History of Manotick
Manotick was one of the later-developed communities
along the Rideau. A small community had developed in
the 1830s near the Long Island Locks, north of present
day Manotick, but no development was done in the Manotick
area until the late 1850s. Failures of the control dams
near the Long Island Locks since the late 1830s resulted
in the construction, in 1858, of a new weir near the
Long Island Locks and a bulkhead across the west branch
of the Rideau River. This provided enough water head
for a mill and Moss Kent Dickinson and his partner Joseph
Currier purchased the water rights. They built a saw
mill and a grist mill. Both opened in 1860. This attracted
new settlers, including many from the former community
on Long Island. It was Dickerson who in 1864 named the
new village Manotick after the Ojibwa word for Long
Island. By 1880 the village had grown to a population
of 400.
Manotick thrived on the commercial river traffic, and
as it declined, so did Manotick. By the early 1950s,
the population of Manotick was about 300 - it was a
quiet, rural village. Starting in about the 1970, it
was realized by some that living near Manotick and working
in Ottawa was a good combination. So a new boom of suburban
development occurred, much of it on Long Island. Today
the population of the area is about 4,500 people and
Manotick is essentially a satellite suburb of Ottawa.
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