1800s Goulbourn Township was founded in 1818 by Irish soldiers in a military settlement program after the
War of 1812. The area continued to receive most of its settler population from Ireland. The village of Stittsville was officially founded in 1854 when its first post office was constructed. Jackson Stitt was chosen as its first postmaster, and the village became known as Stittsville. The citizens included John S Argue, general merchant and postmaster. This original location of the village is now known as "Old Stittsville" and was centred around current Carp Road and Neil Avenue. Kemp's Tavern on Hazeldean road, built in 1868, which now houses "Cabotto's Restaurant" and a handful of other buildings were all that was left standing. This was an extremely large fire, encompassing over from
Ottawa to
Smiths Falls to
Carleton Place. On September 16, 1870, the first train passed through Stittsville as it was being rebuilt around the line. Most notably, the line would eventually serve as part of the
Canadian Pacific Railway. After the rail line was deconstructed, the path was turned into a section of the
Trans-Canada Trail. In 1898, a campground for the
Holiness Movement was created in Stittsville. The local leader at the time was Bishop Ralph Horner. The campground was used by movement members every summer until 1974, when it closed permanently.
2000s In 2001, the
Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton amalgamation took place.
Goulbourn Township was included in the amalgamation, becoming a part of the City of Ottawa. Goulbourn Township included the town of Stittsville, making Stittsville a community within the new City of Ottawa. On September 9, 2013, one of Stittsville's historic buildings was destroyed in a fire. Located at 1518 Stittsville Main Street, it was under renovation at the time of the fire.
Historic buildings The Bradley/Craig barn and farmhouse are still in their original location. Historically designated Concession XI, Lot 29, they are currently located at 590 Hazeldean Road in Stittsville. The land was claimed in 1821 by Joshua Bradley, for which he received a
Crown land grant in 1824. The barn was built in 1873 by John Cummings, a craftsman who worked in Goulbourn Township. The barn was built to house the family's dairy herd. Throughout the 1870s, the farmhouse was constructed by the Bradley family. Members of the family farmed the land until the 2000s. The Bradley family owned the property until 2007, when it was sold. The building is believed to have been built in either 1890 or 1894 by John Cummings. The original owner was S.J. Butler, who named the building the Pacific Hotel as it served visitors coming to Stittsville on the Canadian Pacific Railway. It is believed that Butler sold the hotel after his daughter, Lala Butler, was struck and killed by a train at the crossing in Stittsville. George Green was the subsequent owner, from which the name Green's Hotel began. The Stittsville United Church is one of the oldest congregations in Stittsville. In 1824, the first Methodist congregation in the Township of Goulbourn officially began under the leadership of three residents: George Argue, James Wilson and Archibald Magee. The first log chapel of the congregation was built in 1845 on the same land the church continues to stand on. Multiple iterations of the chapel were built over time. Notably, in 1883, a brick chapel was built, which still constitutes part of the current church structures. The other current structures of the church were constructed in 1952, 1963, and 2006. ==Media==