By Michel Rossignol
Between 1912 and 1966, Union Station, across the street from the Chateau Laurier, was Ottawa’s main train station. This is where most travellers to Ottawa arrived because in those days, the train was the main mode of transportation between cities. It was also the place where most of the immigrants who settled in Lowertown during the first half of the Twentieth Century first set foot in Ottawa.
F. C. Tyrell, National Film Board. LAC-047167
After a long journey by ship across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, where most of the newcomers came from in those days, the immigrants were no doubt impressed by the ornate interior of the big train station with long marble staircases leading up to the Rideau Street exit. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Ottawa which greeted them when they got outside of the station was very different from the one we know today. Streetcars rumbled up and down Rideau Street and you could see a movie at nearby cinemas for twenty cents. Tired and a bit bewildered by the sights and sounds of their new city, the immigrants, with just a few words of English and some help from passers by, tried to find their way to the address on St. Andrew, Clarence or other streets of Lowertown that friends or relatives had given them. While walking through Byward Market, they were no doubt impressed by the hustle and bustle of the area where farmers, butchers, and pedlars tried to attract customers. Some arrived at their new home where they were greeted by friends and relatives, but others quietly faced challenges alone.
After arriving in Lowertown, life was not always easy for the newcomers, especially during the Great Depression of the 1930s. There was more sadness between 1939 and 1945, during the Second World War, when many immigrants went to Union Station to say goodbye to their sons and daughters who had joined the Canadian military and left by train on their way to bases overseas. After the war, the rapid development of international air travel made it much easier for immigrants from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and other areas of the world to travel to Ottawa and join our growing community. Thus, the Ottawa International Airport replaced Union Station as the gateway to Ottawa, especially after the train station was moved in 1966 to its present location.