Billings Bridge

Billings Bridge is a bridge over the Rideau River in Ottawa. Bank Street passes over the river by way of this bridge. The bridge was named after Braddish Billings, who settled in this area and established a farm nearby in 1812. The first bridge, originally called Farmers Bridge, was built over the river here in 1830. The current bridge was built in 1916.

Billings Bridge also referred to a village, located south of the river near the bridge, which became part of the city of Ottawa in 1950. The area, now an Ottawa neighbourhood, is still referred to as Billings Bridge.

History

Early days

In the early XIXth century, the Ottawa area was sparsely settled by Europeans. In 1783, a large tract of land including what is now Billings Bridge was purchased from the local aboriginal nations as part of the Crawford Purchase. First named in Lunenburg District in 1788, the area became part of Township B in 1792. In 1793, the township was renamed Gloucester Township, after Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and included in Dundas County. Billings Bridge was not yet settled in 1800 when Russel County was established and Gloucester Township incorporated into it.

Bridge Plaza, Brooklyn

Coordinates: 40°41′48″N 73°58′59″W / 40.69667°N 73.98306°W / 40.69667; -73.98306

Bridge Plaza is the northeastern corner of the downtown area of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Its borders are Flatbush Avenue Extension and Manhattan Bridge on the west, Tillary Street on the south, and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) on the north and east.

The newer term RAMBO, an acronym for Right Around The Manhattan Bridge Overpass is sometimes applied to the area.

The neighborhood was connected to Vinegar Hill until the 1950s, when construction of the BQE effectively isolated it from surrounding areas. Following this change, the "area shifted more towards auto shops, garages and warehouses, and its zoning only allowed industrial uses." Brooklyn real estate blog Brownstoner describes the area as "a time warp, a Brigadoon-like enclave of early to mid-19th century buildings surrounded by the boom of the 21st century."

One of the most notable homes in Bridge Plaza is 167 Concord Street, called the "most photogenic house in Downtown Brooklyn" by the Brooklyn Eagle. The miniature house features a candy apple red Citicar parked in the front yard. The cottage was built in 1762 and was surrounded by a stone wall dating to about 1820.

Billings Bridge Plaza

The Billings Bridge Plaza is a shopping centre located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is a medium-sized community mall with about 90 stores. Roughly 6 million people visit the mall every year and sales were about $516/sq foot. When built it was the first strip mall in Ottawa, although it has since become an enclosed mall.

It is located immediately south of the Rideau River on the corner of Bank Street and Riverside Drive, beside a large athletics complex, the RA Centre. The anchor store is Your Independent Grocer.

History

First opened in 1954, it was "the first one-stop shopping destination to serve all of the City of Ottawa" according to its owners. At 65,750 sq ft (6,108 m²) it was Ottawa's first strip plaza.

When it was built it had only six stores, of which only Reitmans remains to this day. CIBC and Fairweather were also very early tenants which remain. In 1962 the mall underwent a major expansion to 23 stores which made it one of the largest shopping centres in Ottawa at the time. A 1961 Ottawa Citizen article covering the mall expansion claimed "the new centre by its accessibility to through highways, will become not only one of the largest shopping plazas in the district but one of the finest in the country."

Downtown Ottawa

Downtown Ottawa (French: Centre-Ville d'Ottawa) is the central area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Like other downtowns it is the commercial and economic centre of the city. 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, Gloucester Street to the south and Bronson Avenue to the west. This area and the residential neighbourhood to the south are also known locally as 'Centretown'. The total population of the area is 4123 (2011 Census).

Prominent buildings

Downtown Ottawa is dominated by government buildings, including Parliament Hill and the Supreme Court. Most prominent buildings are situated along Wellington, Sparks and Elgin streets. Most of the buildings are office towers containing the various government departments. While most of Ottawa's high tech industry is based elsewhere it also has a significant presence in the downtown core. The downtown also contains a number of apartments, hotels, and condominiums as well as the older single family homes and townhouses along its edges.

Bridge

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles without closing the way underneath such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. There are many different designs that each serve a particular purpose and apply to different situations. Designs of bridges vary depending on the function of the bridge, the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed and anchored, the material used to make it, and the funds available to build it.

Etymology

The Oxford English Dictionary traces the origin of the word bridge to an Old English word brycg, of the same meaning. The word can be traced directly back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰrēw-. The word for the card game of the same name has a different origin.

History

The first bridges made by humans were probably spans of cut wooden logs or planks and eventually stones, using a simple support and crossbeam arrangement. Some early Americans used trees or bamboo poles to cross small caverns or wells to get from one place to another. A common form of lashing sticks, logs, and deciduous branches together involved the use of long reeds or other harvested fibers woven together to form a connective rope capable of binding and holding together the materials used in early bridges.