Why not fountains and parks and gardens? It is also believed D’Arcy McGee, the Canadian nationalist and Father of Confederation who was assassinated in 1868 penned some of his poems at the Russell House Hotel. He was apparently staying at the Russell when he penned a complaint to Macdonald regarding the cost of building the Parliament buildings saying: Never mind expenses. Other prominent early guests included George Brown, the fiery Liberal MP. On Confederation Day, 1 July 1867, the Russell House was full, hosting prominent Canadians from across the country who had come to Ottawa to bear witness to that first Dominion Day, now known as Canada Day. Macdonald, in need of a place to live while the House of Commons and Senate were in session. It immediately attracted the great and powerful, becoming the home for many Members of Parliament, including Sir John A. Like its namesake at Quebec, the new Russell House Hotel was conveniently located at short stroll from Parliament Hill. Gouin later built the Caledonia Springs Hotel, a famous spa in eastern Ontario, and was appointed Ottawa Postmaster by Sir John A. The hotel could accept twenty five to thirty boarders “at reasonable rates.” The advertisement added that Gouin had been “connected for many years with Russell’s Hotel, Palace Street, Quebec.” This hotel, located just a few blocks from the provincial parliament buildings (now the site of Parc Montmorency), had been owned by the Russell family, Americans who had apparently settled in Quebec when it had been the centre of the lumber industry. He renamed it the Russell House after the Russell Hotel in Quebec City where he had worked.Īdvertisement, The Ottawa Citizen, 17 July 1863Advertisements dated 8 June 1863 appeared regularly in the Ottawa Citizen through the latter part of that year announcing that Gouin, the new proprietor of the Russell House, had completely repainted and refurnished “this commodious Establishment,” and that “on the 10th instant” would be ready to receive visitors. Gouin from Quebec City bought Campbell’s Hotel. Thinking ahead to the business opportunities that this influx of people would bring, Mr James A.

Its population soared after the Parliamentary and Governmental buildings were completed in the early 1860s, and civil servants and Members of Parliament decamped from Quebec City to Ottawa. When Queen Victoria selected Ottawa as the capital of the Province of Canada in 1857, the future of the small community was secured. Its food and other supplies came from Montreal by river in the summer and overland by sled in the winter. Located in Upper Town close to the Rideau Canal, it was the main stopping point for people vising Bytown, later known as Ottawa. Originally, the hotel was a three-storey structure with an attic and tin roof known as Campbell’s House after its first owner. It was a grand and stately hostelry that dated back to about 1845.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the centre of Ottawa’s social life was the Russell House Hotel that stood on the southeast corner of Sparks and Elgin Streets.

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