Goodbye Ottawa Neighbourhood Services

 For the Kitchissippi Times' December issue, I wanted to write something in the vibe of the Christmas season - a time of year of charity and giving. And there is no organization more tied in to charity and giving in the history of Kitchissippi than Ottawa Neighbourhood Services. 

Sadly, many people reading this won't even recognize that name. Many others will remember it of course but will have thought the organization closed years ago. In fact, it was just during Covid that the last traces of ONS disappeared. It's a tragic and unfortunate ending to an organization that was so integral to Ottawa, and especially to the Hintonburg neigbourhood. 

And perhaps even more troubling is the fading memory of it's founder and long-time operator Harold Mayfield, who basically dedicated his life to the organization. 

You can read the full article here:

https://kitchissippi.com/2022/12/11/early-days-the-forgotten-legacy-of-hintonburgs-first-thrift-store/

Somehow, the concluding paragraph of the column I submitted got cut off in the final edition, perhaps due to length. But I wanted to re-add it here, as it expresses the disappointment I have at the loss of Mayfield's name in the community:

"It’s a veritable tragedy that the ONS is gone, and just as sadly the Mayfield name is nowhere to be found, including no longer even on his building. A man and an organization that did so much through the many decades of Kitchissippi’s history when the area was working class, and not yet gentrified, the imprint Ottawa Neighbourhood Services had on our community cannot be measured."

It's true... I still remember seeing the "Mayfield Building" name emblazoned on the building at Wellington and Garland as a kid. This would have been in the 90s, so not that long ago. I can't remember if it was on the side or front of the building, or how it was (I feel like it was overtop an entranceway), but regardless, the name is now gone and can't be seen anywhere. If you Google "Mayfield Building" in Ottawa, pretty much it is just my article that comes up. That's really too bad that we don't have anything permanent to honour the contributions of Harold and Marjorie Mayfield. 

The ONS building in 1985

Tracking down the Hintonburg Howitzer

With Remembrance Day falling in November of course, I wanted to do something on that theme for my Kitchissippi Times column. A few years ago, Paulette Dozois had written a short article for Newswest about the discovery of an old photo from the 1920s of a howitzer gun placed in Somerset Square. It was a piece of long-lost Hintonburg history that no one knew anything about. What was it for? How did it get there? Where did it go? 

I took a shot to figure out all these answers, and was amazed that I was actually able to track down the history! Thanks to one of the Ottawa newspapers of the day actually publishing the serial number of the gun as it discussed it, and an amazing website The Searchers (https://warsearcher.com/the-silent-batteries-war-trophies-of-canada/war-trophies-allocation-and-details-database/comment-page-1/?unapproved=3996&moderation-hash=a35253179054307dfcd8140809061986#comment-3996) that attempts to track the history of all of Canada's war trophies, I was able to come up with the full story of the Hintonburg Howitzer.

What is not 100% definite (though is 99.999% sure) is where it ended life. And it appears it was melted down as part of the war effort for WWII. Just after print deadline, Alex Comber, who maintains The Searchers website, had come up with an old scan he had made from the LAC holding on Malak Karsh, Yousuf’s brother, was an Ottawa-based photographer too, and went around photographing the old war trophies that were neglected and likely to be melted down. His feature was called "Canada Melts its War Trophies", and wihin it, is a photo that apparently shows the old Hintonburg Howitzer sitting snow-covered in back of the dump by Bayview and Scott. 

Malak Karsh: Canada Melts its War Trophies
(LAC R11612 1985-070)

Anyhow, it's an interesting story, and really it's too bad the gun wasn't better maintained and isn't still holding a place at Somerset Square. 

Have a read of the full story at: https://kitchissippi.com/2022/11/24/early-days-wartime-history-tracking-down-the-hintonburg-howitzer/

150 Years of Mechanicsville

A major milestone quietly occurred in 2022, the 150th anniversary of Mechanicsville! It was back in 1872 that the neighbourhood subdivision was first laid out, and the first houses built. Over the past few years I have been researching Mechanicsville's history extensively, and so I was easily able to write a (very quick) summary of how Mechanicsville developed for the October Kitchissippi Times. It's a really neat story for which this column only scratches the surface. I have been aspiring to write a book, and my original goal was this year (2022) to coincide with the anniversary. But the pandemic scuttled those plans as I was not able to complete the interviews I needed. I still hope to have a book finished at some point, because I think it's absolutely necessary to have the stories of Mechanicsville recorded as the neighbourhood changes so fast, and little of the old houses and people remain. 

