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A special request . . . from the team at the Lowertown Echo The Echo is published four times a year by a small, hardworking team of volunteers. We give our time and energies freely to support our beloved local journal and our community. We keep our costs moderately low – about $3,000 per issue (for printing)…
By the Lowertown Community Association’s Health & Wellness Committee Lowertown will soon be included in the City of Ottawa’s Alternate Neighbourhood Crisis Response (ANCHOR) program, a community-led mental health and substance-use crisis response service that offers an alternative to a police response in certain situations. ANCHOR was launched in 2024 as a response to long-standing…
By Malcolm and John Harding of Compu-Home Q: Considering the huge number of the shapes, sizes, and types of batteries in our homes, isn’t it a bit surprising to be talking about them potentially being dangerous? A: Batteries store chemical energy that is used to power a device, but that power can be released suddenly…
Brian Doyle Angel Square, Groundwood Books, Toronto, 1984. By Nancy Miller-Chenier Brian Doyle is legendary and when he died earlier this year, Lowertown lost one of its most beloved and renowned story-tellers. Doyle’s novel, Angel Square, takes readers into the life of Tommy, pseudonym Lamont Cranston, alter ego of The Shadow, a crime fighter based…
By Alain Miguelez, Vice-President, Capital Planning and Chief Planner, National Capital Commission For more than 70 years, the National Capital Greenbelt has been a defining part of life in the National Capital Region. Reflecting the planning paradigms of the 1950s, it was created to contain the outward expansion of the urban area, protect natural landscapes,…
By Christine Kilfoi When we moved to Ottawa, we knew we wanted to be downtown. We were recommended to look at neighbourhoods like New Edinburgh, Manor Park, or Westboro. Lowertown was not mentioned to us at all. But we needed a home that would fit a large family, and, in the end, our home, formerly…
By Laura Hashimoto My husband and I are pretty new to parenting. My daughter is just six months old, so when I thought about offering my perspective on raising a kid in Lowertown, I have to admit I felt somewhat underqualified. Sure, some days, when we stick to the routine and I manage to venture…
By Sarah Bissex This Mother’s Day, I find myself in between. I am almost exactly halfway to meeting my little boy. I am not yet a mother in the way my neighbours with grown children are, and not yet a new parent navigating naps and feeding schedules like many of my peers. My husband and…
By Curtis Wolfe The City of Ottawa’s Heritage Award of Merit for Restoration has been awarded to Matthew Villeneuve and Isabelle Leclerc-Morin, co-owners of Pothier House at 207 Cathcart Street, for their work in restoring the building’s two-storey porch. The award recognizes projects that restore a heritage property to its original form and overall character,…
By Nancy Miller Chenier In 1978, the City of Ottawa designated this one and a half stone double building with end chimneys and dormers as one of the few surviving stone cottages reminiscent of Ottawa’s origins with the Rideau Canal. In 2026, it is currently Lowertown’s only residential stone cottage and it does have strong…