?

Food, Clothing, Water, Shelter

What are the artifacts, tools, technology, means of education, transportation & governmental systems?

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Themes of History & Geography

1534 - Jacques Cartier1534 - Jacques Cartier

First explorer of the Gulf of St. Lawrence which became the gateway to French power in North America. In July 1534, he raised a cross at Gaspé bearing the arms of France, an act which can be regarded as the founding of New France.

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1653 Le Canada by P. Du Val 1653 Le Canada by P. Du Val



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1613 - Hunting & Gathering Society1613 - Hunting & Gathering Society

Samuel de Champlain: at the Ottawa River at the base of Rideau Falls.

With a party of Algonquin warriors, Champlain travels deeper and deeper into the Canadian wilderness.

Changed their society & way of life forever: guns, liquor, diesease.



Champlain and his Algonquin guidesChamplain and his Algonquin guides

His maps and journals helped hundreds of fur traders, explorers and soldiers to begin their journeys into the wilderness.

His writings reflected ignorance about a people he did not understand: “Noble Savages”.



1600s - The New World 1600s - The New World

Samuel de Champlain looking for a Northwest Passage to India and China.

To find a route: tea, silk and spices coveted by the merchants and people of Europe.

Journey around the continent of Africa took up to 3 years and often ended in tragedy for the small sailing ships of the time.

It was hoped that a water passage across the New World could be found that would shorten the journey and bring the explorer who found it great fame and fortune.

Money, land and/or power!

1710, by Jan Verelst 1710, by Jan Verelst

One of the sachems, or civil chiefs, of the Five Nations Iroquois Confederacy.

The four chiefs, allies of the British, travelled to London in 1710 to ask for assistance against their French enemies.

The chiefs secured military support from the British

obtained help for missionary work and funding for a Mohawk chapel and fort .



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Algonquin Aboriginal Peoples Algonquin Aboriginal Peoples

Nomadic: travelled on foot & by canoe

In winter: snowshoes, pulling possessions on toboggans.

"Ottawa" means meeting place

The Algonkians met basic needs from nature.

Moose, bear, wild berries and rice were their food.

Animal hide for clothing and shelters.



17611761

Born in France in 1722, Dominique Serres enlisted in the navy. Captured on the high seas by the English fleet during the Seven Years War, he sailed with them on the expeditions to Nova Scotia and Havana.



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1763/8 Frances Brooke 1763/8 Frances Brooke

The first novelist in Canada (and in North America) was a woman.

During her stay, which ended in 1768, she wrote The History of Emily Montague (1769).

Catherine Read (1723-1778) was a London portrait artist of Scottish descent. In an age dominated by men she specilized in portraits of women.



1786 Captain: Prince William Henry (1765-1837)1786 Captain: Prince William Henry (1765-1837)

The log book of HMS Pegasus, The Entrance of St. John's Harbour (Newfoundland), September 10, 1786, by J. S. Meres.

King William IV in 1830. First member of the British royal family to set foot on this land.



Nepean: Parliament Hill to North Gower Nepean: Parliament Hill to North Gower



1792 1792

Nepean was named in honour of Sir Evan Nepean, the head of a branch of the British Home Office administering the colonies.

Sir Evan Nepean was born on July 19,1753 (usually given as 1751) at St. Stephens near Saltash in Cornwall, England.



Early 1800sEarly 1800s

The township was settled by soldiers from the American Revolution of 1783

Land grants were issued to United Empire Loyalists

Many preferred to sell the land because of the remoteness of the area.

The dominant early industry was agriculture.

Along Richmond Road were the most successful and productive farms through the village of Fallowfield.

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalist

Loyalists wanted to stay loyal to the King of England.

They came by wagon, horse and on foot.

They went to Quebec, the Maritimes and the shores of the St. Lawrence, Lake Ontario and the Niagara Peninsula.



The HoneywellsThe Honeywells

Ira Honeywell was the first permanent settler in Nepean. Ira received 5 "location tickets" from his father, each giving him two-hundred acres of land.

He walked from Prescott in early 1809 and cleared the land later known as City View. Next spring, Ira had four acres of land ready for cultivation.

Mary Honeywell, his wife, taught children school in her home. She was considered to be the first teacher in Nepean even though she was not a certified teacher.

Pioneer LifePioneer Life





1820s1820s

The population in 1822 was 191. The numbers rose slowly into the mid

1820s. The settlers located primarily along the

Richmond Road area. By 1827 there were 76 families in

Nepean. Between 1824 & 1845 half million Irish landed in CanadaOne million died in Ireland, while a million

escaped to the New World

Early 1800s- Irish SettlersEarly 1800s- Irish Settlers

Dwellings were easily built and were spacious compared with the clay floored hovels of many of the pioneers in their former situations.



Aristocracts from England: Susannah Moodie, Kathryn Parr Traill did not feel the same way!

1830 Underground Railroad1830 Underground Railroad

Josiah Henson (1789-1883) was born a slave in Maryland and became a preacher in the Methodist Episcopalian Church. Fearing that they would be separated and sold, he and his wife fled to Cana



Hunting & Gathering SocietyHunting & Gathering Society

Meat was often scarce once the land was cleared.

