Galetta is a dispersed rural community[1] in West Carleton-March Ward in rural western Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Mississippi River near its mouth in the Ottawa River. Once part of Fitzroy Township and later West Carleton, it is now part of the city of Ottawa.

Galetta and the Mississippi River

According to the Canada 2011 Census, the population of Galetta's Dissemination Area was 545,[2] which also includes nearby communities Vydon Acres, Marshall Bay and part of Mohr Corners.

History edit

The area was first settled in 1823. It was originally named Hubbell's Falls after James Hubbell.

The Post Office was established in 1850, and was kept at Riddle's or Mohr's Corners, James Riddle served as postmaster in 1866. By 1866, Hubbell's Falls was a village with a population of about 200 in the township of Fitzroy, on the Mississippi river. The river here has a fall of twenty feet. It contained a school, with an average attendance of forty.five pupils.[3]

It was renamed Steen's Falls after James Steen who built a mill here, and finally Galetta in 1873 after James Galetti Whyte who also built mills on the river here.

In 1892, the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway built a line through the town, which later became a branch line on the Canadian National Railway. Since 1974, use has been limited.

A small hydroelectric plant on the Mississippi River is in Galetta, operational since 1907, now the property of TransAlta.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ "Place names - Galetta".
  2. ^ "Statistics Canada: 2011 Census Profile". 8 February 2012.
  3. ^ Ottawa City and counties of Carleton and Russell Directory, 1866-7
  4. ^ "Galetta".

45°25′30″N 76°15′20″W / 45.42500°N 76.25556°W / 45.42500; -76.25556