1613 to 1663 – A 1613 royal charter from the King of France evolved to give successive groups monopolies to invest in the vast territory of New France, control the fur trade and manage colonization. Eventually, unable to cope with numerous difficulties including territorial battles with the British and First Nations, the charter was surrendered in 1663.
1759 – During the Seven Years' War, the British defeat the French on the Plains of Abraham and capture Quebec City
1763 – The Treaty of Paris is signed by Great Britain, France and Spain to mark the end of the Seven Years' War. It gives Britain control of all French territories in North America except the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon near Newfoundland.
1776 – The American Revolution leads to the 1776 Declaration of Independence by thirteen colonies of British North America and the beginning of the United Empire Loyalists migration to Canada.
1783 – Britain and the United States sign the Treaty of Paris of 1783. By this agreement, Britain recognizes the independence of the thirteen colonies that rebelled in 1776.
1792 – Township B, later becoming Gloucester Township, was established.
1792 – Township D, later becoming Nepean Township, was established.
1800 – Philemon Wright establishes a farming community on the north bank of the Ottawa River at the Chaudière Falls arriving from Woburn Massachusetts on March 7[1] with his own and five other families and twenty-five labourers.[2] The community is known as Wright's Town and later becomes the City of Hull and subsequently the City of Gatineau.
1806 – Philemon Wright, his 18-year-old son, Tiberius, and a party of men set out on June 11 to guide his first timber raft, named "Colombo",[3] down the Ottawa River to the port of Quebec City.[4] The voyage takes two months and marks the beginning of the boom in the timber, lumber and pulp and paper industries in the Ottawa Valley.
1809 – Jehiel Collins and his family become the first settlers in the region later known as Bytown.
1816 – The Duke of Wellington pointed out the necessity of making an interior water communication with Lake Ontario, so that supplies and boats might be thrown into the upper part of the country, in case of need.[5]
1819 – Royal Staff Corps constructed the Grenville Canal.[5]
1819 – Isaac Firth opens the area’s first tavern at Richmond Landing, near the present-day LeBreton Flats.
1821 – Nicholas Sparks, one of Philemon Wright farmhands, purchases 200 acres (0.81 km2) of land on the south shore of the Ottawa River for 95 pounds. Today the original Sparks property, which includes the site of the parliament buildings and the downtown business district, is assessed at over one hundred million dollars.
1821 – Philemon Wright Jr, Philemon Wright's eldest son, dies in a stagecoach accident. In 1826, Philemon Jr's widow, Sarah (Sally) Olmstead-Wright, will marry Nicholas Sparks, who will in turn adopt her children. In 1833, Sarah's daughter Erexina will become the wife of Andrew Leamy.
1823 – Three exploring parties were organized to explore the country from Lake Ontario to the Ottawa. One starting at Belleville came out at Pembroke, another from Kingston, arrived at this point, and a third party came out at Hawkesbury. The Duke of Wellington, gave his advice, and the line of the Rideau Canal was selected.[5]
1823 – Sir George Ramsay, the Earl of Dalhousie and Governor-in-Chief of British North America purchases an extensive tract of land fronting the Ottawa River in preparation for the construction of the Rideau Canal.
1826 – On September 26, Lieutenant Colonel By and the Earl of Dalhousie choose the location for the entrance to the Rideau Canal and consequently found a community where the City of Ottawa exists today. He negotiated reasonable terms with Mr. N. Sparks, who owned the land.
1826 – The town was laid out. From these points the town extended itself by contiguity: Wellington street, west of Bank street, from its being on the line from Hull; Sparks and Rideau streets, on each side of Sappers' bridge, from their proximity to the Locks, where work was going on, and the middle of Sussex and York streets, from the nearness of the wharf and market. Daly street and neighbourhood were thrown into the market, and Sandy Hill took a start.[5]
1826 – the steamer began to call at the wharf near Stirling's Brewery.[5]
1827 – Colonel By constructed the weir causeway, a truss bridge to connect Hull to Bytown.[5]
1827 – Sir John Franklin, the famed Arctic explorer, lays the first stone of the Rideau Canal locks on August 16.