Mechanicsville itself was not in a position to be able to celebrate the 150th as Laroche Park was in full redevelopment mode and not usable. So I think the community may have plans to low-level celebrate the anniversary in 2023.

Either way, I look forward to getting a book finally done, and if you, or someone you know would be a good candidate to meet with me to share old stories and photos, I would love to hear from you!

For now, enjoy this article!

https://kitchissippi.com/2022/10/05/150-years-of-mechanicsville-the-neighbourhood-forged-through-hard-work/

The doctor is in: Meet Israel Goldwin Smith, Kitchissippi’s first doctor

My Early Days column in September's Kitchissippi Times was a long-overdue profile on Dr. Israel Goldwin Smith, who was the first Doctor to open a practice within Kitchissippi's borders. He was a mainstay in Hintonburg from 1896 until his passing in 1936. As you can imagine, life as the doctor in a growing turn-of-the-century village had its interesting highlights. I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet Dr. Smith's granddaughter, who shared some great stories and photographs. 

You can read the full article at the Times here:

https://kitchissippi.com/2022/09/09/the-doctor-is-in-meet-israel-goldwin-smith-kitchissippis-first-doctor/

A hidden piece of 124-year old Wellington Village history

The oldest building on Wellington West in Wellington Village may come as a surprise. It's a smaller, square old building that is somewhat squeezed between two much more well-known buildings. But it has a unique and interesting history all its own, and for years I've wanted to unearth that history, which I've done over the last couple of weeks finally!

The timing is good, as there is a new business opening up in half of the building this week. The Thrifted Mini is a popular kid's consignment business which has existed only online, until now. They open in their first physical commercial space in today (September 8th) here in Wellington Village, in this historic old building. 

That's the present, but the building at 1239, 1241 and 1243 Wellington Street West actually has a history that ties back to the late 1800s!

It's hard to tell from the street, as the commercial portion of the building that abuts the sidewalk is most of what is visible, but behind the 13-foot 1950s addition is an old square duplex house that was built 124 years ago and has seen its share of west end history over its impressive lifetime!

Construction & ownership history

The construction of the building appears to have been a messy affair. Land registry transactions were not registered as immediately as they are today. Back then, sales, mortgages and other transactions could take months or years to be officially registered. Often a seller would cut a deal with a buyer on a handshake or verbal deal, and only after certain conditions were met would the transfer go through. Thus, specific dates are lost in piecing together the construction of the building, and even pinpointing 100% who the builder(s) were. Making things even more challenging is that none of the bills for the construction were paid to the contractors, and the owner skipped town altogether, leaving the building in legal and financial limbo for several years.

Information indicates it definitely was constructed in 1898. It is possible that there were two people who owned the property and oversaw construction. Guillaume Chouinard (his wife Albina on the paperwork, as was common in the era), certainly acquired the lot from the well-known Hintonburg Stott family for $450, and took out the initial mortgage towards construction of the building, for $1,200 from the Canadian Mutual Loan and Investment Company. Whether Chouinard started the project and sold it off mid-way through is lost to history, but at some point, either early or during the project, he got out of the whole thing, and sold it to a young man, 22-year old Oscar Alexander Philion, a former journalist with the Ottawa French language newspaper 'Le Canada'.

The building appears to have been completed by late 1898, but the end of the project was disastrous. In my research, I'll occasionally come across a "mechanic's lien" on a property, which is registered when a contractor has not been paid for work done on a property. It's a legal lien placed against the property until the owner's debt is paid. It is sometimes common to see even two liens placed on the same project. But seven??? I've never seen anything close!

Something happened, the exact details of which appear to be lost to history, but whatever the case, starting in early September 1898, the liens started rolling in. Meanwhile Philion had skipped town, and his father Alphonse Philion was dragged into the financial affair. By Christmas, the Citizen was reporting the details of his experience with the 2022nd regiment of New York, Philion apparently enlisted in July 1898 when the Spanish-American War broke out!

Ottawa Citizen
December 21, 1898

Philion stated he may return to Ottawa in the spring, but that never happened. The 1900 US Census caught him as part of a regiment in Dumanjug in the Philippine Islands, and some light digging on Ancestry revealed he ended up a couple of years later in St. Joseph, Indiana, where he married, began his family and lived the rest of his life, never returning to Ottawa.

