Nepean, Ontario
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Nepean ( ) is an area of
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Canada. Located west of Ottawa's inner core, it was an independent city until amalgamated with the Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton in 2001 to become the new city of
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
. However, the name Nepean continues in common usage in reference to the area. The population of Nepean is about 186,593 people (2021 Census). Nepean's policies of operational and capital budgeting prudence contrasted with the budget philosophies of some other municipalities in the area. Nepean instituted a strict 'pay-as-you-go' budgeting scheme. The city entered amalgamation with a large surplus and a record of tax restraint. However, most big-ticket municipal infrastructure items (transit, garbage collection, sanitary sewers, water, arterial roads, social services) were the responsibility of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton. It maintained its own library system from 1954 to amalgamation, its own police force from 1964 until it was regionalized in the 1990s; its own fire service and its own recreation programs. Hydro services were the responsibility of the Hydro-Electric Commission of the City of Nepean (commonly referred to as Nepean Hydro). Education in the City of Nepean was provided by the Carleton Board of Education (later amalgamated with the Ottawa Board of Education to form the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board). Prior to amalgamation, Nepean's City Council spent many tax dollars aggressively campaigning against what they (and their allies) referred to as the "megacity" model. The central plank of the strategy was to promote a tri-city model, which would have seen the ten municipalities of the Ottawa region reduced to three: one in the west (comprising Nepean, Kanata and the western rural municipalities), one in the east (comprising Gloucester, Cumberland and the eastern rural municipalities) and one in the centre (comprising Ottawa, Vanier and Rockcliffe Park). These efforts were in vain, as the one-city model eventually prevailed. (The one-city model was recommended by Glen Shortliffe, who was appointed by the Government of Ontario to study the issue of municipal reform in Ottawa-Carleton.)


History

Nepean Township, originally known as Township D, was established in 1792 and originally included what is now the central area of Ottawa west of the
Rideau River The Rideau River (, ) 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 writing by Samuel de Champl ...
. Jehiel Collins, from
Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...
, is believed to have been the first person to settle in Nepean Township, on the future site of
Bytown Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a sod ...
. Nepean was incorporated as a city on November 24, 1978. The geographic boundaries of Nepean changed considerably over this time; the original town hall of the township of Nepean was located in
Westboro Westboro may refer to: Places Canada *Westboro, Ottawa, Ontario, a neighbourhood ** Westboro Station (OC Transpo), an OC Transpo Transitway Station United States * Westboro (Topeka), Kansas, a residential neighborhood * Westboro, Missouri * Westbo ...
, which was annexed in 1950 by the city of Ottawa. Nepean's centre then moved to the community of
Bells Corners Bells Corners is a suburban neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located along Robertson Road west of downtown, within Ottawa's western Greenbelt (Ottawa), Greenbelt, in College Ward. As of the 2021 Canadian census, the co ...
. In the 1950 and 1960s, Nepean's urban area began to expand in previous rural areas in such areas as the community of Centrepointe in the east, and the community of Barrhaven in the south. In 1853, the City of Nepean realized that a community library was needed. By means of a bylaw and a tax levy, a library was created. In 1870, a large fire swept through Nepean, destroying several of the schoolhouses where books were stored. For the next eighty years, the library was but a memory. It was in 1951, when Ruth E. Dickinson moved to Nepean from Calgary, that she become the driving force to develop a library in Nepean. The Nepean Public Library was officially opened on March 1, 1957 and was originally known as the City View Public Library. It became the Nepean Township Public Library on December 27, 1962 Prior to its amalgamation with 10 other municipalities into the new city of
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
in 2001, the population of Nepean was 124,878. The 2006 census population was 138,596. Nepean was named after Sir
Evan Nepean Sir Evan Nepean, 1st Baronet, PC FRS (9 July 1752 – 2 October 1822)Sparrow (n.d.) was a British politician and colonial administrator. He was the first of the Nepean baronets. Family Nepean was born at St. Stephens near Saltash, Cornwal ...
, British
Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department This article lists past and present parliamentary under-secretaries of state serving the home secretary of the United Kingdom at the Home Office. Non-permanent and parliamentary under-secretaries, 1782–present *April 1782: Evan Nepean *Apri ...
from 1782 to 1791. A Nepean quarry provided the sandstone blocks that were the principal building material used in the Parliament Buildings in
downtown Ottawa Downtown Ottawa is the central area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is sometimes referred to as the Central Business District and contains Ottawa's financial district. It is bordered by the Ottawa River to the north, the Rideau Canal to the east, ...
. In September 2018, Nepean was one of the regions hit by a powerful storm that spawned six tornados in the Ottawa area, causing widespread damage to the Arlington Woods, Craig Henry and Colonnade Road Business Park areas.