The people ate squirrels, suckers (a kind of coarse fish), rabbits, wild berries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, plums, crabapples, cherries, butternuts, hickory nuts and beech nuts.

In spots of Nepean it was said that you could see only swamp, hear only frogs and feel only mosquitoes.

Nepean's winters proved harsh. The forest gave an abundance of logs for

constructing the early homes and firewood was everywhere.

1826 - 18331826 - 1833

The building of the Rideau Canal caused merchants and tradesmen to move in to supply the needs of the canal labourers.

Population increased from 580 in 1827 to 2,758 the next year.

This lead to the building of new churches and schools.

1827- 32 The Rideau Canal1827- 32 The Rideau Canal

Colonel By's warehouse by the entrance to the canal. It is now a museum.



Because there were so few workers, Colonel By sent to Europe for soldiers to help with the building.

18341834

After completion of the canal, the population of Nepean dropped to 94.


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1838 - Education1838 - Education

Five schools are recorded as being opened by 1838 in the northwestern part of the township, along the Richmond Road area.

The Jockvale area and Nepean opened schools later in the early 1840s.

School masters did not have their own accommodation in the early days.

Boarded or lodged with different families in the school community for periods of time throughout the year

One Room SchoolhouseOne Room Schoolhouse

Children had to bring pennies or "coppers" to buy a pail, a tin drinking-cup and a broom for the school.

In the fall, each child had to bring an armful of wood to heat the school.

Fathers of the children would take turns bringing sleigh loads of wood to heat the building.

School LifeSchool Life

Settlers organized a building "bee" and built a log home for him near the school.

This first school was 18’ by 24’ - built of logs.

Desks were built along the walls for the natural light from the windows .

The seats were log benches. The pupils stood in the middle of the

room at the master's desk near the stove to recite their lessons.

1847 Colonel John By 1847 Colonel John By

surveyed two town sites near his new canal.

One was called Upper Town and was home to administrators and businessmen.

The other site, Lower Town, was to the east, across the canal and was the rough and dangerous home of the French Canadian and Irish labourers who worked building the canal.



1855 - 18591855 - 1859

Population of Bytown was over 8,000 Inhabitants felt their city should no longer

have a name that had "town" in it. The name Ottawa was chosen because the

Outaouais (Ottawa) Indians still used the river to carry their loads of fur from place to place.

Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the new capital of Upper and Lower Canada. – location safe from attack by a possible

American invasion– good compromise location between French

and English Canada.

1852 -Education1852 -Education

Most of the schools in the Nepean area had 40 to 50 students on the rolls

Most had only about half that number attending at any one time.

Two out of every five children aged 5 to 16 attended school at least part of the year.

Most attended for only a few years. Attendance was usually based on the

economic resources of the family The poorest were unable to afford to

send their children.

1854 The Bradley Log Farm 1854 The Bradley Log Farm

Settled during this time and remains preserved as a pioneer homestead of the later 1800s.

200 Acres: clear 2 A/yr.



•Near Cedarview Rd.•Housed 9 children•a kitchen, parlour, and three bedrooms upstairs

Agricultural SocietyAgricultural Society

Poultry shed for the ducks and geese that ranged free around the farmyard.

Stable for the ploughing horses, a buggy shed, cattle barn, pig and sheep sheds and a hay mow.

Pork was an important staple of the pioneer diet. Pigs have large litters of babies that grow rapidly,

a spring-born pig is ready for slaughter in the fall. The pig was also used to make leather, soap and

candles. Sheep were raised for both their wool and their

meat. The wool of the sheep or fleece was sheared,

washed, carded, spun and then woven into cloth on a loom by the pioneer women.

The township of Nepean continued to be settled by immigrants mostly from Ireland (due to the potato famine) and the British Isles.





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Work was hardWork was hard

These farmers are building a split rail fence.

Land: stubborn Difficult to clear Cold unbearable Storms & fire destroyed crops Dangerous animalsand people in the woods MacGregor, “Escape”



1860s - Education1860s - Education

Formal schools sprang up around Nepean in areas where several families farmed, such as the Merivale Corner area or Greenbank District.

One of the first certified school teachers was John Boyce who came from County Armagh, Ireland.

Relatives in Nepean wrote to him telling him about the opportunities for school teachers.

He taught at Hartwell's Locks for 7 years and then came to teach in a little log schoolhouse at Merivale Corner in 1859.

1860s - Transportation1860s - Transportation



1870 - The Big Fire: Nepean1870 - The Big Fire: Nepean

In August a devastating fire destroyed hundreds of acres of crops and farm buildings.

Houses, barns and vast stretches of bush were destroyed.

A swath (miles wide) from Stittsville to the Rideau River had been burned out.

People hung their silverware and other valuables in wells as they fled to the protection of rivers and ponds.

Barrels of food were rolled into underground root houses and cellars in an effort to protect them.



1870 - Industrial Society begins1870 - Industrial Society begins

Many Nepean pioneers worked all summer on the farms and spent their winters in the shanties or lumber camps on the Upper Ottawa, the Madawaska and the Bonnechere Rivers to earn money in the "Drives" .



