Pretoria Avenue Lift Bridge
Written by Bytown Museum
on
03/Dec/2009
Built in 1912, the Pretoria Avenue lift bridge replaced an earlier wooden swing bridge on Argyle Street. The central portion of the lift bridge can be elevated to let boats pass underneath. More than a few locals have been frustrated by the traffic jams this creates!
The bridge you see today is not the original bridge, though it looks much the same. When the bridge was replaced in the 1970s, it was agreed that the structure's heritage appearance should be maintained, and the workers were able to reuse much of the original stonework.
The bridge shares its name with nearby Pretoria Avenue. Formerly Jane Street, Pretoria Avenue was renamed in 1902 to commemorate the British victory in the Boer War of South Africa, along with those Canadians who had served, including 191 volunteer soldiers from Ottawa, 12 of whom died. One Ottawa soldier was saved when his knapsack Bible stopped an oncoming bullet.
Did you know that much of the 1970s reconstruction work below the bridge took place during the winter, when the workers could more easily reach the bridge's underside thanks to the frozen Rideau Canal?
Neighbourhood
Like the rest of Ottawa, the area that would become known as the Glebe was originally a hunting territory for Anishnabe (Algonquin) tribes, principally the Odawa, whose name is commemorated ... read more