Mayors/Reeves

* 1978 Andrew Haydon * 1978–97 Ben Franklin * 1997–2001 Mary Pitt


Geography


Communities and neighbourhoods

Prior to amalgamation, the following communities and neighbourhoods were within the city boundaries: * Arlington Woods *Ashdale * Barrhaven ** Cedarhill **Chapman Mills **Davidson Heights **Half Moon Bay **Heart's Desire ** Jockvale ** Longfields **Old Barrhaven **Rideau Glen ** Stonebridge * Bayshore *
Bells Corners Bells Corners is a suburban neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located along Robertson Road west of downtown, within Ottawa's western Greenbelt (Ottawa), Greenbelt, in College Ward. As of the 2021 Canadian census, the co ...
* Belltown * Borden Farm * Briargreen *Bruce Farm * Carleton Heights * Centrepointe * Craig Henry * Crestview * Crystal Beach * City View * Country Place *
Fallowfield Fallowfield is a bustling area of Manchester with a population of 14,869 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it lies south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east&n ...
*Fairfield Heights *Fisher Glen * Fisher Heights * Grenfell Glen * Leslie Park * Manordale *Meadowlands *Merivale Gardens * Parkwood Hills *Pineglen * Qualicum-Graham Park *Ryan Farm * Shirleys Bay *
Skyline A skyline is the wikt:outline, outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural area, rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the ...
*
Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue and Music festival, festival in the towns of Lenox, Massachusetts, Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony ...
*Trend Village *Twin Elm *Woodvale


Climate

Nepean has a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
(Köppen Dfb), with warm, humid summers and cold winters. The summers start in early June and end in late September with an average summer high temperature of . In Nepean, summers have about of rain. There is a 95% chance that all the precipitation comes by thunderstorms in the summer. There is also a small chance of cool, average rainy days in the summertime, especially in June. Nepean is also the Ottawa suburb that has the most hours of sunshine, with an average of 2,100 hours each year. In the winter, Nepean gets about of snow yearly with an average temperature of . Spring starts around late March and lasts until late May, with temperatures of about . The springtime has about of rain a year. The average temperature for fall is around . Autumn is the driest season in Nepean with only of rainfall annually. The gardening zone for this area is 6A.


Demographics


Economy

Although the neighbouring municipality of Kanata formed the entrepreneurial and high tech centre of the region, Nepean hosted noted industries such as
Nortel Networks Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec in 1895 ...
, JDS Uniphase, and Gandalf Technologies. As with the rest of the National Capital Region, however, Nepean's economy was also heavily dependent on federal government employment. Most of Nepean's employed residents commute to downtown Ottawa or Kanata for work. Running north-south, Merivale Road is the retail centre of Nepean, offering many smaller shops as well as big box stores. Colonnade Road Business Park is to the west of Merivale Road and south of Borden Farm, supporting many businesses along its two branches, including some federal offices such as the
Public Health Agency of Canada The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC; ) is an agency of the Government of Canada that is responsible for public health, emergency preparedness and response, and infectious and chronic disease control and prevention. History The PHAC was f ...
and Canadian Corps of Commissionaires, and an
OC Transpo OC Transpo is the primary Transit district, public transport agency for the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, operating bus rapid transit, light rail, conventional transit bus, bus routes, and door-to-door paratransit in the nation's capital regi ...
bus depot. The boulevard of Hunt Club West hosts a large auto mall, big box stores, PetSmart, and
Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, Cos ...
's Canadian headquarters, as well as a retail location. Further south is the Bentley Avenue industrial park where many independent auto shops are located, and a precast concrete factory. Several petroleum companies have fuel storage facilities in the area.


Places of interest

Ben Franklin Place, located in Centrepointe, was the city hall for Nepean until it became a part of Ottawa. Now, it serves as a government office and client service centre, as well as continuing to be home to a branch of the Ottawa Public Library and the Centrepointe Theatre. Nepean Museum located at 16 Rowley Avenue, Nepean Ontario is a museum that collects, preserves, researches, exhibits and interprets the works of man and nature in Nepean.