The builder of 1239-1241 Wellington 
Oscar Philion (pictured at his 1903 wedding)
Source: Ancestry.

Back to the building on Wellington Street... The good news about all of these liens is that it gives us a full list of who was involved in the construction of the building in 1898, which is quite rare. 

That list of liens, and their values includes: George Faulkner ($30.90), Louis Piché ($42.00), Samuel McArthur ($83.50), William F. Frazer of Frazer & Hamilton ($188.14), the Farley Bros. ($168.30), Edward Clairmont ($50.00), Henry Living ($56.47). 

Samuel McArthur is the most notable of the names on the list. He was a well-known local small-time house builder, and very likely was hired as the lead for the construction. He was living on Carruthers at the time. 

The Farley Bros. were a Hull-based brickworks and lumber plant, where a lot of the building materials were likely sourced; Frazer & Hamilton was a small sash and door factory and planing mill at 46 Elm Street; and Henry Living operated a hardware store at 105 Bank Street, where some of the tools and materials were likely sourced.

Louis Piche (a butcher from 10 Eccles), George Faulkner (a teamster living in Mechanicsville), and Edward Clairmont (a carpenter on St. Patrick Street) were likely labourers on the project.

All of the liens were registered between September 3 1898 and February 22 1899, and in March 1899, certificates of lis pendens were issued, with some of the contractors suing each other, and the whole thing is just a financial mess. In the end, it appears that the original mortgage holders, the Canadian Mutual Loan and Investment Company, took over ownership when the mortgage owing by Philion was obviously defaulted on, and would have paid off all the liens. And oddly, they (Canadian Mutual) maintained ownership for the next decade, acting as landlords to the property. (At some point it had become the Colonial Investment and Loan Company, but was conveyed to the Anglo American Fire Insurance Company by about 1910).

The house was originally numbered 227 and 229 Richmond Road (as Richmond road extended to Western Avenue until 1908, when that portion was renamed to Wellington Street). 227 was the east half (1239 Wellington) and 229 the west half (1243 Wellington).

Anyways finally in March 1910, it was sold to William Joynt, a Hintonburg-based real estate investor and agent, for $2,000. It was very common in this era, for real estate dealers to actually purchase the building and re-sell it, unlike today where the agent simply coordinates the sale. 

Within days of purchasing the building, Joynt had it listed for sale in the Journal with a large ad:

Ottawa Journal - March 19, 1910

Even Joynt at the time saw the potential the building had in being converted for commercial purposes. 

Of course it is obvious even more so today that this should have been its original build type, but at the time of construction, Wellington Village was still just largely vacant farmland. Most of the land was owned by the Ottawa Land Association, who were still nearly 20 years away from offering it for sale. 

If you were standing at the corner of Holland and Wellington at the time, you would have seen only a handful of structures to the west, before the small subdivision around Carleton Avenue. Wellington Street was a commercial thoroughfare only up to about Holland Avenue at the time, when it transitioned to being the road out to the country, towards Bells Corners and Richmond. Even the streetcar line (which arrived in 1900, two years after the building was completed) turned off Wellington at Holland, turning south towards the Farm. So though one could have foreseen a likelihood that Wellington would eventually grow into a commercial street further to the west certainly in 1910, and even possibly in 1898 when the building was first built, it wasn't a sure thing, and certainly would have had minimal interest for commercial purposes at the time.

Joynt incidentally had also acquired the property next door (to the east, at the corner of Holland) in August 1906, which at the time had a small wood-frame duplex.

He kept ownership of both properties, which remained in the Joynt family as tenanted properties until the mid-1940s. Joynt passed away in 1930 after an incredible career, working his way up from a grocery store owner in Hintonburg to becoming the largest landlord in the west end, to eventually being appointed Magistrate for Carleton County (despite having no legal training!).

View of the two buildings on the 1922 fire plan.
That is Holland on the right edge. The pink colour
indicates brick, yellow is wood, and grey represents
a small garage, shed or outbuilding.

Aerial photo from May 5, 1933. Also visible is the
"Holland Service Station" which opened at the corner of
Huron in 1926, and remained there until about 1973.

