The Glebe is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located just south of Downtown Ottawa in the Capital Ward. As of 2016, the neighbourhood had a population of 13,055.[2]
The Glebe is bounded on the north by the Queensway, on the east and south by the Rideau Canal and on the west by LeBreton Street South, Carling Avenue and Dow's Lake.[3] This area includes the Glebe Annex, an area west of Bronson Avenue, north of Carling Avenue, east of LeBreton South Street and south of the Queensway. It also includes the Dow's Lake neighbourhood, an area north of the Rideau Canal, east of Dow's Lake, south of Carling Avenue, and west of Bronson.
The intersection of Bank Street and Third Avenue in the Glebe
The Glebe has a strong community association which, in addition to operating the Glebe Community Centre, lobbies the local government on issues such as traffic calming and neighbourhood development. The Glebe has a community newspaper, Glebe Report, that has been published independently since 1973.
The Glebe is mostly populated by families; the area has many children, and consequently its social services are oriented towards youth.
The stretch of Bank Street that runs through the Glebe is one of Ottawa's premier shopping areas, with many small stores and restaurants offering a wide variety of services. Much of the rest of the Glebe consists of detached homes, many of them constructed in the early decades of the 20th century. Some of these homes are owner-occupied family residences, while others have been subdivided into multiple rental apartments.
From the Rideau Canal, two bodies of water jut into the Glebe: Patterson Creek and Brown's Inlet. These areas are surrounded by parks and some of the city's most expensive homes.
The last Saturday in May of each year brings the "Great Glebe Garage Sale" to the neighbourhood; every household that participates puts items out for sale, attracting a large contingent of bargain hunters to the area. Sellers are expected to donate a portion of the proceeds to a designated charity.
May is also the time of the Canadian Tulip Festival. The largest tulip beds in the National Capital Region are found in Commissioner's Park in the Dow's Lake neighbourhood, next to Dow's Lake.
History
A park in the Glebe (bottom) in 1912
The area is called the Glebe because in the initial 1837 survey of Ottawa the area of 178 acres was deeded by the Crown to St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church as Clergy Reserve.[4] The word "glebe" means church lands, and the area was originally known as "the glebe lands of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church". When the area was opened for development in 1870, real estate agents began to refer to it simply as "The Glebe". The initial area was bounded by Carling Avenue and Fifth Avenue on the north and south sides, and Main Street and Bronson Avenue as the eastern and western limits. The original city limits on the south side had been set at Gladstone Avenue when the city was incorporated. Annexation in 1889 extended the new limits to the Rideau Canal. By Act of the Provincial Legislature, the Glebe became part of a small but growing city. By the late 1960s, the Glebe was bounded by the Queensway on the north side, by the Rideau Canal on the east and south, and with Bronson Avenue as a western boundary.[4]
The Glebe was one of Ottawa's first suburbs.[5] In 1871 James Whyte, one of the leading merchants of the town, built a large residence on the Canal Road on the north side of the waterway at midpoint between what is now Bank Street and Bronson Avenue, which served the Basilian Fathers in the 1960s. In 1872, James Whyte moved into a new home on Bank Street near Holmwood Avenue, which served the community in the 1960s as a residence for older people. In 1882 the creation of Central Park and the construction of the new Canada Atlantic Railway terminal on the west side of the Rideau Canal at the end of the Glebe encouraged the development of the southern section of the city.[4]
In June 1891, the first electric street car set off down Bank Street for the Exhibition, which opened at Lansdowne Park in 1888. First Avenue Public School and St. Matthew's Anglican Church, then a small frame structure, opened their doors about the same time in 1898. Mutchmor Public School on Fifth Avenue was built in the 1890s with additions in 1911 and 1920 as housing density increased and new families moved into the district. The separate school, Corpus Christi, also dates from this early era. Roman Catholic families attended Mass for some years to a temporary chapel on the south side of Fourth Avenue near Percy.[4] In 1900, the Ottawa Electric Street Railway was established, with one of its first routes running south along Bank Street. The Drive way, from Elgin Street and Laurier Avenue over the route to the Experimental Farm, was built between 1900 and 1903, providing added impetus to city growth on the south side. Most Glebe houses (which were largely built before 1914) date from this era, and the area became home to many middle-class workers. As housing went up on the avenues, corner stores and other commercial properties began to appear on Bank Street. The electric street car allowed workers to live in the Glebe and take the street car to work. As part of this building program, Clemow and Monkland Avenues were laid out and Clemow Avenue was paved west from Bank Street. From 1903-1904, a large low-lying area between Second and Third Avenues was filled in with sand taken from the land along Carling Avenue.[4] Growth was slower on the blocks west of Bank Street, and housing did not extend much beyond Kent Street.
