Archive

Archive for the ‘Community Information’ Category

Winter 2009 Newsletter

February 11th, 2009 No comments
Categories: Newsletters

Fall 2008 (and earlier) Newsletters

September 11th, 2008 No comments
Categories: Newsletters

Updated WBCA Constitution

September 2nd, 2008 No comments
Categories: Administration

AGM Minutes

October 13th, 2007 No comments
Categories: Administration

Westboro Beach launches major historical retrospective

January 9th, 2006 Comments off

On January 9, 2006 Westboro Beach Community Association launched a 250 page book Early Days in Westboro Beach – Reflections and Images by Bob Grainger that transports readers via voyageur canoes, railway cars and suburban streetcars on a journey of inner city exploration and reflection.

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Categories: History

Early Days in Westboro Beach

January 9th, 2006 No comments

Early Days in Westboro Beach – Reflections and Images by Bob Grainger

“The key to maintaining a sense of community is in knowing your past. It is in that spirit, the Westboro Beach Community Association has worked for 10 years to bring the past to the present.”

The Book

The story begins with the history of the Ottawa River in the 17th and 18th centuries when the European explorers used it as their highway into the continent, as First Nations peoples had done for thousands of years before. Then arrived the “coureurs des bois” engaging in the fur trade; followed by the lumbermen sending tall pines down the river to Montreal.

By the late 1800’s Westboro Beach was known as “Skead’s Mills”, after the steam-driven sawmill built by Senator James Skead. The book examines the residential development of the Village when Westboro and Westboro Beach were developed as “streetcar suburbs”. As well, life in the neighbourhood is covered during the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s.

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Categories: History

Historian Bob Grainger

January 9th, 2006 No comments

Robert Grainger, Ph. D., has been the Chairperson of the History Committee of the Westboro Beach Community Association for the past ten years and was the lead in authoring a book on the history of our community. After a career as a statistical analyst and manager for Statistics Canada, Mr. Grainger retired four years ago to focus more time and attention on the collection of information relating to the history of the Westboro Beach neighbourhood. Mr. Grainger also brings editorial skills to this project – he is a former Editor of the “Anglo-Celtic Roots”, the quarterly journal of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO).

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Categories: History

Beach History

January 8th, 2006 No comments

Westboro Beach has been a swim site for over 100 years, although never as popular as Britannia Beach.  The first formal recognition of the site being used for swimming occurred in the 1910 Clarella subdivision plan which designated three small parcels of land for public swimming.  In1926, the Westboro Board of Trade supported public swimming at the beach, although the land was privately owned.

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Categories: History

Beach pictorial historical tour

January 8th, 2006 No comments

Westboro Beach from the past to the present. Pictures from the 1930s and ’40s.

Tour.pdf

Categories: History

Historical Points of Interest

January 7th, 2006 No comments

The following articles describe the historical points of interest identified on the map. (The red circles are not clickable.)

Categories: History