Billings Bridge

Billings Bridge is a bridge over the Rideau River in Ottawa. Bank Street passes over the river by way of this bridge. The bridge was named after Braddish Billings, who settled in this area and established a farm nearby in 1812. The first bridge, originally called Farmers Bridge, was built over the river here in 1830. The current bridge was built in 1916.

Billings Bridge also referred to a village, located south of the river near the bridge, which became part of the city of Ottawa in 1950. The area, now an Ottawa neighbourhood, is still referred to as Billings Bridge.

In the early 19th century, the Ottawa area was sparsely settled by Europeans. In 1783, a large tract of land including what is now Billings Bridge was purchased from the local aboriginal nations as part of the Crawford Purchase. First named in Lunenburg District in 1788, the area became part of Township B in 1792. In 1793, the township was renamed Gloucester Township, after Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and included in Dundas County. Billings Bridge was not yet settled in 1800 when Russel County was established and Gloucester Township incorporated into it.

Braddish Billings arrived from Brockville in 1812 and cut out a farm on the Rideau River at the present-day Billings Bridge. The area was widely forested at the time and the early British settlement was focused on subsistence farming, as had Iroquois settlement elsewhere in the Ottawa Valley. The following year he married Lamira Dow of Merrickville and returned with her.

Gloucester Township was incorporated in the Ottawa District in 1816. The Billings Bridge area slowly grew with the progressive arrival of settlers, including friends and family of Billings. In 1823, Braddish Billings built a sawmill on a creek running through his property, near today's Bank Street. This creek remains known as Sawmill Creek.

Settlement accelerated with the development of Bytown and the Rideau Canal.

The first bridge was built by Billings across the Rideau River at Bank Street in 1831. Originally called Farmers Bridge, by 1859 both the bridge and the community became commonly known as Billings Bridge.

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