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The new residence of E.B. Eddy under construction in May, 1901, replacing a house destroyed in the Ottawa-Hull fire of 1900. The house was at the corner of Brewery Street (now Montcalm) and Aylmer Road.

Source:

Residence of E.B. Eddy, Aylmer Road, [Hull, P.Q.], May, 1901 (Topley Studio Fonds / Library and Archives Canada / PA-028224).

Last Trip: The Death of Alfred Bonenfant / 8

The Aylmer Road

The Hull end of the Aylmer Road was dominated by the home of Ezra Butler Eddy (1827-1906). Eddy came to Hull from Vermont in 1854 and began selling matches that he and his wife hand-made using discarded wood from local sawmills. By the 1880s Eddy was one of Canada's leading entrepreneurs, having made a fortune in the lumber, pulp and paper industries. He was also the local member of the Québec Legislative Assembly for five years and mayor of Hull for nine years.

Eddy twice saw his businesses destroyed in the fires that devastated Hull in 1882 and 1900 and twice rebuilt them. Eddy was one of Ottawa-Hull's major employers with about 2,000 people working for him.

As Ottawa became more conscious of its role as a national capital its citizens increasingly regarded Eddy's industrial operations as an eyesore. Eddy, however, was proud of his mills and plants. He built his house right across the street from his paper factory.

Eddy and his neigbhours would have been much less tolerant of Alfred Bonenfant's unsavory destination but while it was within easy reach of its Ottawa clientele it was far enough down the Aylmer Road not to cause undue distress to the respectable citizens of Hull.