Western mystery

[Uhuniau]

OK, so according to the always-infallible (sarcasm) Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunney's_Pasture

Before the development in the early 1950s, this area was officially known as Lot 35, Concession A, Township of Nepean, and, as the name still indicates, it was used as a farmer’s pasture and named after Anthony Tunney who pastured his cows on the empty land.

However, I have in front of me Lucien Brault's Ottawa... de son origine à nos jours, which has a bee-oo-tiful folding map in it, showing a built-up area between Parkdale and "Kensington Road", which would now appear to be Northwestern. Heading westward, they are Kensington Avenue, Laneboro, Markham, Norfolk, Ford, Woodbridge, Elmdale, and Gainsboro. Between Gainsboro and Kensington/Northwestern is a strip about a block wide without streets in it. And — sigh — the entire area between Parkdale and Woodbridge had Newedinburghian or Southglebian back lanes.

So what's the scoop here? Did Statistics Canada or the Wikipedia contributor gloss over the fact that in between Tunney and his cows, and the erection of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics complex, there was a living neighbourhood here, presumably razed in the name of modernization (and possible Greber?)

Is Tunney's in fact the grave of the old McLeansville?

Ooh: edited to add a link to the same map at the National Archives:

http://data2.archives.ca/nmc/n0078801.pdf

[McC]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

presumably razed in the name of modernization (and possible Greber?)

and don't forget moving certain precious buraucrats outside the immediate blast radius of a small (and wickedly precise) tactical nuclear strike on Parliament Hill! ;-)

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Ooh: edited to add a link to the same map at the National Archives:
http://data2.archives.ca/nmc/n0078801.pdf

Seriously though, given the date of the map (1936), and that the vast majority of the Champlain Park neighbourhood immediately to the west was built post-war (we used to live in a 2-storey CMHC box on Keyworth, the streets were full of them and the bungalow model; though they're being replaced one by one), with only a couple of older homes scattered widely, my guess would be that those streets shown in Tunney's Pasture were planned-for but not built at the time of the map.

Regarding the backlanes, you'll note that there are lanes shown in Mechanicsville too, only some segments of them are still there, and I think only one still goes through a full block.

[lrt's friend]

Just prior to World War I, there was a real estate boom and many areas around the fringes of Ottawa in Nepean and Gloucester were subdivided and lots were put up for sale. These subdivisions had plans and streets and even street names. An absolute glut of lots were put on the market by every Tom, Dick and Harry hoping to get rich quick. Of course, the market collapsed and this remained until the next boom after World War II. It was customary in those days to show these subdivision plans on maps even if nothing was built. Many of these subdivisions completely failed, even if lots were sold, and nothing was built. Most of the land was forfeited because of the failure to pay property taxes. The area in and around Tunney's Pasture was included in these subdivision plans and there were some interesting names that never amounted to anything. Examples of familiar subdivisions dating from this boom include Overbrook, Alta Vista and Manor Park. The first actually got off the ground prior to World War I. In most cases, the streets follow the origin subdivision plan and often use the same names except when duplication required changes. This is why some 1950s subdivisions had a grid pattern.

In the case of Tunney's Pasture, the land likely had been forfeited and therefore municipal property. After World War II and when the Greber Plan was written, this became designated for federal office buildings and the federal government acquired the land from the municipality. Because of this, the original subdivision plan was cancelled. At least, this is what likely happened. The Tunney name was likely the name associated with that property as nothing afterwards was really significant. Another example of a cancelled subdivision from this era was Montview. Located on Walkley Road, the subdivision plan was cancelled in the 1950s when the Airport Parkway was first being planned.

[McC]

[QUOTE=lrt's friend;5358229]In most cases, the streets follow the origin subdivision plan and often use the same names except when duplication required changes. This is why some 1950s subdivisions had a grid pattern. QUOTE]
makes sense, especially for Champlain Park (notice the name of "First Street" on the map was subsequently changed to Premier)

[Uhuniau]

Cool, LRTF, thanks!

[Mille Sabords]

LRTF has explained it as it probably happened. You'll notice, too, that the streets go almost all the way up to the Ottawa River shoreline. We could've had a series of urban neighbourhoods tightly connected to the waterfront, if the Ottawa River Parkway hadn't been built. What few people know is that a lot of these "phantom" streets and lanes, in residual areas that were never redeveloped or otherwise acted upon, still legally exist (on paper) but are invisible on the ground.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Mille Sabords

LRTF has explained it as it probably happened. You'll notice, too, that the streets go almost all the way up to the Ottawa River shoreline. We could've had a series of urban neighbourhoods tightly connected to the waterfront, if the Ottawa River Parkway hadn't been built. What few people know is that a lot of these "phantom" streets and lanes, in residual areas that were never redeveloped or otherwise acted upon, still legally exist (on paper) but are invisible on the ground.

Actually, some of the 'phantom' streets and lanes did exist. Some of the old subdivisions did get built and the streets did run up to the river, long before the parkway was conceived. The streets and houses closest to the river were expropriated in the 1950s and 1960s. In many cases, the houses near the river were just cottages and cottages in the old days were often just shacks. You can hunt around and find stories of people who lived there. Interesting stuff. One of these riverside communities was named Woodroffe and there were a number of subdivisions that ran up to the river around Westboro.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by McC

Regarding the backlanes, you'll note that there are lanes shown in Mechanicsville too, only some segments of them are still there, and I think only one still goes through a full block.

Yeah, most of them have been encroached on, I know. If I was supreme dictator, I would embark on a program to incrementally take them back.

[Dado]

Some of the expropriated houses and cottages sat on flood plains, for instance the ones north of Churchill, some of whose remnants can still be seen today. On balance, in those cases, we're probably better off having had them expropriated.

A number of houses were also moved further inland to undeveloped lots. Due to the way things unfolded as LRTF describes, many subdivisions still had undeveloped lots when the NCC went about expropriating along the river, and since some of the houses were of high enough quality to warrant moving, they were moved to nearby available lots.

Here's one just above Westboro Beach that was moved from a short distance away, more-or-less where the access path to the beach goes under the Parkway:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en...,73.25,,0,6.39

The irony here though is that while this house could survive the NCC, it couldn't survive the semi-McMansionization of Westboro. It, along with its brick bungalow neighbour with the garden to the south, have both been demolished and turned into giant semi-detached houses whose main façades consist of large garage doors and a flight of stairs. Sometimes a large clay pot is placed on the near fully-paved frontage to contain some token vegetation.

[Dado]

Originally Posted by Mille Sabords

LRTF has explained it as it probably happened. You'll notice, too, that the streets go almost all the way up to the Ottawa River shoreline. We could've had a series of urban neighbourhoods tightly connected to the waterfront, if the Ottawa River Parkway hadn't been built.

Yes, and they would no doubt be inhabited by the types of politically active and financially well-to-do people now found in the Glebe and about whom you'd probably be complaining for their opposition to some scheme or other.

[Mille Sabords]

Originally Posted by Dado

Yes, and they would no doubt be inhabited by the types of politically active and financially well-to-do people now found in the Glebe and about whom you'd probably be complaining for their opposition to some scheme or other.

But of course