Boston Canada Travel

Ottawa’s Byward Market reminds me very much of Boston’s Quincy Market, also known as Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Quincy Market, built in 1824-26 was a place where merchants and food vendors could sell their wares right from the dock.

The first Byward Market building was constructed in 1826 from private financing by Colonel By, famous for constructing the Rideau Canal to connect Ottawa to Montreal, thus creating an important trade route for the Ottawa lumber industry. A Bostonian transplant, Philemon Wright, bought up the lands around Ottawa, seeing the opportunity to build up a lumber industry with the access to Canadian timber and the waterways at the mouth of the Ottawa River. This led to the springing up of a town, and with the connecting of the waterway, a major city took form.

Both Quincy Market and Byward Market continued to be a hub for merchants in the 1800s, but by the 1900s had fallen into disrepair. Thanks to the vision of Mayor Kevin White in 1976, Quincy Market was saved from demolition and revitalized into the number 1 tourist attraction that it is today. In the case of the Byward Market, thanks to the insight of the National Capital Commission, in 1983, the Bward Market was renovated with the addition of the Rideau Centre into the number 1 tourist destination in Ottawa, with 6.3 million visitors in 2009.