Little Italy, Ottawa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Little Italy is a neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, situated in Centretown West and the cultural centre of Ottawa's Italian community. Bounded by Albert Street to the north, Carling Avenue to the south, the O-Train tracks to the west, and Bronson Avenue to the east, Little Italy intersects with Chinatown, whose business district centres on Somerset Street.
Little Italy was initially settled around 1900 by Italian immigrants. Following a fire at a small Murray Street chapel, the 1913 founding of St. Anthony of Padua Church at the corner of Booth Street and Gladstone Avenue cemented the immigrants' connections with the neighbourhood. In the years following World War II a second wave of Italian immigrants was joined by communities of Ukrainian and Polish immigrants in the area. In recent years with the integration of European immigrants the neighbourhood has found itself home to Asian immigrants, primarily from China and Vietnam.
In the 1960s a large section of the poorer neighbourhood was demolished, and replaced with the High School of Commerce, today the Adult High School.
Preston Street (Ottawa Road #73) is the main commercial district in Little Italy, home to numerous small business and Italian restaurants, and is synonymous with "Little Italy" to many Ottawa residents when referring to area businesses. In 1987, alderman Mac Harb led the creation of the Preston Street Business Improvement Area, representing local businesses to the City of Ottawa. Preston Street is marked at Carling Avenue by a metal arch lit in the colors of the Italian flag, built in 2002 to attract tourists from the Dow's Lake area immediately to the south.
Since 1974, Preston and its side streets are closed to traffic each June for the Italian Week festival, Ottawa's celebration of Italian culture.
Two area streets have been given commemorative Italian street names. Gladstone Avenue is also called Via Marconi, and Preston Street is called Corso Italia.
[edit] References
- Our Little Italy. Our Little Italy. Ottawa: Government of Canada, Canada's Digital Collections Initiative. Retrieved on October 3, 2005.
- History of Ottawa's Little Italy. Il Postino. Retrieved on October 3, 2005.
- History. Ottawa's Little Italy - Preston Street. Retrieved on October 3, 2005.
