Posted by: Kathy Krywicki

In 1907, one of the arguments to convince residents of the Village of Ottawa East to vote favourably on amalgamation into the City of Ottawa was that was the city would use its influence with the Dominion Government to secure a bridge over the Rideau Canal at Mutchmor Street (Fifth Avenue) connecting to Clegg Street. Only a few years later we have implementation of this capital idea!

We’ve come a long way.

From this:

December 1959 — Temporary wooden footbridge constructed in 1950s & 1960s from Second Aveue, Glebe to Herridge Avenue, Ottawa East.
Photo credit: Ted Grant/Library and Archives Canada
 
To this:
June 2019 — the Flora Footbridge spanning Fifth Avenue, Glebe to Clegg Street, Old Ottawa East. Photo by Kathy Krywicki.
 

The newly opened Flora Footbridge is named to commemorate the Honourable Flora MacDonald, Canada’s first female foreign minister, who often speed-skated to work on the canal when she lived nearby in the Glebe.