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Page 14 By Abraham Plunkett- Latimer This month’s contribution to the Ottawa South History Project comes from one of our Heritage Survey 2009 summer students, Abraham Plunkett-Latimer, an M.A. student in the Department of History, Carleton University. This article will be part of the Heritage Survey 2009 report to be presented to the Old Ottawa South community later this year. Property Address: 66 Barton Street (Lot 2, West Side Barton Avenue) Introduction The home at 66 Barton Street is a large, two-story, brick, cross-gable home built in 1897 by Jacob Vincent Poaps, an aspiring Ottawa merchant. It remained in the Poaps family throughout almost the entire twentieth century until 1987. History The home currently located at 66 Barton Street in Ottawa, Ontario was built on lot 2 of an 1895 subdivision in Old Ottawa South. The property was owned by George and James McLean, who lived in Old Ottawa South. James reportedly owned a sand pit at the corner of Bank and Euclid Streets. George, his brother, is referred to as a “merchant” in nineteenthcentury city directories. In 1895, they subdivided their land into 24 lots ranging from 6000 to 7000 square feet. The subdivision was unusually modest in size for Old Ottawa South. Nearly the entire area of the modern neighbourhood had been subdivided in large swaths by major industrialists The OSCAR - OUR 37 th YEAR OTTAWA SOUTH HISTORY PROJECT Poaps House – 66 Barton Ave in 1891. This large scale development was, according to Bruce Elliott, based on speculation that a streetcar running down Bank Street would quickly raise property values and help to develop economically the then rural area. Lot 2 was first bought by Jennet (Jennie) Anne Poaps (nee McLean) in 1896, the first year the lots became available. Jennet Poaps was a younger sister of James and George McLean, suggesting that the subdivision was . 66 Barton Street. Window Detail. Photo by A Plunkett-Latimer, 66 Barton Street Photo by Jean-Claude Dubé largely a family enterprise rather than big business. It is likely that a home was built at 66 Barton Street as early as 1897, as the Ottawa City Directory for that year lists the Poaps family as living there. Jennet Poaps used the property to provide a mortgage to Louisa C Biggar for $1500. Jennie Poaps’s husband was Jacob Vincent Poaps, who originated in Onasbruck Township. It is uncertain when he moved to Ottawa exactly, July 2010 though as early as 1895 he owned a wholesale boot and shoe store on Wellington Street along with William Lamb and Donald McDonald. By 1899, Jacob Poaps had formed the JV Poaps and Son, which is described as a Manufacturers Agents company in the 1899 City Directory. It appears as though the Poaps’ company became quite profitable, as in 1915 they were granted a patent to incorporate their company. A letter from Thomas Mulvey, the Under- Secretary of State in 1915 stated that JV Poaps and Co. Ltd. would be worth $40,000 in capital stock divided into 400 shares. Despite their seeming optimism, however, the company went bankrupt in 1921 and was sold at a loss to a Detroit company called International Feldspar Co. In 1922, Jacob Vincent Poaps died, his wife Jennet dying shortly afterwards in 1924. After Jacob and Jennet Poaps’s deaths 66 Barton was rented for several years to a Martin S. Grace, yet title remained in the hands of the Poaps family. In 1929 John Douglas, Jacob and Jennet’s youngest child, and his wife Florence moved into the home. John Douglas and Florence Poaps remained in the home until Florence’s death in 1987 after which it was sold to Alan Duncan McKinley. The city directories do not indicate what profession John Poaps held. In 1933, however, perhaps as a result of the great depression, Poaps began to rent out an apartment at 66 Barton while continuing to live there. By 1961 this apartment was Cont’d on next page
July 2010 converted into a “work clothing” shop which Poaps ran with a man called JB Goodhue. This shop continued to run until 1973 after which Poaps seemingly retired. Architecture The home at 55 Barton Avenue is situated on a flat moderate sized, landscaped, city lot covering 6765 square feet. It displays several important features which pinpoint its construction date to the late nineteenth century, including the juxtaposition of red brick with fish scale shingles, multileveled roofs, an irregular floor plan, irregular, narrow windows, and complex brickwork. At the proper right of the home, there is a large single story bay window. The current building features a large classical styled entrance and adjoining room constructed in wood, featuring many by Kathy Krywicki, Member of Ottawa South History Project Numerous for-sale signs have sprouted on the lawns of Old Ottawa South as summer approaches and families are on the move. And selling a product demands a good pitch to the would-be purchaser, especially in the real estate business. A hundred years ago, Mr. V.V. Rogers bought over 200 acres of land in Ottawa South and divided it up into building lots. His enthusiasm to attract people to the outskirts of town into the “new” neighbourhood of Ottawa South is shown in his ad from the Ottawa Citizen May 31, 1910 transcribed below: The Spell of Ottawa South by Gorden Rogers (With Lots of Apologies to Robert W. Service) I wanted a house, and I sought it. I had paid out five thousand for rent. I wanted my own, and I got it, In the “heart of the city” content. I wanted a house, and I bought it. Right here in the city, one fall. Yet it didn’t spell “home” as I thought it, For somehow the house is not all. No. There’s the land! And I found it; And it goes good as gold to the pan; For a house must have land all around it If it’s going to be home for a man. Yes, I sold my place “right in the city,” And I bought in the south-land a lot, And the meaning of this little ditty Is to put you right next to the spot. Don’t wait till you’re “rich”. That is treason To all that “home” has ever meant In truth, it’s the rankest old reason You could offer for still paying rent. Buy a lot; build a home in its centre, Green lawn girdled, with flowers and trees; All your own, where no landlord shall enter, And your children may play as they please. The summer! You thrive in it never Who dwell in “the heart” of the town. The OSCAR - OUR 37 th YEAR Poaps House – 66 Barton Ave.... Cont’d from previous page windows. This wooden section of the home is one and a half stories, with Classical portico supported by stylized columns. The 1915 Fire Insurance Map for the City of Ottawa appears to show a veranda adjoining the home. By 1948, however, the veranda had been glassed in creating the wooden section of the home that is now present. Significance The home at 66 Barton Street was built at the end of the nineteenth century at a time when individuals in Ontario, like the United Kingdom and United States, were highly status conscious. Therefore, it was necessary for an individual’s behaviour, clothing, and home to reflect his or her particular social standing within the community. 