Between Powell and Carling Avenues, a transformation gradually took place since an address in this part of the Glebe showed that the owner had property or position, probably both.[citation needed] A series of distinctive homes, both east and west of Bank Street, were indicative of style and wealth of the owners. A number of the more upscale residences were designed by renowned Canadian architects W.E. Noffke and David Younghusband,[citation needed] while others were pattern-book homes built by local builders based on catalog designs similar to foursquare architecture elsewhere in North America.
Blessed Sacrament Parish was formed in 1913; however, the church was constructed 19 years later. The Methodist Congregation worshiped originally in Moreland's Hall, on Bank Street, however Glebe Methodist Church was organized in 1913. At the time of church union in the 1920s, Glebe Methodist Church became St James United Church on Second Avenue, now known as Glebe-St. James United Church.
Glebe Collegiate Institute opened in 1922 (originally as a branch of the Ottawa Collegiate Institute, now Lisgar Collegiate), under Principal McDougall. The adjoining High School of Commerce opened in 1929. Ottawa Ladies' College, a private school specialising in the education of young women, operated on First Avenue from 1914 to 1942. During the Second World War years, the Ladies College facilities were used by the Canadian Military. Later as Carleton College, the premises played a vital part in the establishment of Carleton University. The Ava Theatre, a spacious cinema opened in 1928 at the corner of Bank Street and Second Avenue.[4]
After 1945, postwar housing filled in the remaining acres, particularly on those streets just off Bronson Avenue where house construction had declined in the years after 1930. Side yards and vacant lots disappeared in the final stages of development.
Elsewhere in the Glebe, house construction at the time was unplanned and erratic, with housing standards lower and development haphazard. After World War II, however, these areas were largely removed or rehabilitated so that by the late 1960s, generally speaking, the Glebe possessed housing stock suitable for both upper and middle income groups.[4] The Ottawa Improvement Commission, the forerunner of the National Capital Commission, beautified the area with special attention to sidewalks, trees and shrubs, and street lights.[4]
In the middle part of the century the Glebe changed as the middle class moved to more distant suburbs such as Alta Vista and Nepean, and the Glebe became transformed into a predominantly working-class neighbourhood with the houses subdivided into multiple apartments or turned into rooming houses.
The neighbourhood began to change again in the 1970s when it underwent significant gentrification and became one of Ottawa's elite neighbourhoods. These changes are obvious in the census. From 1971 to 1996 the percentage of the population with university degrees rose from 10 to 60 percent. White collar employment grew from less than half to some 95%. While in 1971 Glebe residents were 14 percent poorer than the average citizen of Ottawa, in 1996 they were 18 percent wealthier.[citation needed]
The 5 metre wide and 123 metre long CAD 21 million[6]Flora Footbridge, which connects the Glebe to Old Ottawa East, opened to pedestrians and cyclists in 2019.[7]
Community associations
The Glebe has its own neighbourhood association, the Glebe Community Association.[8]
The Glebe Annex maintains its own neighbourhood association, the Glebe Annex Community Association (GACA).[9] Dow's lake also maintains its own neighbourhood association, the Dow's Lake Residents Association (DLRA).
Sandy Hill is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, located just east of downtown. The neighbourhood is bordered on the west by the Rideau Canal, and on the east by the Rideau River. To the north it stretches to Rideau Street and the Byward Market area while to the south it is bordered by the Queensway highway and Nicholas Street. The area is named for its hilliness, caused by the river, and its sandy soil, which makes it difficult to erect large buildings. It is home to a number of embassies, residences and parks. Le Cordon Bleu operates its Canadian school there, at the opposite end of Sandy Hill from the University of Ottawa.
Riverview is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is southeast of the downtown adjacent to the Rideau River, its location on which is its namesake. The 2021 Census population of Riverview is 13,113.
Bank Street is the major commercial north–south street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs south from Wellington Street in downtown Ottawa, south through the neighbourhoods of Centretown, The Glebe, Old Ottawa South, Alta Vista, Hunt Club, and then through the villages of Blossom Park, Leitrim, South Gloucester, Greely, Metcalfe, Spring Hill, and Vernon before ending at the city limit at Belmeade Road, becoming Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry county highway 31.
Old Ottawa South is an older urban neighbourhood in Capital Ward in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Old Ottawa South is a relatively small and compact neighbourhood, located between the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River. The eastern boundary is Avenue Road. Bronson Avenue forms the western border of the residential neighbourhood. Carleton University is on the other (western) side of Bronson but the campus can be considered to be geographically within Old Ottawa South as the campus is also nestled between the river and the canal.