The building was sold in June 1946 to William E. Haughton for $7,250. Haughton also acquired the lots to the west, and constructed the Haughton Building (better known as the Bank of Montreal building) in 1947 to house his law firm. Haughton built his new building abutting the duplex at 1239-1241 Wellington, which actually ate 7 feet into the original lot space of 1239-1243 Wellington.  

Haughton continued to rent the duplex out to tenants over the next few years. He later, in October 1951, acquired the property to the east, which was still the old wood-frame duplex, for $23,000 (the Joynts had sold it in 1945, but Haughton re-acquired it). At the close of 1951, Haughton owned the entire block of Wellington from Huron to Holland.

In April 1953, Haughton sold the two lots (not his building, but the two duplex buildings) to Pearl E. Fenton for $52,000. Pearl Fenton was the wife of George Wesley Fenton.  And he had big plans for the property.

In 1953, he renovated the building at 1239-1241 Wellington, putting on a small addition at the front of the building to bring it to the sidewalk line, creating a commercial frontage to the building. 

On the east half, at 1239, he opened the 10th bakery of the local Fenton's Bakery chain that would eventually grow to 12 branches. 

Ottawa Journal - September 30, 1953

The renovation essentially eliminated the main floor residential portions of the house. There were commercial spaces on both halves of the main floor (1239 on the east half, and a new number 1243 Wellington Street West on the west half). Upstairs was both 1241 Wellington West, with a small commercial space on the east half, and a residential unit on the west half. Interestingly, the long-time tenants on the west half remained in the building, even after the renovation eliminated the downstairs half of their home! 

I wish I had a photo of the building prior to the renovation, but I have yet to find one! If anyone reads this, and has an old family album with a photo of even a part of the original building visible, please let me know.

Meanwhile, in late 1954, Fenton demolished the old wood-frame duplex at the corner, and immediately took out a permit to construct the Wesley Building. It was completed just in time for Christmas 1955, by James More and Sons Ltd., at a cost of $225,000.

Below are two photos (and one neat illustration) of the construction of the Wesley Building, the middle photo shows a good view of the newly-renovated Fenton building, with Richards Jewellers on the left, and Fenton's on the right. The old Haughton Building sign which was once fully exposed is now seen as mostly covered up by the front addition.

Ottawa Citizen - June 8, 1955

View of 1239-1241 during the construction of the
Wesley Building, September 21, 1955
(City of Ottawa Archives, CA-25262)

The Wesley Building completed. December 1955
(City of Ottawa Archives CA-35918)

Another good way to see the renovation and new construction visually is the comparison of the 1948 and 1956 fire insurance plan sheets of the block. See below:

1948 fire insurance plan, pre-reno

1956 fire insurance plan, showing the new front
addition (the blue colour indicates concrete block
construction), and the new Wesley Building

The building at 1239-1241-1243 Wellington has largely been unchanged since 1953. The biggest change has probably been the addition of a large parking garage in behind the building, which appears to have been constructed during the 1990s. In older photos from the 60s and 70s, it appears there were actually a couple of larger trees in this space.

Rear of 1239-1243 Wellington West - September 2022

In fact, a 1939 article mentions that long-time tenant Mrs. Beckworth hosted a large garden party and bingo in the house and grounds of the house! So it must have had a pretty nice backyard for a time.

Ottawa Journal - August 7, 1939

Fenton Realty owned 1239-1243 Wellington until March 1st, 1984, when they sold it for $950,000 to an numbered Ontario incorporation, and it later sold again in 1986 for over $2M. I didn't bother tracking its more recent sales.   

The early occupants: 1897 to 1953

The earliest confirmed inhabitants of the house are from the 1901 Census, where the east half (227 Richmond/1239 Wellington) was occupied by William A. and Charlotte Mason and their two children Robert and Catherine, ages 4 and 2. William was Village Clerk for Hintonburg at the time, which meant he was photographed as part of Hintonburg's Council in 1897:

William A. Mason in 1897

The west half of the duplex (229 Richmond/1243 Wellington) had interesting residents as well, James and Mary Mark, an Irish couple in their 80s, along with their 39-year old daughter Martha, and an 11-year old grandson Bertram Smith. (James would go on to live to the amazing age of 95). 

1901 Census-taker made his visit to the home on April 2nd, 1901, and also noted the house was brick, with 6 rooms in each half.

Tenants of the era often moved frequently, it was very common to see a new occupant in a house each year, and it was rare to see someone staying more than a couple of years.

