ABOUT MANOTICK
Located on the Rideau River, just a few kilometres east of Highway 416, Manotick offers full services to the visiting public. The main shopping area is the Manotick Mews shopping centre. A significant point of interest is the Dickinson Square Conservation Area which hosts Watson's Mill (a 19th century grist mill) and Dickinson House. There are a number of restaurants in town. Boaters will find several marinas located a few kilometres south of town. A public dock is available in Mahograny Harbour.
There are several golf courses located close to Manotick. In addition, the W.A. Taylor Conservation Area, Baxter Conservation Area, and Rideau River Provincial Park are located south of town on the Rideau River.
HISTORY
Manotick was one of the later developed communities along the Rideau. A small community had developed in the 1830s on the mainland near the Long Island Locks, north of present day Manotick, but no development was done in the Manotick area until the 1860s. Failures of the water control dams near the Long Island Locks since the late 1830s, resulted in the construction, in 1858, of a new weir near the Long Island Locks and a bulkhead across the west branch of the Rideau River. The bulkhead provided enough water head for a mill and Moss Kent Dickinson and his partner Joseph Currier purchased the water rights. They built a saw mill and a grist mill. Both opened in 1860. This attracted new settlers, including many from the former community of Long Island near the lockstation. It was Dickinson who in 1864 named the new village Manotick after the Ojibwa word for "island in the river" (Long Island). By 1880 the village had grown to a population of 400.
Manotick thrived on the commercial river traffic, and as it declined, so did Manotick. By the early 1950s, the population of Manotick was about 300 - it was a quiet, rural village. Starting in about the 1970, it was realized by some that living near Manotick and working in Ottawa was a good combination. So a new boom of suburban development occurred, much of it on Long Island.
Today the population of the area is about 4,500 people and Manotick is a satellite suburb of Ottawa. This was made official in 2001 with the amalgamation of Manotick into the newly expanded City of Ottawa.
|
Docking
Marine Services