By Helen Hayward
If you get a chance to talk to Bob Rochon, you know immediately that he has deep roots in Lowertown. Bob grew up on St. Andrew Street and has a great collection of stories to tell – about past life in the community, childhood experiences, and local landmarks.
Schools were a major part of life for young people, and Bob, being a French Catholic child, attended Guigues School on Murray Street for Grades 1 to 8. This building, which played such a pivotal role in the Franco-Ontarian resistance to Regulation 17, is beautifully restored and now houses condominiums and a community centre for Francophone seniors.
For high school, Bob joined other boys at the La Salle Academy on Sussex Drive between St. Andrew and Guigues , another building which has been renovated for a new purpose by the federal government.
the one with the necktie under his jersey
The years from 1956 to 1960 at La Salle Academy provided Bob with two choices for extra-curricular activities: play in the band or take military training. Initially, he chose the band, where he played bugle, drums and clarion. That ended when he was viewed as a “shit disturber” and ordered off to military training that included shooting practice in the attic of the school.
But it was hockey on a rink in the yard behind the school where he excelled. At the time, A hockey stick cost $1.00, a considerable amount of money at the time. The Christian Brothers overseeing the sport came up with a cheap method of repairing a broken stick. They would hammer an empty tomato can until it was flat. Then, the flat piece of tin was cut into the shape of the blade of the hockey stick and nailed into place on the broken one. According to Bob, “When you got hit with one, you really knew it!”
Notre Dame Basilica was the family church and one with a very special personal connection. Bob is a direct descendant of Flavien and Alphonse Rochon, two expert wood carvers who decorated the sanctuary with many of the beautiful carvings still seen there today. The experience of being in the Guigues School choir influenced Bob to become an altar boy at the Basilica, even when it meant getting up at 5:30 in the morning in order to get there on time for the 6:00 a.m. mass.
posing in front of 173 St. Andrew
Life on St Andrew Street was filled with activities. One winter game was street hockey using frozen horse dung for a puck. And fights with the “maudits Anglais” going to and from school meant that, in self defence of course, Bob had to lead a band of roughnecks.
The distinctive row of eight two-storey units on St. Andrew provided a back laneway around sheds and garages that was perfect for wagon races. With one boy in the wagon and the other pulling it, there could be as many as 25 kids out there having a great time! Once a week, all those same backyards came to life in a different way, as the mothers performed the Monday laundry chores. That day every yard had a line full of drying clothes, blowing in the wind.
As was the case for many young males, encounters with girls could be problematic. Back in the day, the skating rink in Bingham Park was situated closer to Dalhousie Street, where the wading pool is now located. Bob remembers that this was a great place for teenagers to meet. There was music to accompany the skating, but it could be a challenge to get a girl to skate with you. He also recounts how, as a smart-alecky 12 year old, a suggestive comment to some girls led to a policeman visiting his home to report on the bad boy, a visit followed by some stern punishment from his father.
Like many residents who have lived in Lowertown a long time, the memory of buildings is significant. Bob remembers the Cities Service Gas Station and Car Repair at the north-east corner of Dalhousie and St. Andrew where Marcel and Ti’Counc (Scoon) were the mechanics. In the absence of a lift, the mechanics parked cars over a large hole in the dirt floor and then climbed down into it to get at the underside of the car. Today the site is a parking lot. A block to the east, at the corner of Cumberland and St. Andrew, a big stone building held the Rheaume butcher shop, where everyone went to buy their meat. And along Dalhousie at the corner of Guigues is the building that Bob’s Great Grandmother Charbonneau owned. At various times, that building was a prison, then a hotel and then apartments. Today it houses a hair salon.
Even this small sample of Bob’s stories reminds us how Lowertown has always been a vibrant part of the city. It is neighbours like him that enrich our history and build our sense of living in an enduring community in Ottawa. And Bob still lives on St Andrew Street and continues to collect memories.