By the summer of 1902, both sides had new occupants: 227 was occupied by Harry L. Routh, an electrician, while 229 was occupied by James Carkner, a clerk. 

227/1239 was occupied next by Thomas Turvey, a conductor for the Ottawa Electric Railway (1903-1904), before carpenter Thomas C. Fagan and his wife Elizabeth moved in for the long haul (1906-1930), then Emile and Emily St Aubin (1931-1933), Alfred and Marguerite Leduc (1934-1950), Hubert J. and Agnes Shellard (1951) and Clifford H. and Claudette Tyo (1953).

229/1243 meanwhile was occupied by James Carkner (1902-1909), James E. Sullivan (1910-1914), Leslie Tennant (1914-1916), Sophia Beard (1917-1920), Sidney E. Day (1921), Charles G. and Helen McFadden (1922-1934), Cecil W and Inez Joynt (1935-1937), and then the longest occupants, Bernard H. (Tom) and Agnes Beckworth (1938-1961). What's most interesting about the Beckworths is that they remained in the house even through the conversion to commercial, and would have had to accept the renovation which would have halved the size of the apartment in 1953.

The WWI period is worth discussing, as both sides of the building saw the occupant families significantly affected by the war.

Thomas Fagan in 1239 was employed as a saw filer, and must have been a pretty tough character, for he enlisted in March of 1916 to fight for Canada. What made him a bit unique was his age: Thomas was 46 years old at the time. He also had four children, ranging in age from 15 years to his daughter Frances who was only 13 months old. Within a month, he was in England, a member of the 224th Canadian Forestry Battalion, with the rank of Private. He was soon shipped to France, where he spent the next two and a half years, until the end of the war. He returned home in May 1919, a Lance Corporal, and just shy of 50 years old. For those three-plus years he was away, it must have been difficult on his wife Elizabeth. 

On the other side of the building was the Beard family. Mrs. Sophie Beard, lived alone, though apparently estranged from her husband Henry. The family had moved to Canada just five years prior (1912) from England, seemingly following over a daughter who had married and come to Canada in 1910. Sophie lived with her five youngest children (Henry, Lawrence, Edward, Lucy and Annie) who ranged in ages from 14 to 25. A short Citizen interview with her in May 1918 noted that the family of Mrs. Beard "has done its duty", as she had her two sons (Lawrence and E.C.), her son-in-law (Nelson Baker) and "forty near relations" fighting in the war. Sadly, I later found a Citizen article from November 1st of 1918, noting that the family had received word that her Pte. Edward Charles Beard had died on October 25th 1918, at the age of 20, from gunshot wounds in the head and arms in battle on September 30th.

The occupants: 1953 to Present

These were the commercial years, when the building was converted by the Fentons. Of course the upstairs remained largely residential into the 1990s or even 2000s. It has only been in the past few years that commercial tenants have been located here. It's the ground floor level where all the action has been!

On the 1239 (east) half, Fenton's Bakery remained for 17 years, and is likely the most memorable tenant of the building for long-time residents. Frustratingly, I could not find a better photo of the storefront from the 50s or 60s, than the photo above showing it next to the Wesley Building under construction. Here is a sample storefront view of a different Fenton's location:

Fenton's Bakery (not the Wellington location!)
storefront view (City of Ottawa Archives CA-44523)

Fenton's also had a popular location in the neighbourhood at Westgate for many years. 

Fenton's closed at 1239 Wellington in 1970, and closed their final store between 1974-1975, the end of a very popular Ottawa franchise.

In 1970, Fontaine's Colour TV and Stereo shop (1970-1975) opened up in Fenton's place.

Ottawa Journal
February 12, 1974

Then, Overseas Varieties (aka Overseas Imports) opened at 1239, operated by Amir Mussani, an Ismaili Muslim who was forced from Uganda when President Idi Amin expelled 52,000 non-citizen Asians for "sabotaging the economy". Canada opened its doors to 5,600 of these refugees, bringing them in through chartered planes, with 200 settling in Ottawa. Mussani's shop dealt in "imported garments, brass and wood carvings", and was open into the early 1980s.

Mussani in his shop
Ottawa Citizen, September 15, 1977

From what I can tell, around early 1987, Jimmy's Hair Stylist (which had been open for about two years prior in the 1243 half) expanded and took over the entire commercial space of both 1239 and 1243. It appears (though I could be wrong), that for the next 12 years or so, the ground floor was combined as one business space, later being re-split as it previously had been, around 2002.