Education

Anglophone schools in Nepean are administered by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) and the Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board (OCCSB). Both the OCDSB and OCCSB headquarters are located within Nepean itself. Francophone education is provided by the ''
Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario The Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario, also widely known as CEPEO, is the public school board responsible for education in the French language in Eastern Ontario, including the Ottawa area. The board consists of 12 trustees el ...
'' (CÉPEO) and the '' Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est'' (CECCE). Schools in Nepean include:


Public schools


Elementary

*Adrienne Clarkson Elementary School *Barrhaven Public School *Bayshore Public School *Bells Corners Public School *Berrigan Elementary School *Briargreen Public School *Chapman Mills Public School *Farley Mowat Public School *Jockvale Elementary School *Knoxdale Public School *Lakeview Public School *École élémentaire publique Michaelle-Jean *Manordale Public School *Mary Honeywell Elementary School * Meadowlands Public School *Sir Winston Churchill Public School


Intermediate

* Cedarview Middle School


Secondary

* Bell High School * John McCrae Secondary School *
Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School is a public school in Barrhaven, a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 2009. Faculty The school opened in September 2009 providing services for grades 7 to 12. The staff has grown ...
* Merivale High School * École secondaire publique Omer-Deslauriers * Sir Guy Carleton Secondary School * Sir Robert Borden High School


Special education

*Crystal Bay Centre for Special Education


Alternate education

*Elizabeth Wyn Wood Secondary Alternate Program


Closed

*Graham Park Public School closed 1988 * J.S. Woodsworth Secondary School closed 2005 *Parkwood Hills Public School closed 2010 *Century Public School closed 2017 *D. Aubrey Moodie Intermediate School closed 2017 * Greenbank Public Middle School closed 2017 *Leslie Park Public School closed 2017


Catholic schools


Elementary

*Monsignor Paul Baxter School *Our Lady of Peace School *Pope John XXIII School *St. Andrew School *St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School *St. Emily School *St. Gregory School *St. John the Apostle School *St. Luke School, Nepean *St. Monica School *St. Patrick School *St. Rita School *St. Rose of Lima School


Intermediate

*Frank Ryan Intermediate School


Secondary

*École Secondaire Catholique Pierre-Savard *Collège catholique Franco-Ouest *St. Mother Teresa High School *St. Joseph High School * St. Paul High School


Continuing education

*St. Patrick's Adult School


Post-Secondary

*
Algonquin College Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology is a publicly funded English-language college located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The college has three campuses, all in Ontario: a primary campus in Ottawa, and secondary campuses in Perth and ...
(main campus)


Media

''Nepean This Week'' is a weekly publication distributed in the Nepean area. The Ottawa area's CTV affiliate,
CJOH-DT CJOH-DT (channel 13) is a television station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, serving the National Capital Region as part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Pembroke-licensed CTV 2 outlet ...
, was headquartered on Merivale Road in Nepean. The studio was home to shows such as Graham Kerr's ''The Galloping Gourmet'', and the cult children's classic ''
You Can't Do That on Television ''You Can't Do That on Television'' is a Canadian sketch comedy television series that aired locally in 1979 before airing in the United States in 1981. It featured adolescent and teenage actors performing in a sketch comedy format similar to A ...
''. The building was ravaged by a fire on February 7, 2010, and was demolished in 2011. The Merivale Road complex is still home to
Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. (often simply known as Corus) is a Canadian mass media and television production company. The company was founded in 1987 as Shaw Radio Ltd. as a subsidiary of Shaw Communications and was spun-off from Shaw in 1999. It h ...
's English-language stations CKQB-FM and CJOT-FM.


Notable people

The following famous people were either born in, raised in, or consider Nepean their home town: * Jamie Baker, hockey player, sports broadcaster * Fred Brathwaite, hockey player and coach * Jeff Brown, hockey player and coach * Andrew Calof, hockey player * Jeff Chychrun, hockey player * Doug Frobel, baseball player * Chester Hansen, musician * Charmaine Hooper, soccer player * Howard Jones, musician *
Jesse Levine Jesse Levine (born October 15, 1987) is an American-Canadian former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles rank of world No. 69 on October 1, 2012. Levine represented the United States through 2012, and he represented Ca ...
, tennis player * Steve MacLean, astronaut *
Sandra Oh Sandra Miju Oh (born July 20, 1971) is a Canadian and American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Rita Wu in ''Arliss (TV series), Arliss'' (1996–2002), Cristina Yang in ''Grey's Anatomy'' (2005–14), and Eve Polastri in ''Kill ...
, actress *
Jesse Palmer Jesse James Palmer (born October 5, 1978) is a Canadian television personality, sports commentator, and former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons in the early 2000s. Palmer played ...
, football player, television personality * Darren Pang, hockey player, hockey analyst * Shermar Paul, rapper, songwriter, record producer * Klea Scott, actress * MacKenzie Weegar, hockey player * Jason York, hockey player, broadcaster *
Steve Yzerman Stephen Gregory Yzerman ( ; born May 9, 1965) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player currently serving as executive vice president and general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he spent all 22 seasons of his NHL playing ...
, hockey player, current GM of the
Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...
* Jeff Zywicki,
lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...
player


References

;Bibliography *


External links

{{authority control Neighbourhoods in Ottawa Former municipalities now in Ottawa Former cities in Ontario Populated places disestablished in 2000