Historically, the area was part of Dalhousie Ward until 1994. The community association for the area is the Dalhousie Community Association [4]. The local food bank is the Dalhousie Food Cupboard [5].
Nomenclature
Some area residents reject the name Centretown West as not reflecting the area's history.[6] The City of Ottawa refers to the area as both Dalhousie [7] and Centretown West [8] in planning documents, while the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study refers to the area as "West Centretown".[2] The community association is currently considering renaming itself to The West Somerset Community Association [9].
History
The area was annexed by the city of Ottawa in 1888. Prior to that it was part of Nepean Township, and the community was known as Rochesterville.[citation needed]
Until the 1960s, the neighbourhood was working class, and home to a largely Francophone and Italian population. Federal government expropriation and the widening of the neighbourhood's arterial roads were blamed contributed to a decline in population thereafter. Much of the Italian population moved out of the neighbourhood in the 1970s, and were replaced by lower income residents and newer immigrants from China and Vietnam.[3]
Character
The neighbourhood is composed largely of low-density residential commercial properties, and some light industrial uses. Somerset Street West is dominated by Chinese and Vietnamese businesses, and it is considered to be Ottawa's Chinatown. It also retains a large Italian-Canadian population in Little Italy centred on Preston Street, which is also called "Corso Italia". A portion of Gladstone Avenue is also called "Via Marconi", after the Italian inventor who completed some of his work in Canada.
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