Jimmy's remained open until about 1990, when an H&R Block moved in briefly.

Ottawa Citizen - December 8, 1987

Records are a bit spotty from the mid-90s onwards, but some of the more recent tenants of 1239 Wellington have been the Wellington Gallery & Gifts (1992); the Avalon Bookstore (specializing in spiritual healing) from 1995-1999; Tuesdays the Romance Store from about 2007-2015; and The Cell Doctor from about 2015-2017. Google Streetview reveals that the shop remained vacant and for lease until late 2019, when Panash Dry Cleaning opening, but they had the misfortune of opening just as Covid hit, and I guess never stood a chance, gone not long after opening. As mentioned at the start of this article, The Thrifted Mini becomes the newest tenant of this great location this week!

**

The 1243 (west half), has had some varied tenants over the last 70 years as well.

Brookshire Cleaners Ltd. were the first, opening a branch location in late 1953 or early 1954, but only staying about a year. 

Ottawa Citizen - November 16, 1953

Richard's Jewellers, shown in the 1955 photo above stayed for a few years, from 1955-1959.

Ottawa Citizen, December 3, 1953

They were followed by Capital Watch Repair (1960-1961), and then became a beauty salon for the next nearly thirty years. 

At first it was Muriel's Beauty Salon (1963-1973) operated by Muriel MacGregor, then Alex's Hair Design (1973-1986), and finally taken over by Jimmy's Hair Stylists as a second location (their initial location was at 905 Carling). 

Ottawa Citizen - November 13, 1967

Around 2002-2003 I believe, the commercial space was re-split into two separate shops, and the 1243 half briefly was the sales office for the Routeburn Urban Developments condo at 1277 Wellington West prior to its construction, and then became Heavens to Betsy from 2003 until they moved to Hintonburg in 2008. Allegro was in for several years (2011 or 2012 until 2016), then finally the Kindred Shop & Studio which has been in 1243 Wellington since 2017.

Here are a few final random photos of the building, to close off this exhaustive history of one of Wellington West's most unexpectedly-historic buildings!

June 5 1984 aerial view

April 2009 view

2020? doorway to Perfect Electrolysis upstairs

April 2021 view

The Hintonburg Horse Thief of 1910

Hintonburg in the early 1900s had a lot of similarities to what you might imagine an old west town on the frontier would look like. There were no cars, no paved roads. Electricity and running water were still a novelty reserved only for the newest houses and buildings occupied by only the most affluent residents. Residents traveled in and out of the village by horse or by foot, travelling mostly on the one main street entering and leaving Hintonburg, the Richmond Road. 

Hintonburg had a village constable, a doctor and a volunteer fire brigade. There were small grocery stores, butchers, blacksmiths, carriage makers, and a flour and feed shop. Residents largely worked at the nearby mills or the train yards. There were no restaurants or really any recreational facilities. There were also two hotels that catered to travelling farmers or part-time labourers looking for a short-term stay, and these hotels featured a large tavern for locals and visitors alike to have a drink (or two). 

One of the longer-running hotels of early Hintonburg was James Byers' hotel, the Hintonburg House. Located directly across from the St. Francois D'Assise Church, in the middle of what is today the Wellington Towers apartment building at 1041 Wellington Street West, the hotel featured a large number of rooms, and stretched all the way back to Armstrong Street, where large stables allowed travellers to "park" their horses for the night. 

The fire insurance plan below from around the turn of the century shows the original footprint of the hotel (at what is labelled #61 with "Sal." for saloon). 

1895 Fire Insurance Plan of Ottawa, updated to
about 1900-1901

In the early morning hours of Tuesday February 8th, 1910, these stables were the scene of what was called a "daring theft", when a drifter took the opportunity to steal the village doctor's horse and sled, which was stored inside. This set off a lengthy investigation that would take an Ottawa police constable across eastern Ontario to solve the crime.

Ottawa Journal
February 8, 1910

The village doctor was Dr. Israel G. Smith (the subject of my upcoming column in the Kitchissippi Times - September edition), and he resided in a large greystone house on Wellington just east of Parkdale Avenue, where the Grace Manor stands today. Why the Doctor's horse and cutter were being stored in the Byers' stable is a bit of a mystery to me, as the Doctor lived 1,500 feet to the east, and had a sizable shed or stable of his own behind his house where he could have stored his horse. 

