The Cummings Bridge in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, crosses the

Rideau River The Rideau River (french: Rivière Rideau) is a river in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The river flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at the Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is . As explained in a writin ...

, connecting

Rideau Street Rideau Street (french: Rue Rideau) is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier ...

Montreal Road Montreal Road (French: ''Chemin de Montréal''), also known as Ottawa Road #34, is a major east-west Ottawa road that links Lowertown to Vanier and the farther eastern neighbourhoods of Ottawa. Until downloading in 1998, it was part of the p ...

in Vanier. It is a multi-span open

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

arch bridge, constructed in 1921 and renovated in 1996.

History

The area east of the Cummings Bridge, later named Vanier was first linked to the Sandy Hill area of Ottawa with a wooden bridge erected in 1835, which went over

Cummings Island Cummings Island is an uninhabited island in the Rideau River in the city of Ottawa in Canada and the site of a former settlement. History The island's first settler was Charles Cummings, who built there his house in 1840 and operated a ferry acr ...

in the Rideau River. The Cummings family settled the island, had a store there, and the island and bridge there became associated with the Cummings name. In 1891, the old wooden bridge was replaced by a steel bridge, which the city wanted to name Bingham's Bridge, after Ottawa mayor

Samuel Bingham Samuel "Sam" Bingham (184516 June 1905) was the Mayor of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada between 1897 and 1898.Dave Mullington "Chain of Office: Biographic Sketches of Ottawa's Mayors (1847-1948)" (Renfrew, Ontario: General Store Publishing House, 2005) ...

, but this name never caught on. Cummings Bridge Ottawa 1896

The current bridge was constructed in 1921, some downstream from the steel bridge, bypassing Cummings Island. Charles Cummings had a son,

Robert Cummings Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990) was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as '' The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941) and ''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943), and in ...

who became Reeve of

Gloucester Township Gloucester Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 64,634, reflecting an increase of ...

and Warden of

Carleton County, Ontario Carleton County is the name of a former county in Ontario, Canada. In 1969, it was superseded by the Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton. In 2001, the Regional Municipality and its eleven local municipalities (including Ottawa) were replac ...

References

;Bibliography * {{Ottawa Bridges completed in 1921 Bridges in Ottawa Concrete bridges in Canada Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in Canada Road bridges in Ontario Truss bridges in Canada 1921 establishments in Ontario