The Cummings Bridge in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, crosses the

Rideau River The Rideau River (, ) is a river in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The river flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at the Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is . As explained in a writing by Samuel de Champl ...

, connecting

Rideau Street Rideau Street () is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier district. Ride ...

Montreal Road Montreal Road (French: ''Chemin de Montréal''), also known as List of numbered routes in Ottawa, Ottawa Road #34, is a major east-west Ottawa road that links Lower Town, Lowertown to Vanier, Ontario, Vanier and the farther eastern neighbourhoo ...

in Vanier. It is a multi-span open

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...

arch bridge, constructed in 1921 and renovated in 1996.

History

The area east of the Cummings Bridge, later named Vanier was first linked to the Sandy Hill area of Ottawa with a wooden bridge erected in 1835, which went over

Cummings Island Cummings Island is an uninhabited island in the Rideau River in the city of Ottawa in Canada and the site of a former settlement. History The island's first settler was Charles Cummings, who built there his house in 1840 and operated a ferry a ...

in the Rideau River. The Cummings family settled the island, had a store there, and the island and bridge there became associated with the Cummings name. In 1891, the old wooden bridge was replaced by a steel bridge, which the city wanted to name Bingham's Bridge, after Ottawa mayor

Samuel Bingham Samuel Bingham (184516 June 1905) was the Mayor of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada between 1897 and 1898.Dave Mullington "Chain of Office: Biographic Sketches of Ottawa's Mayors (1847-1948)" (Renfrew, Ontario: General Store Publishing House, 2005) He wa ...

, but this name never caught on. Cummings Bridge Ottawa 1896

The current bridge was constructed in 1921, some downstream from the steel bridge, bypassing Cummings Island. Charles Cummings had a son,

Robert Cummings Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990) was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as ''The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941) and ''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943), and in d ...

who became Reeve of Gloucester Township and Warden of

Carleton County, Ontario Carleton County is the name of a former county in Ontario, Canada. In 1969, it was superseded by the Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton. In 2001, the Regional Municipality and its eleven local municipalities (including Ottawa) were repla ...

References

;Bibliography * {{Ottawa Bridges completed in 1921 Bridges in Ottawa Concrete bridges in Canada Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in Canada Road bridges in Ontario Truss bridges in Canada 1921 establishments in Ontario