Regardless, on the night of the big theft, at three in the morning, the thief entered the Byers' stable, harnessed the horse, hitched up the cutter, grabbed a handful of musk-ox robes and horse blankets, and then unlocked and opened the stable doors. Nearby residents heard the horse being taken out, but apparently didn't think it strange because the Doctor had occasionally called for his horse at 3 a.m. to visit a sick patient.

This is not Hintonburg's Dr. Smith, but is a representative
photo showing a County Doctor on his horse and cutter. It
is actually Dr. Arthur Sutton of Port Credit in 1912.

However, at sunrise the theft was discovered, and the police chase began through the country roads, looking for the broncho chestnut horse with four white feet and white face, and a brand reading "F.H." stamped on the right shoulder, along with a red shanty jumper containing the robes. The entire haul was estimated at $800. The search was led by both the City of Ottawa police and the Carleton County Police, with Ottawa detective Joseph O'Meara, an 18-year veteran of the force, leading the investigation.

Later, it was discovered that a collie dog, described by the Ottawa Citizen as a "friend of the horse" had followed the horse and was also missing.

Local police alerted police throughout eastern Ontario, to keep an eye out for the stolen horse.

24 hours after the theft, on Wednesday morning, Carleton County Constable Hamilton was called out to a farm on Montreal Road, five miles from the city to investigate a report of a missing horse, which was thought to perhaps have a connection to the Smith horse case. However, on arrival, the Constable discovered the horse and rig had been found up the road, having strayed away after a family member of the horse's owner had only loosely tied it up.

Finally, on the morning of Friday February 11th, three days after the horse was stolen, a phone call came from the Chief of Police for Perth, Chief White, informing Ottawa Police that Dr. Smith's horse had been seen at a farm a few miles back of Perth, and that the cutter and two of the three robes had been located.

Perth police were working with the farmers who had purchased pieces of Dr. Smith's property, to attempt to identify who the thief was, and to locate the horse. It was mentioned that it would be difficult owing to the fact that the thief had sold the horse, traded the cutter and sold the robes at all different places between Ottawa and Perth. 

The Journal wrote that the cutter and robes that had been located would be "taken from their present owners who will not be recompensed, and who, if they refuse to hand over the stuff, will be charged with receiving stolen goods."

Detective O'Meara left that Friday morning to investigate in Perth and along the way. He successfully tracked the horse as far as Carleton Place, but by the following Tuesday had been unable to track it any further.

However, some good news was announced the following Friday (February 18th) when Detective O'Meara found the horse on a farm in Smiths Falls.

Ottawa Citizen - February 18, 1910

It was not until Monday morning that O'Meara returned to Ottawa, and shared some of the details from his nine day hunt with the local newspapers that day. O'Meara battled heavy snow in the country, but also had to work through what the Citizen called a "troublesome tangle" investigating backwards through a couple of horse trades the thief had made. Also making things difficult were farmers in the Perth area, who were apparently reluctant to share information. He was only able to track down the stolen horse after he found the horse for which the thief had traded Dr. Smith's horse. 

He claimed that horse, and then rode around the country until he met a man who recognized the horse and knew its old owner. The detective then drove to the farm suggested by the man, and "up a cross road came upon the missing horse." Thus he was able to undo that first trade, and bring home Dr. Smith's horse to him.

Tracking down the thief was a harder challenge, one which initially eluded the city and county police. 

However, either months later, on Tuesday October 18th, 1910, police got a break when a livery rig and horse had been stolen from Kemptville, and the man matching the description of the thief, who also matched the description of the Hintonburg horse thief, was seen in Richmond. He was having lunch at the Rielly House hotel in Richmond, with a "fancy carriage and horse" parked outside. Perth police phoned Detective O'Meara, who asked to have hotel staff to keep an eye on the man, and he quickly took an automobile out to Richmond and nabbed the thief as he was eating.

The arrested man was Christian Olsen, who was also known with an alias of L.M. Larsen, "who is recorded in police annals as a horse thief and general bad man", hilariously wrote the Citizen.

Olsen was 36 years old and a stonecutter by profession. He was of Danish descent, but apparently resided at Baker's Bush, which was an old cluster of homes in the Richmond Road and Woodroffe vicinity at the time.