66 Barton’s construction seems to be tied strongly to the aspirations of its owners. It was built at a particularly prosperous time for the Poaps family at virtually the same time Jacob Poaps started his own business with his sons. To a large extent the home would have been symbolic of the family’s prosperity, and perhaps even necessary for them to be taken seriously within Ottawa’s business community. Therefore, Jacob Poaps invested in features which marked the home not only as fashionable, but also of high quality and cost. It would have likely been architect designed, and incorporates features that would not have been standard, such as complex brickwork, irregular windows, and fish scale shingles. The character of the home would have indicated to the community that its inhabitants were successful merchants, and this outward manifestation of success A Century-old Testimonial to Old Ottawa South or An Ode to a Neighbourhood But here, by the rapid and river, We are sun-kissed and wind-kissed and brown. For from April to gusty November, Through spring-time and summer and fall, We are near ones with Nature, remember, And health is her gift to us all. The winter! There’s nothing to beat it For health, if you buffet it back. Yet you in your houses o’er-heated Hope for health from quinine or a quack. While you’re “in” with your colds all a-shiver, And plying your plasters and pills, We are out on a rink on a river, Or tramping in health o’er the hills! There’s a land to the south. Have you seen it? It’s the finest round here that I know; From the Sunnyside houses that screen it To the river that ripples below. Some say that God smiled when he made it, So that is the reason it smiles; And those who’ve a stake there would trade it For no land around here for miles. There’s a land in the south of the city That is “country” yet not all that far; And the meaning of this little ditty Is to get you to hike on a car; Take a short cut through pasture and clover, And look at this chance to invest In the land for a home; think it over; And your wisdom won’t question your quest. Oh, this “life” in the city’s a thin game, Giving little for all that it takes; And the cost of it all is a skin game For the man that needs all that he makes. So before you are “skinned to a finish,” And they’ve sold out the gold in your mouth, Do as I did, get wise and “diminish” Right out Bank Street for Ottawa South. I have some of the choicest lots for sale in Ottawa South that it is possible to secure and the prices are reasonable. Ottawa South property is rapidly increasing in value and if you ever intend to invest “Do it now”. Page 15 would have been a prerequisite for that success to be realized. The house also demonstrates a strong local presence in the early development of Old Ottawa South. While much of the neighbourhood was developed by wealthy Ottawans who did not live in Old Ottawa South, there was also a strong desire to develop the neighbourhood economically by locals living there. This is demonstrated not only by George and James McLean subdividing their land, but also by the fact that several lots in the subdivision were developed by the McLeans themselves. Contact the Ottawa South History Project at HistoryProject@ OldOttawaSouth.ca or visit us online at www.OldOttawaSouth.ca/ HistoryProject. V.V. Rogers 136 Bank St. Phone 1851 170 Sparks St. Phone 1800 The anticipated extension of the streetcar railway line into the neighbourhood was fuelling interest and Mr. Rogers thought the time was right for the lands of Rideauville and Wyoming Park, both part of Ottawa South, to become valuable for building purposes. He even went as far as to take out a full page ad on August 27, 1910 to discourage people from investing in other areas such as Billings Heights and warned investors not to get carried away in a real estate boom. He explained: I could, if I wished, place on the market large tracts of land and sell it, but I have never wished to do so, and have only placed small tracts, as required for actual building purposes, as the trustees of the “Glebe Property” has wisely done and are doing. I have never ceased to advise the public to invest their money in Ottawa real estate, but keep your money within the limits of the city. His competitor however didn’t like the insinuations and warned folks to avoid the land bordering the Rideau River and to invest in the highlands beyond Billings Bridge. From St. Germain and Fraas, selling agents for Ridgemont lots, an advertisement on October 8, 1910 counsels: Invest your money in a bulrush swamp and it will produce “bags” of small golden fruit with a bitter and acid taste. To compare the low lying lands of Ottawa South with the Glebe lots is as misleading as the phosphorescent Will-o-the-Wisp that hovers over bogs and swamps. And then asks rhetorically: Where would YOU prefer living? Three or four feet BELOW the level of the Rideau River and twenty-five feet BELOW the level of Dow’s Lake, or would you rather have a house a hundred and twenty feet ABOVE the Rideau River. So there’s land to the south for the taking; let the home-buying season begin! For more stories about the history of OOS see www.oldottawasouth.ca/HistoryProject.
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Page 3 and 4: July 2010 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Sen
Page 5 and 6: July 2010 OSCA PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Page 7 and 8: July 2010 CITY COUNCILLOR’S REPOR
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Page 11 and 12: July 2010 The OSCAR - OUR 37 th YEA
Page 13: July 2010 According to Wikipedia, t
Page 17 and 18: July 2010 Squirrel Talk By Michaël
Page 19 and 20: July 2010 By Robert Taylor A sell-o
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Page 31 and 32: July 2010 OCDSB TRUSTEE REPORT By R
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