Description
Richard Phillip Ottewell (1848-1942) was an early pioneer who lived through the Riel rebellion and was one of the first
farmers to homestead in the Clover Bar area, in what is now eastern Edmonton. Ottewell emigrated from England to Ontario
with his family in 1850, when we was still a small child.
In 1869, Ottewell travelled to Fort Garry (now Winnipeg) as part of a federal work party and, arriving amid the Métis
rebellion, was imprisoned for six weeks by Louis Riel’s provisional government. One of the party, Ottewell’s cellmate
Thomas Scott, was tried and executed by Riel’s forces. Upon their release from prison, in March 1870, Ottewell walked
for nine days in the dead of winter, the temperature falling as low as -40°C, to reach the safety of Fort Abercrombie in
the United States. Ottewell later returned to Ontario, where he married Frances Trevillion. In 1881, leaving his wife
and family behind, he set off for the west once more. Ottewell was one of the first to stake his claim and homestead in
what is today known as the Clover Bar area, then a distance of 16 kilometres east of Fort Edmonton. In 1883 his family,
which would eventually number nine children, joined him. During the North-West Rebellion of 1885, the Ottewells took
refuge in Fort Edmonton and Richard served in the home guard.
As Edmonton grew, the Ottewell farm shifted from grain to dairying. In 1904, Ottewell opened the Ottewell Coal Company
and later founded Campbell & Ottewell Flour Mills. Ottewell continued to live on his homestead until shortly before his
death at the age of 93 in 1942. The historic Ottewell farm, cut out of the bush in the 1880s, is today at the heart of
Edmonton’s heavy industrial area. Oil refineries and chemical plants now cover what was once considered among the best
farmland in the region.
During the 1910s, part of the Ottewell subdivision (90 Avenue to Whyte Avenue and 50 Street to 67 Street) was known as
East Glenora; to the north of this area, 90A Avenue to 95 Avenue was known as East Edmonton Park.
Feature Type
Neighbourhood
Designation Year
1957