{"id":1856,"date":"2010-02-02T10:48:06","date_gmt":"2010-02-02T15:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingottawa.ca\/?p=1856"},"modified":"2013-01-21T09:13:27","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T14:13:27","slug":"mayoral-ottawa-from-fun-frank-to-fishers-folly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/02\/02\/mayoral-ottawa-from-fun-frank-to-fishers-folly\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayoral Ottawa: from Fun Frank to Fisher’s Folly"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Birkett Castle, now the Hungarian Embassy --photo by E. Thornton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When it was recently announced that Jim Watson would be joining the mayoral race, I began to think about mayors and their stamps of the city\u2019s built environment. In a capital city that duly celebrates \u2018nation-builders\u2019 where can we find the \u2018city-builders\u2019? When I started to dig a little it turns out that Ottawa\u2019s mayors \u2014 particularly those from the first half of the 20th century \u2014 haunt the city everywhere, in street signs, bridges and hospitals they advocated for, decadent \u2018castles\u2019 they lived in, and swimming pools.<\/p>\n

Lyon Street is named for the mayor who had the honour of celebrating Confederation \u2014 Robert Lyon was the mayor in 1867 and was a serious man, most notable for having a family full of famous characters, and the longest beard in Ottawa\u2019s mayoral history.<\/p>\n

The delightful community centre: the Plant Bath at the corner of Preston and Somerset is named for Frank Plant, the mayor in 1921-23, and 1930. Seems that Plant was the \u2018fun mayor\u2019 who enjoyed sleigh-riding to the non-prohibition affected Hull and whose most notable suggestions were to establish a city zoo and city-owned golf course (neither happened). The Plant and Champagne baths were also his ideas. These baths were built in 1924 as part of the public health movement at the time. They were soon transformed into public swimming pools.<\/p>\n

On Metcalfe Street, there are not one but two \u2018castles\u2019\u2014the well-known Museum of Nature, and what is known as \u201cBirkett Castle\u201d Birkett Castle, at 306 Metcalfe, has been the headquarters of the Boy Scouts and most recently as the Hungarian Embassy. However, it was built in 1895 for the Thomas Birkett, hardware merchant and Ottawa mayor in 1891. With a short mayoralty in a time of recession, Birkett did not accomplish much, but was the mayor during the opening of electric streetcar.<\/p>\n

The one mayor honoured with a figurative statue is Harold Fisher, Mayor (1917-20). His statue is appropriately in front of the Ottawa Civic Hospital, Fisher\u2019s most significant and controversial accomplishment during his mayoralty. Mayor during the 1918 outbreak of the Spanish flu, Fisher spent much of his time as mayor improving health infrastructure in the city. During the outbreak, which took 520 Ottawa citizens, Fisher closed schools, theatres, churches and persuaded the streetcar companies to prevent standing in an attempt to reduce crowding. His proposal to build the hospital in its current location on Carling Ave was chided by many as being too far\u2014earning the project the nickname \u201cFisher\u2019s Folly.\u201d The monument to Fisher, unveiled in 1928 three years after his death, is by a renowned sculptor George Hill (he also sculpted the monuments to D\u2019arcy McGee and George Brown).The inscription sums up Fisher\u2019s accomplishment: \u201cif you would see his monument, look around you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Scott Building - the Main branch of the Ottawa Public Library, named after R.W. Scott, Ottawa Mayor in 1852 and the only Ottawa mayor to be knighted --photo by T. Davidson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Their legacies may be forgotten, but their names still ring a bell: Fisher, Friel, Scott, Rochester, Lyon, Stewart, Lewis, Waller, Champagne. My next post I am going to dedicate entirely to the two mayors who challenged City Hall\u2019s glass ceiling: Charlotte Whitton and Marion Dewar.<\/p>\n

References: Mullington, Dave Chain of Office: Biographical Sketches of the Early Mayors of Ottawa (1847-1948) Renfrew: General Store Publishing House.<\/p>\n

Maitland, Leslie and Louis Taylor 1990. Historical Sketches of Ottawa Peterborough: Broadview Press.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it was recently announced that Jim Watson would be joining the mayoral race, I began to think about mayors and their stamps of the city\u2019s built environment. In a capital city that duly celebrates \u2018nation-builders\u2019 where can we find the \u2018city-builders\u2019? When I started to dig a little it turns out that Ottawa\u2019s mayorsContinue reading “Mayoral Ottawa: from Fun Frank to Fisher’s Folly”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7046,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5304],"tags":[1314,1300,1315,1305,1316,1307,1312,1295,1310,1304,1306,336,1297,748,1308,1302,1309,1109,1318,1311,1299,394,1296,468,1301,862,1303,1313,1298,1317],"class_list":["post-1856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","tag-bath","tag-birkett-castle","tag-broadview-press","tag-charlotte-whitton","tag-dave","tag-frank-plant","tag-fun-mayor","tag-general-store-publishing-house","tag-george-brown","tag-george-hill","tag-harold-fisher","tag-historical","tag-hungarian-embassy","tag-jim-watson","tag-leslie-taylor","tag-louis-taylor","tag-marion-dewar","tag-mayor","tag-mayor-improving-health-infrastructure","tag-mcgee-brown","tag-museum-of-nature","tag-ottawa","tag-ottawa-civic-hospital","tag-ottawa-public-library","tag-plant-bath","tag-renowned-sculptor","tag-robert-lyon","tag-rochester","tag-scott-building","tag-spanish-flu"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMayoral Ottawa: from Fun Frank to Fisher's Folly - Spacing Ottawa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/02\/02\/mayoral-ottawa-from-fun-frank-to-fishers-folly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mayoral Ottawa: from Fun Frank to Fisher's Folly - Spacing Ottawa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When it was recently announced that Jim Watson would be joining the mayoral race, I began to think about mayors and their stamps of the city\u2019s built environment. 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