Rideau Street - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Rideau Street is a major street in downtown Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier

Vanier, Ontario

-External links:**...

district. Rideau Street is home to the Château Laurier

Château Laurier

The Fairmont Château Laurier is a landmark hotel in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario located near the intersection of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive designed in the Châteauesque style.-History:...

, the Rideau Centre

Rideau Centre

Rideau Centre is a three-level shopping centre on Rideau Street in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It borders on Rideau Street , the Rideau Canal, the Mackenzie King Bridge, and Nicholas Street....

and the Government Conference Centre

Government Conference Centre

The Government Conference Centre is a government building in downtown Ottawa, Canada, located at 2 Rideau Street. It is situated at the intersection of Wellington Street and the Rideau Canal, just a short distance from the Parliament buildings and Confederation Square, and across the street from...

(Ottawa's former central train station). Along with Wellington Street

Wellington Street (Ottawa)

Wellington Street is an important street in Ottawa, Canada most notable for being one of the first two streets laid out in Bytown in 1826 Wellington Street (French: Rue Wellington) is an important street in Ottawa, Canada most notable for being one of the first two streets laid out in Bytown in...

and Sussex Drive

Sussex Drive

Sussex Drive is a major street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's major ceremonial and institutional routes....

it was among the first streets in Ottawa to be host to businesses; it was created with the founding of the early town

Bytown

Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Canada's capital city. It was founded on on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a sod turning, and a letter from Governor General...

. The Plaza Bridge

Plaza Bridge (Ottawa)

The Plaza Bridge in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is an automotive and pedestrian bridge that crosses the Rideau Canal just south of the Ottawa locks. It joins Wellington Street and Elgin Street in Centretown to the west with Rideau Street to the east. The Chateau Laurier abuts the bridge at the east...

) by the Rideau Canal

Rideau Canal

The Rideau Canal , also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and is still in use today, with most of its...

is at its westmost point and the Cummings Bridge

Cummings Bridge

The Cummings Bridge in Ottawa, constructed in 1921, connects Rideau Street to Montreal Road in Vanier.-History:The area east of the Cummings Bridge, later named Vanier was first linked to the Sandy Hill area of Ottawa with a wooden bridge erected in 1835, which went over a small island in the...

is at its eastmost point.

For many years, Rideau Street was one of Ottawa's primary retail thoroughfares, containing department stores such as Freimans

Freimans

A.J. Freiman Limited, or Freimans, was a landmark department store on Rideau Street in Ottawa, Canada, founded in 1918 by Archibald J. Freiman.Archibald Jacob Freiman was born in Lithuania in 1880, and emigrated to Hamilton, Ontario...

, Ogilvy's

Ogilvy's

Charles Ogilvy Limited, or "Ogilvy's", was a department store in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1887. For much of the 20th century, Ogilvy's was one of Ottawa's higher-end department stores....

, Woolworth

F. W. Woolworth Company

The F. W. Woolworth Company was a retail company that was one of the original American five-and-dime stores. The first successful Woolworth store was opened on July 18, 1879 by Frank Winfield Woolworth in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store"...

, Caplan's

Caplan's

Caplan's was a department store in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.Caplan's began as a small dry goods shop in 1897, and operated over time at various locations throughout Ottawa. In 1916, the store moved to Rideau Street, where it grew into a department store and went on to become a retail landmark in...

and the Metropolitan. Although the local department stores are gone, Rideau Street still features The Bay

The Bay

The Bay is a chain of 91 department stores that operate across parts of Canada. It is the main brand of Hudson's Bay Company , North America's oldest company. It has its headquarters in the Simpson Tower in Toronto. In French, the chain is known as la Baie, short for "Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson"...

department store, the Rideau Centre

Rideau Centre

Rideau Centre is a three-level shopping centre on Rideau Street in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It borders on Rideau Street , the Rideau Canal, the Mackenzie King Bridge, and Nicholas Street....

shopping mall, and the street is adjacent to shops of the Byward Market

Byward Market

ByWard Market is a district in Lower Town located east of the government & business district, surrounding the market buildings and open-air market on George, York, ByWard and William Streets.The district is bordered on the west by Sussex Drive, on the...

. The street had been designated Highway 17B before the Ontario government discontinued it in 1998.

To the north of Rideau, east of King Edward Avenue

King Edward Avenue (Ottawa)

King Edward Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the eastern part of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.King Edward Avenue runs from the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge southward to the Queensway. The street was originally named "King Street" and was renamed to honour King Edward VII...

is the traditional Lower Town

Lower Town

Lowertown is a district in the central area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to the east of downtown. It is bounded roughly by Rideau Street to the south, Sussex Drive and Ottawa River to the north, the Rideau Canal to the west, and the Rideau River to the east...

district of Ottawa, a residential area which in the past was predominantly Francophone

Franco-Ontarian

Franco-Ontarians are French Canadian or francophone residents of the Canadian province of Ontario. They are sometimes known as "Ontarois"....

, but now has one of Ottawa's largest immigrant populations, notably including many Francophone Africans and Somalis

Somali people

Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...

. North of Rideau and west of King Edward is the commercial Byward Market

Byward Market

area.

To the south of Rideau Street is the Sandy Hill

Sandy Hill

Sandy Hill is a bilingual neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario located just east of downtown. The neighbourhood is bordered on the west by the Rideau Canal and on the east by the Rideau River. To the north it stretches to Rideau Street and the Byward Market area while to the south it is bordered by...

neighbourhood, with its mix of embassies, older houses, low- and high-rise apartment buildings, and student housing.

See also