July 21, 2008:

The Ottawa Electric Street Railway Company was created in 1891 by Thomas Ahearn and Warren Soper.
Thomas Ahearn invented a method of heating the floors of the trams, a first for North America.
The tram cars were trimmed in oak and were considered luxurious for their time.

Families would take the street cars to Britannia and Lansdowne Park (in the Glebe) on Sundays for a day
of recreation.

Photo Source: Ottawa: City of the Big Ears by Robert Haig.


The streetcars ran on the streets of Ottawa until 1959. My grandfather's brother, Terrence (Terry)
Burns conducted the last street car trip in Ottawa in a ceremony in 1959.

According to his obituary, he belonged to Local 279 of the Amalgamated Association of Street 
and Electric Railway Employees (Street Car Conductor).

From the marriage records of ancestry.ca for the City of Ottawa:
 
Name: Terrence Burns 
Age: 22 in 1911  
Father Name: James Burns 
Mother Name: Annie Robb 
Estimated birth year: abt 1888  (actually born on February 13, 1888 in the family home on the
                                 Manotick Station Road, Osgoode Township)
Spouse Name: Ellen Ryan 
Spouse's Age: 20  
Spouse Father Name: Michael Ryan 
Spouse Mother Name : Marguerite Hughes
Marriage Date: 4 Jan 1910 
Marriage Place: Carleton  
Marriage County: Carleton  
Source: Indexed by: Ancestry.com 

Terrence was later married to Rose Belanger after Ellen's death.

 October 28, 2009:

Mr. William Washington Wylie owned and operated the Ottawa Carriage Company beginning in the 1890's.