He had arrived in Canada in 1898, but had spent 11 of his 12 years in Canada in jail. In November 1898 he had been given five years for cattle stealing in Ottawa, and in 1903 was sentenced at Kingston for seven years, also for cattle stealing. "He has been the terror of many of the farmers of the district between Smith's Falls and Kingston", wrote the Citizen. He had last been released April 3rd 1909.

Olsen was charged with the Hintonburg theft, the Kemptville theft and for other crimes he had been wanted for, including two additional charges of horse stealing, and a charge of arson (it was alleged he had recently burned a barn near Smith's Falls after stealing a horse to make it appear as if the horse and carriage had burned in the fire). Police stated that Olsen had regularly been stealing horses, and then selling them within a 25 mile radius of Perth.

The justice system worked quickly back in these days, and so it was the next day, Wednesday October 19th, that Olsen was in court for his plea. Olsen pled not guilty, and was remanded for a week at the request of Detective O'Meara. He was charged with the theft of Dr. Smith's horse, cutter, lap robe, halter and two robes, all valued at $400, and a second charge of theft of a musk-ox robe and a set of single harness from James Byers. 

Christian Olsen, from his sentencing photograph
(source: LAC Kingston Penitentiary collection)

The case was heard one week later, on October 26th, and Olsen's lengthy criminal history was shared, along with the details of the case. Detective O'Meara and Inspector Ryan also gave testimony, and a "big array of witnesses" were on hand as well, though they proved not to be needed as Olsen changed his plea to guilty. He asked the judge for another chance, blaming alcohol as the cause of his downfall, and offered to "take the pledge". 

"You have probably told this same story in other courts", said Deputy Magistrate Askwith in imposing the sentence, which he did without further comment. Olsen was given seven more years in Kingston Penitentiary for the theft of Dr. Smith's horse and cutter, and was also given two and a half years for the theft of Byers' property, though it was to run concurrently with the seven year sentence. The other charges, for his crimes in Smith's Falls and Kemptville, he apparently was going to be charged with after he served his seven years in Kingston (I guess law officials could chose to do that back in the day). 

Thanks to the fantastic addition of the Kingston Penitentiary archives being uploaded to LAC's website a year or two ago, Olsen's photograph and sentencing file can be found! Above is the photo from his 1910 sentencing, and below is the entry from the log book about him, noting that he was just shy of 5'6", 152 pounds, with a fresh complexion, light hair tinged with grey, hazel eyes, with a scar on his left buttock and 5 vaccination marks. 

Christian Olsen's file notes from the
Kingston Penitentiary (source: LAC)

In attempting to find out what happened to Olsen later in his life, I quickly searched the newspapers of 1917 (when his sentence would have ended), and was not surprised to find that in September of 1917, there was a story of the same man, then going by Larsen Olsen, being found guilty of stealing half a set of double harnesses, 20-30 hens and 3 bags of potatoes from a far in Osgoode. Olsen was then sentenced to 18 months in the Central prison.

From there, the trail goes cold, as I could not easily find any information where life took Olsen beyond that jail sentencing. 

What a neat story from the early days of Hintonburg!

Keep an eye out for the September issue of the Kitchissippi Times where I'll be profiling the life of the horse-theft victim, long-time Hintonburg village doctor, Dr. I. G. Smith!

The history of the Hampton-Iona neighbourhood (two-part series)

In May and June of 2022, my two-part series looking at the birth and early days of the Hampton-Iona neighbourhood was published in the Kitchissippi Times.

In the article, I call Hampton-Iona the "Savannah, Georgia of west-end Ottawa", due to its vintage houses, each one unique, on wide, deep lots, many of which back on to parkland. It's a gorgeous neighbourhood, with all kinds of long, lost history. I do my best in two columns to cover a summary of the highlights of it's history - including it's years as "Laurentian View", a name that still pops up on the occasional map or real estate listing. Part two particularly focuses on the growth of the Standard Bread company, which had its beginnings in the middle of Hampton-Iona. One of its original buildings actually still stands on Hilson Avenue today!

Lots of photos and tidbits worth checking out! See the two parts at:

PART ONE: https://kitchissippi.com/2022/05/18/the-early-history-of-hampton-iona/

PART TWO: https://kitchissippi.com/2022/06/14/hampton-ionas-history-standard-bread-and-a-community-on-the-rise/