River, Road and Rail - Woodroffe Memories

NOW AVAILABLE!

Woodroffe, a community suburb of Canada's capital, is a thriving village on the Ottawa River. Its charming history has now been told, in words and pictures, in a book published by the Woodroffe North Community Association (WNCA).

River, Road and Rail is a hard-covered book with a colourful jacket. Its 300 pages includes many illustrations, photos, historic maps and aerial photos. You may purchase a copy at the current price of $30. An Order Form is below. Please mail your order to Dave Grosvenor at 75 Pooler Avenue, Ottawa, ON, K2B 5A4, and make your cheque or money order payable to WNCA Book Fund (no credit card payments possible).

The book may also be purchased at

River, Road and Rail, will be treasured by anyone interested in the history of the Ottawa region or in the social history of Ontario. The publishers have drawn on hundreds of memories and photographs from those who grew up or lived along this part of the historic Ottawa River.

In 1811, the Ira Honeywell family became the first settlers in Nepean Township. Ira built their log cabin near the Ottawa River just east of Woodroffe Avenue. Follow the history of this well-loved area from the days of the First Nations, to the building of the Richmond Road and the Canadian Pacific Railway, and to decades of dairy farming and light industry. After 1900, the Britannia Line of the Ottawa Electric Railway encouraged developers and families to build summer cottages and permanent homes on the old farms. Woodroffe Village became a summer resort with popular beaches and wonderful swimming, boating, fishing and hunting. It was also a streetcar suburb of Ottawa. It was not until much later that housing spread south of the Richmond Road towards Carling Avenue. The building of the Ottawa River Parkway in the 1960s required the expropriation and demolition of one half of present-day Woodroffe North, destruction of the beaches, isolation of the community from the river and the division of the community by Woodroffe Avenue, a busy access route to the Parkway. Despite these changes, a beautiful residential community endures today near a major shopping centre, a scenic parkway and a bicycle path along the Ottawa River. While the Richmond Road continues to be a bustling city street in this area, the railway and the streetcar are only memories. We hope the publication of this book will be an important step in the unending discovery of the fascinating history of a wonderful community.

The WNCA gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the City of Ottawa.