Chapter 1 – Development of the Parish Neighbourhood

A full early history of this area is contained in the The City Beyond, A History of Nepean, Birthplace of Canada's Capital, 1792-1990, by Bruce Elliott and published by the City of Nepean.

I first got to know the area in 1948 as a young 18 year old, newly enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and transferred to the RCAF Station Rockcliffe. Hog's Back was our swimming hole. On the weekends or holidays, we took the Eastview bus and then the Ottawa bus to go to Hog's Back for swimming. It was good swimming. Although the beach was really postage stamp size, it never seemed to be too crowded for one more. And yes, in those days we stupidly dove head first into the swirls below the Falls. Other than swimming, the only thing that sticks in my memory is the hamburger places on the Highway. I had no idea at that time that the area would play such an important part in my life in less than five years.

Things were happening in the area. The Canadian Government was worried about returning veterans and how to integrate them back into society. They were also concerned about a depression following the war and the devastation that it would have on the veterans.

The Veterans Land Act (VLA) was passed into law in 1942. Its purpose was "to assist war veterans to settle upon the land." As the Department of Veterans Affairs states, it was one of three pieces of rehabilitative legislation enacted as part of the government's overall program to re-establish veterans into civilian life.

The original intent of the VLA was to assist qualified veterans to become farmers, but provision was made in the Act for settlement on "small holdings," or single family dwelling size lots. Our Carleton Heights VLA development was part of over 140,000 returning veterans who were established under the Act.

The Department of Veterans Affairs decided that they would establish a VLA site just south of the Hog's Back Rd in the Township of Nepean. It was named Carleton Heights. They purchased the Nesbitt and Moffat farms totalling 434 acres, and laid it out in one-half acre lots with enough room for the veterans to have a large garden, raise goats and chickens, and keep bees. This was done so that the veterans could feed themselves in the event of a depression. Cynthia Greer, our present People's Warden, reports that there are still some households keeping chickens in 1999, which is amazing in an urban setting. Carleton Heights was developed in two stages with the part east of Fisher Ave being built mostly between 1945 to 1950 and the part west of Fisher Ave between 1950 to 1955.

The street names of Carleton Heights were chosen to honour battles of World War II (Ortona, Normandy, Falaise, Arnheim, Senio, and Apeldoorn) or in the case of Skeena to honour the RCN and HMCS Skeena. There were other names. Nesbitt was named after the Nesbitt family and according to Bruce Elliott, part of it follows the path of the original farm laneway. Claymor was apparently named for the clay.

The streets in the Carleton Heights area were listed in the Greater Ottawa Directory as: Apeldoorn Ave, Arnheim Ave, Claymor Ave, Falaise Rd, Falls View Rd (north off Hog's Back Rd on the west side) Fisher Ave, Hog's Back Rd, Melfa Cres, Minaki Cres, Nesbitt Ave, Normandy Cres, Ortona Ave, Prince of Wales Dr, Senio Ave, Skeena Ave, Stormont Ave, and Valmarie Ave. Falls View Rd does not exist now.

The VLA houses were all Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) plans. Bruce Elliott records that the first major start was made by Hill-Clark and Francis Contractors who undertook to build 88 houses of the 1-1/2 storey and bungalow designs. They were started in 1945 but they were not completed until 1947 because of a shortage of material. The first families moved-in in 1947. Many of the houses have had additions put on since then as they are very small by today's standards.

The majority of houses, however, were built by the veterans themselves either using their own contractor such as Boyd Brothers, or actually doing the work themselves. Three brothers, George, Alex, and Bill Michie help each other build the shells and close in their houses. When the houses were closed in, the Michie brothers each took over the finishing of their own house.

One area west of Fisher Ave on Argue Dr was built as a co-operative venture by the veterans themselves with the cooperation and help of VLA. They bought enough materials to build or equip 29 homes, such as 29 front doors, 29 furnaces, etc. This way they were able to get much better prices. When the 29 houses were finished, they drew numbers to see which home was theirs. There were only 2 designs, which were only slightly different from each other. Bruce Elliott records that Argue Drive was named for Frank Argue, who died of cancer during the building of the co-operative houses.

VLA authorities installed municipal services for the houses. Three wells on Ortona provided the water and a sewage plant was built on the Rideau River.

While the veterans of Carleton Heights were busy building houses and scraping mud, the City of Ottawa and the Township of Nepean were in annexation negotiations. Since 1890, Ottawa had annexed parts of Nepean nine times and it was not over yet. Indeed, Nepean Township originally extended westward from the Rideau River and Gloucester extended eastward. So all of the area of Ottawa came either from Nepean or Gloucester.

In 1949 the City of Ottawa ended at Western Ave on the West and essentially Carling on the south. Ottawa wanted to annex south to Black Rapids and west to Greenbank. It would have taken the urban core out of Nepean and left it mainly as a rural township, again. After some very bitter fights, Ottawa and Nepean agreed that the area to be annexed would be east of Fisher (except for 120 feet on the west), north of Baseline (except for 120 feet on the south) and west to Greenbank. Essentially these are the borders we have in our area in 1999. The Ontario Legislature passed the City of Ottawa Act in 1949 and it came into effect January 1, 1950.