1827 – The name Bytown is first used to identify the community growing up around the Rideau Canal construction.
1827 – Bytown's first school, the English Mercantile and Mathematical Academy is established on Rideau Street.
1829 – The first timber slide on the Ottawa River is constructed. *1831–34 – Maplelawn constructed.
1829 – John Rochester, sen., and James Rochester established the Victoria Brewery[5]
1832 – The construction of the Rideau Canal is complete and the population of Bytown reaches 1,000.
1832 – On June 20, the first Board of Health in Bytown is formed to combat an epidemic of Asiatic cholera. A temporary hospital is built where the Royal Canadian Mint now stands on Sussex Drive. The location is selected to facilitate the care of boat passengers from Montreal as they disembark at what came to be known as CholeraWharf.
1832 – Peter Dufour established a carriage & wagon works[5]
1830s – Shiners' War: Labour unrest erupts within the lumber industry as some Irish immigrants unemployed upon completion of the Rideau Canal in 1832, a group known as Shiners, compete with the more experienced French Canadian timbermen for jobs
1853 – Mechanics' Institute and Athenreum, a literary institute, was organized[5]
1854 – Bytown is linked by rail with the larger centers of Montreal and Toronto.
1854 – Stockdale & Brother's, established a Carriage & Wagon factory on Rideau Street[5]
1855 – On January 1, Bytown is formally incorporated as a city. In gaining city status, Bytown adopts the name of Ottawa.
1856 – English-language Separate District School Board No. 53 is formed (in 1998, Ottawa and Carleton merged separate school boards, and in 2007, was renamed to the current name of Ottawa Catholic School Board).[6][circular reference]
1857 – Queen Victoria approves choice of Ottawa as the capital of the Province of Canada.
1857 – Construction of buildings begins to prepare for arrival of government, with influx of workers.
1858 – The Chaudiere Brewery was established
1858 – The County of Russell agricultural society was organized[5]
1866–68 – 24 Sussex Drive, the future official residence of the Prime Minister of Canada, is built by lumberman and Member of Parliament, Joseph Merrill Currier, as a wedding gift for his wife to be.
1867 – The British North America Act is ratified. Ottawa, with a population of 18,000, becomes the permanent capital of Canada.
1867 – The Ottawa Rowing Club is established with Sir John A. MacDonald (President); His Worship the Mayor Robert Lyon (Vice-President) along with other notable gentlemen.
1870 – A vast fire burns its way from Arnprior to Ottawa. The city is saved from destruction only when a water barrier is created by cutting through a dam at Dows Lake.
1871 – The seven lumber mills of Ottawa employ nearly 1,300 men and the value of lumber produced annually reaches $1.5 million. By this year, Ottawa's yearly output of lumber is unsurpassed in all Ontario.
1874 – Until this year a number of private companies were responsible for providing firefighting services with the City council providing a premium of 20 shillings to the first company to hose a fire. This arrangement led to arguments and fistfights between companies, often to the detriment of the poor householder as his home burnt to the ground. On December 20, 1874, Ottawa establishes a professional fire brigade.
1918 – Ottawa receives first delivery of airmail, from Toronto. An estimated 25,000 people and 1,000 automobiles pour onto the streets to celebrate the end of the war.
1919 – Influenza epidemic claims more than 500 lives.
1920 – Ottawans crowd into Château Laurier ballroom to hear first local radio transmission of live concert from Montreal.
1920 – The Capital Cinema was constructed. With 2,530 seats, it was the largest movie theatre ever built in Ottawa and was regarded as one of the best cinemas designed by famed theatre-architect Thomas W. Lamb. It was demolished in 1970.
1922 – A confrontation between 10,000 Orangemen and a gathering of Irish Catholics is narrowly averted when police persuade groups to go separate ways.
^John H. Taylor, Ottawa, An Illustrated History, James Lorimer & Company, Publishers, Canadian Museum of Civilization, National Museums of Canada, Toronto, 1986, p.11.
^John H. Taylor, Ottawa, An Illustrated History, James Lorimer & Company, Publishers, Canadian Museum of Civilization, National Museums of Canada, Toronto, 1986, p.13.
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