1870 - Lumber Drives1870 - Lumber Drives

The men who worked on these lumber drives would cut down trees to be sold as lumber for the wide-spread building that was taking place in the new Canadian towns and cities.

In the spring, the logs were run down the rivers to be sold as lumber.

In the 19th century lumbering was the greatest industry in many parts of eastern Canada.

1806 first raft: squared timber using 400 year old Pines

20 feet around the base = $

1863 - 1877Lumber Drives1863 - 1877Lumber Drives

Men were often killed trying to unplug the dangerous log jams that occurred when the logs piled up together or got stuck on rocks.

Peak of the White Pine harvest: 400,000/yr.



1870 - Lumber Drives1870 - Lumber Drives

Many Nepean homesteads were left without a father or older brother who did not return home safely from these Drives.

Workers earned cash to buy black-iron cooler for butchering or the making of soap.

The earliest settlers purchased goods in Montreal

Some bought rare treats such as raisins, lemons, spices or sugar from river boats such as the "Stanley" moored along the Rideau Canal in the summertime.

1879 - Nepean: pop. 70311879 - Nepean: pop. 7031

Nepean was second only to Ottawa in importance in the County of Carleton.



Sir John A. McDonald wrote

to the premier of Ontario: “The sight of the immense masses of timber passing my window every morning constantly suggests to my mind the absolute necessity there is for looking into the future of this great trade. We are recklessly destroying the timber of Canada and there is scarcely a possibility of replacing it.”

1886 - Central Experimental Farm1886 - Central Experimental Farm

Canadian Parliament approved the establishment of a network of experimental farms throughout the country.

440 acres of land in Nepean running west from Dow's Lake just south of Rochesterville.

The land was either sold to the Government willingly

or expropriated and paid for.





1890 Greenbank School SS111890 Greenbank School SS11

In the 1890s with teacher Florence Walsh



Stone structure shows that rural neighbourhoods were becoming more prosperous

able to afford to build with more costly materials.

1900s - Byward Market1900s - Byward Market

Dairying became more profitable than mixed farming.

Ottawa ensured a growing market for whole milk in the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries.



Nepean continued as a largely rural community. Dairy Farming was one of the major economic

activities in the region.

1897 - New Construction1897 - New Construction

New barns, ice and mill houses, silos for storing winter fodder, hay presses, balers and binders were all signs of the prosperity

Supplying the milk demands of the city was far more profitable than providing milk to the outlying cheese factories that had prospered earlier.

A tuberculosis scare in 1897 was the cause of a bylaw requiring licensees to supply certificates that their cows had been tuberculin tested, for the protection of public health from contaminated milk.

Nepean Museum - Rural Merivale RoadNepean Museum - Rural Merivale Road

A model of one of the horse-drawn dairy wagons that took milk to be sold at the Byward Market.



Early 1900s -IndustrializationEarly 1900s -Industrialization

From rural community to an urban one. Streetcar lines opened the way for

residential growth in the Britannia and Westboro communities.

Bell's Corners became more accessible as well.

Britannia Park was opened when the Ottawa Electric Railway Co. bought several acres of land

A popular summer swimming spot and club house for the rowing club, a band stand and a dance pavillion were added.

Little Nepean GirlsLittle Nepean Girls

"to spare the rod, was to spoil the child."

often dressed up as little adults

expected to have responsibilities and do chores

The best activities for children were walking, riding, visiting and reading nonfiction books.



1916 Elders with Amerindian soldiers1916 Elders with Amerindian soldiers

Between 3,500 and 4,000 Amerindians served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the First World War.

Enlisted voluntarily, exempt from conscription.



20s, 30s, 40s Infrastructure20s, 30s, 40s Infrastructure

The 1920s, 30s and 40s were times of institutional expansion for Nepean.

Suburbanites gradually took control of the township council.

Began to provide for themselves a wider range of urban services.

Streetcars now connected the more rural suburbs to the downtown Ottawa areas.

Planning authorities set out the future locations of highways, parks and playgrounds.

Industrial LifeIndustrial Life

Municipal services such as hospitals, fire brigades, police departments, water and sewer systems and garbage facilities were initiated and implemented.

Telephone and electric light poles and wires were seen along the streets of Nepean.

Both Nepean and Ottawa suffered and felt hard times with the rest of Canada during the depression years and the two world wars.

1950s More Annexations1950s More Annexations

Nepean to a rural township once again. The population dropped to 2,500. Nepean lost 7,420 acres of prime

developed land to Ottawa. The police station and health unit

building were lost to Ottawa as were the fire hall and township garages.

Nepean, which had achieved a high standard of urban services, professional staff and progressive planning, effectively had to start over again.

1958 - City Hall 1958 - City Hall

Federal government expropriated more land for the Central Experimental Farm.

43 properties were set aside as "greenbelt" land

4,000 acre block bounded by Knoxdale, Fallowfield, Woodroofe and Cedarview

1300 acres of prime developed residential and commercial land were lost.



The History of Nepean

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Transcript of The History of Nepean