Lebreton Flats
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Lebreton Flats is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada. It is lies to the west of Centretown neighbourhood, and to the north of Centretown West with "Nanny Goat Hill" as the dividing line. The Ottawa River forms the northern limit.
With the development of the Ottawa area, Lebreton Flats by the mid-1800s had developed into a mixed community to serve the lumber mills on the nearby Chaudiere and Victoria Islands. A rail line came in with a station and yards, and industries developed in turn. There was also housing for both the workers and owners, as well as hotels and taverns.
The area was ravaged by the Great Fire of 1900, which had started across the river in Hull (now Gatineau, QC), but jumped over by way of the great stacks of piled lumber on the islands. The fire destroyed the neighbourhood, leaving many homeless. The area was rebuilt, but the lumber barons relocated their dwellings up into the City proper above the escarpment, and so now only the workers were the Flat's residents.
And this too all came to an end in the 1960s with expropriation in order to make room for redevelopment, including offices for the Government of Canada. As a result of disputes over the use of the land and soil contamination from the previous industrial uses, the land remained vacant for over forty years. It was used in the winter for piling snow that had been removed from Ottawa streets, with the pile often remaining well into the Spring. As a result of the runoff from this snowpile, the land became more contaminated.
Because of this, it was found that almost all of the area's topsoil would have to be removed in order for redevelopment to proceed . But first the ownership had to be consolidated, since the Federal Government, the former Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, and the City itself were landowners. This situation was remedied with a Federal agency called the National Capital Commission (NCC) acquiring all title to the land.
In May 2005, the new home for the Canadian War Museum was opened on Lebreton Flats as the first component of redevelopment. There are plans to use the remainder of the site for housing, commercial space, offices and parkland.
Another part of Lebreton Flats to the south abutting the escarpment contains low density residential housing that was not torn down and remains in use.
The western portion of the Transitway runs through Lebreton Flats, served by Lebreton Station.
Currently, as of the Canada 2006 Census, 57 people lived in Lebreton Flats.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Jenkins, Phil. An Acre of Time. Toronto: Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 1996.
[edit] External links
