EARLY DAYS

on access to the job site on Barrack Hill.

But what is surprising is where they decided to reside. And not only Fuller and Jones, but three other key figures in the construction of Parliament buildings. They chose the wilds of mid-19th-century Kitchissippi.

Kitchissippi had only 20 families at the time, and Richmond Road was maintained as a toll road. It had recently been widened to 14 feet, and today it’s more than 60 feet wide, including sidewalks.

It was along Richmond Road that the earliest residents resided, including John “Buffalo” Heney, who had arrived in the area in 1837 and built a frame house and outbuildings but moved to central Ottawa to conduct business during the 1840s and 50s. While away, he rented his home to tenants who farmed the vast, fertile farmland in Nepean Township.