In 1950, the area just south of Baseline Rd and west of Prince of Wales Drive started to be developed. It was part of the Mulligan farm. It was called Courtland Park. It included Baseline Rd, Wilshire Blvd, Chandler Ave, Sanford Ave, Hudson Ave, north side of Lexington St, and Morley Blvd. The houses, constructed by James More Construction, were 1-1/2 and 2 story houses. A central well was installed at the end of Lexington Ave to provide a source of water. It turned out to be an artesian well with natural fluoridation. The houses were on septic tanks which forced the large lots that still exist today.

After Courtland Park, Fisher Heights was started in 1953. The houses were CMHC new design three bedroom bungalows and a few of the standard 1-1/2 story houses. The land was the Leiken Farm, which had its main farm buildings near Woodrooffe and Baseline. The Leiken Farm was originally owned by J.R. Booth, a prominent businessman in the lumbering days. The lots were 90 by 100 feet and because the development had wells and septic tanks, building was done on every other lot. Real estate agent Jack Aaron is credited by historian Bruce Elliott as finding the loophole which would permit the building on every other lot to meet the regulations for wells and septic tanks. The in-between lots were reserved by the developer for future sale when municipal services became available. In an unusual move, a separate contractor built each interior block, i.e. Lipstan and Oakwood, Lipstan and Kesler, etc.

We bought our home and moved into Fisher Heights in 1953. The abiding recollection is mud; sticky, gooey white clay mud. If you walked on the clay when it was wet, it stuck to your rubber boots and you gradually built yourself a pair of elevator shoes. But be that as it may, that clay grew great crops. As an example, we had a 100 foot long raspberry row (Newburg variety) and we continually had over 100 quarts of berries each year. Raspberries came out of our ears! Our "greatly improved" black soil in later years never produced that good a crop.

We were the fourth family to move in. Fisher and Baseline were both two lane gravel roads. We had buses to the city in the morning and at night. The area between us and the Church on the south was a vacant field. The AutoSky drive-in was at the corner of Baseline and Fisher. We picked up our mail at Jack & Ruby Lippett's IGA at the north-east corner of Hog's Back Rd and the Prescott Highway, right next to Monty Montgomery's service station. In 1953, we were thrilled to have the Lancaster Shopping Centre built on Merivale Rd because finally we had a local hardware store.

The vacant lots were offered for sale for $325 in 1953. We didn't have that kind of money, but we did buy in 1956 for $900. The last lot sold in Fisher Height for $76,000 in the mid-70s. Those lots which were not sold to individuals were alternatively bought by Minto, soon to be the predominant developer in the area.

The Hog's Back area underwent dramatic change. The cottagers who had leased land from the National Capital Commission had their leases ended. The cottages were removed and the area east of the Rideau River was turned into open space. The area to the west of the River was destined to be large apartment buildings, and indeed 1456 Prince of Wales Drive is the largest apartment building in the area. It stands where the old Falls View Road used to run. And of course, swimming was banned at Hog's Back after Mooney's Bay beach was opened. Fences were erected at the Falls so young fools couldn't dive in any more.

Water and sewer came into the entire area in the early 1960s as a result of an initiative of builders and developers lead by Irving Greenberg of Westmore Investments, later known as Minto Development Corporation. Greenberg suggested that developers and contractors contribute the money to build water and sewage facilities. The Township of Nepean met with a group of them and an agreement was reached. With water, sewer, and the land available, major construction of houses could start: These were Parkwood Hills from 1959 to 1972, Borden Farm from 1967 to 1976, and Fisher Glen from 1981 to 1984. On the Ottawa side, Murchison Place (Courtland Park to Dynes) in 1962 to 1968 was a built as a VLA Part B development, although few today use the name Murchison Place. The Part B plan had fewer strings attached and the lots could be smaller in size.

Minto, lead by brothers Irving and Gilbert Greenberg, are a huge part of the next twenty years of development in the area. Minto developed Parkwood Hills and built on the vacant lots in Fisher Heights. Skyline and the apartment buildings on Meadowlands were built, of course after Meadowlands came into existence. Then followed Borden Farm and Stewart Farm, all by Minto. Other major developers were Assaly for the apartment buildings on Dynes and Prince of Wales, Bellcourt for the apartment buildings at Hog's Back Rd and Prince of Wales, and Steenbakkers for the south side of Dynes. The City of Ottawa built rent to income houses in the Prince of Wales and Meadowlands area.

The air photo above shows the four developments in the late 50s. Note that there is no Meadowlands. The area between the developments was farm fields producing crops.

The area in 1949 had about 300 or so permanent houses on about 10 streets. By 1998 the Parish neighbourhood area from Baseline on the north, Merivale on the west, the Rideau River on the east, and the Nepean Creek (just south of Viewmount, Coolspring, and Valley Ridge) had grown to be a small city. There are 140 streets and 7600 or so households. Statistics Canada in 1998 gave the average density as 2.85 person per households to give a total population of about 21,500.