Ottawa Centre is an urban federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. While the riding's boundaries have changed over the years to account for population changes, the riding has always comprised the central areas of Ottawa, the nation's capital.
Laurier Avenue(French: Avenue Laurier) is a central east west street running through Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Originally known as "Maria Street" and "Theodore Street", it was renamed in honour of Canadian Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Laurier House, the residence of Prime Ministers Laurier and William Lyon Mackenzie King, is located at the corner of Laurier Avenue East and Chapel Street.
Wellington Street is a major street in Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. The street is notable for being the main street of the Parliamentary Precinct of the Parliament of Canada. It is one of the first two streets laid out in Bytown in 1826. The street runs from Vimy Place, just west of Booth Street, to the Rideau Canal where it connects with Rideau Street and delimits the northern border of the downtown core. It is named after the Duke of Wellington, in recognition of his role in the creation of the Rideau Canal, and therefore of Ottawa.
Dow's Lake in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is a small man-made lake on the Rideau Canal, situated two kilometres north of Hog's Back Falls in the middle of Ottawa. It is at the south end of Preston Street, just south of Carling Avenue, and just to the west of Bronson Avenue. At the south end of the lake is Carleton University, and to the west is the Dominion Arboretum, at the edge of the Central Experimental Farm.
Carling Avenue is a major east–west arterial road in the west end of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from March Road in Kanata to Bronson Avenue in the Glebe. The road is named for John Carling, founder of Carling Brewery and Conservative MP and Senator, Postmaster General and Minister of Agriculture.
Downtown Ottawa is the central area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is sometimes referred to as the Central Business District and contains Ottawa's financial district. It is bordered by the Ottawa River to the north, the Rideau Canal to the east, Gloucester Street to the south and Bronson Avenue to the west. This area and the residential neighbourhood to the south are also known locally as 'Centretown'. The total population of the area is 5,501.
Lees Avenue is both a road and a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The area lies in the narrow stretch between the Rideau Canal and Rideau River south of Sandy Hill and the Queensway and is part of Old Ottawa East. The neighbourhood is dominated by five large apartment buildings, some of the largest in Ottawa. These buildings range from low cost to moderate cost and mostly house new immigrants, students and young professionals. Across the Rideau River to the east Hurdman is a more recently built such area.
Old Ottawa East or just Ottawa East is a neighbourhood in Capital Ward in central Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located south of Nicholas Street and between the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River, with Avenue Road marking the southern border. To the south is the neighbourhood of Old Ottawa South and to the northeast is Sandy Hill. Old Ottawa East includes the Lees Avenue area. The Flora Footbridge, which opened to pedestrians in 2019, connects the community to The Glebe.
Alta Vista Drive is a suburban road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from Bank Street in the south to Industrial Avenue in the north covering the neighbourhoods of Ridgemont, Alta Vista and Riverview.
Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church is a Catholic church in the Glebe neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The parish was founded on March 25, 1913, with the first building being a simple chapel. The current building at 194 Fourth Avenue, was built in 1931.
Central Park is a park in The Glebe neighbourhood in central Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Hintonburg is a neighbourhood in Kitchissippi Ward in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, located west of the Downtown core. It is a historically working-class, predominantly residential neighbourhood, with a commercial strip located along Wellington Street West. It is home to the Parkdale Farmer's Market, located along Parkdale Avenue, just north of Wellington. It is considered to be one of Ottawa's most "hipster" neighbourhoods.
King's Highway 31, commonly referred to as Highway 31 and historically known as the Metcalfe Road, was a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The 76.93-kilometre (47.80 mi) route connected Highway 2 in Morrisburg with the Chaudière Bridge at the Ontario–Quebec boundary in downtown Ottawa.
Carlington is a neighbourhood located in River Ward in the west-end of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Centretown is a neighbourhood in Somerset Ward, in central Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is defined by the city as "the area bounded on the north by Gloucester Street and Lisgar Street, on the east by the Rideau Canal, on the south by the Queensway freeway and on the west by Bronson Avenue." Traditionally it was all of Ottawa west of the Rideau Canal, while Lower Town was everything to the east. For certain purposes, such as the census and real estate listings, the Golden Triangle and/or Downtown Ottawa is included in Centretown and it is considered part of Centretown by the Centretown Citizens Community Association as well as being used in this way in casual conversation.
↑ Combined data from Census Tracts 5050036.00, 5050018.00, 5050019.00, Dissemination Areas 35061765, 35060364, 35061764 and Dissemination Blocks 35061763001, 35061763014
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