Sandy Hill, to the south of the lower town, forms a residential quarter. Beyond the Rideau river lies the suburban village of New Edinburgh, with the official residence of the governor-general, Rideau Hall. The city of Hull too, on the opposite side of the Ottawa, in the province of Quebec, may be regarded as a suburb of the capital, with which it is connected by a suspension bridge. The Government buildings, which give the name to Parliament Hill, rank among the finest specimens of architectiιre in North America. The central pile, or Parliament House, is in Italian Gothic, of the 13th century,—the material mainly Potsdam sandstone from Nepean. The main (south) front is 470 feet long and 40 feet high, and in the middle over the principal entrance stands Victoria Tower, 180 feet high, and surmounted by a great iron crown. In the centre of the north front is a semi-detached polygonal (almost circular) hall, 90 feet in diameter, appropriated to the library. The corner stone of the building was laid by the Prince of Wales in 1860. The total cost was about £1,000,000.

(For ground plan and elevation see The Builder, 1859 and 1860.) Two extensive blocks of departmental buildings are placed like detached wings forming the sides of the quadrangle in front. Ottawa also contains a Roman Catholic cathedral (Notre Dame) with twin spires 200 feet high, the Gray Nunnery (the mother-house of the province of Ontario), the Black Nunnery, two convents, a Roman Catholic college (Ottawa University), a Roman Catholic hospital, a Protestant hospital, a Protestant ladies’ college, a city-hall, a custom-house, the Government normal school for central Canada, the museum of the geological survey, &c. Besides being a great seat of the lumber trade, with saw-mills and match-works, it manufactures flour, cast-iron wares, leather, and bricks. The exports were valued at $1,683,148 in the fiscal year ending June 1874, and at $2,444,723 in the fiscal year 1883,—the imports at the same dates amounting to $1,495,169 and $1,562,344. The revenue arising from customs duties amounts to about £260,000 annually. The population of the city (about half being Roman Catholics and half Protestants) was 14,669 in 1861, 21,545 in 1871, and 27,412 in 1881. A mayor and board of aidermen constitute the municipal government, and the city is divided into five wards—Wellington, Victoria, St George’s, By, and Ottawa.

Steamers ply in summer down to Montreal, and for about 200 miles up the river above the falls, as well as through the Rideau Canal to Kingston.

Philemon Wright of Woburn, in Massachusetts, settled in 1800 at the foot of the portage round the Chaudière Falls on the site of Hull, and some twenty years later he transferred his claim to the hills on the other side of the river to a teamster named Sparks, who would have preferred the $200 due to him. Sparks Street is now the fashionable commercial street of Ottawa. In 1827 the Rideau Canal was constructed at a cost of $2,500,000 to connect lower Canada with Kingston on Lake Ontario, and in that way prevent the necessity of gun-boats, &c., passing up the St Lawrence exposed to the enemy’s fire; and soon afterwards a town sprang up at the Ottawa end, called Bytown after Colonel By, R. E., who had surveyed the canal. At its incorporation as a city in 1854 Bytown received the name of Ottawa. In 1858 the queen, to whom the matter was referred, selected Ottawa as the capital of the Dominion of Canada, partly because of the advantages of its site, and partly to avoid invidious preference among the rival claims of Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, and Toronto. The first session of parliament in Ottawa was opened in 1865.

OTTAWA, a city of the United States, capital of La Salle county, Illinois, on both sides of the Illinois above and below the mouth of the Fox river (which furnishes abundant water-power by a fall of 29 feet), on the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and at the junction of the Fox river branch of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railway with the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railway, 84 miles southwest of Chicago. Ottawa ships large quantities of produce and live stock, and has manufactories of agricultural implements, carriages, glass, and clothing. The more conspicuous buildings are those occupied by the county courts and jail, and the supreme court for the northern division of the State. Near the south bank of the Illinois there are mineral springs possessing important medicinal properties. In 1880 the population was 7834 (811 in South Ottawa).