The Oxford Compact Dictionary defines a "glebe" as "a piece of land yielding revenue or benefice to clergy."


Our particular "Glebe" is about 100 years old as a neighbourhood.
The clearing of primeval forest which covered the land which is now called "The Glebe" began in around the turn of 1800. Before that it was used by aboriginal people for hunting and fishing. Ottawa, Canada's capital, was a town built on the profits of the lumber industry in the 1800's. It was the perfect spot for a massive lumber undertaking because it was at the confluence of three major rivers, the Ottawa, the Rideau, and the Gatineau, with abundant fast moving water to power the water-wheels of the pre-industrial age. Two of the great families who helped build Ottawa were those of Philemon Wright a lumber merchant and Bradish Billings. The first track in the Glebe was a path that ran between their two estates some miles apart, skirting the eastern edge of the great swamp that surrounded Dow's Lake. There was no other road in the glebe until Bank St. was built in 1865. After the British defeated the French in Canada in 1759, they set about colonizing their new gained prize.The war of American Independence in 1783 and growing tensions between the British and the Americans, gave them more reason to attract settlers to the wilderness that was Canada in those days. Surveyors were dispatched to lay a grid of order over the land regargless of topography. The common parcel of land or "lot" was 200 acres in size (roughly a strip 1 1/4 mile by 1/4 mile), considered at the time for an individual farm. The modern day Glebe is roughly 800 acres or four lots.

War with the Americans prompts development
Although officially deeded, little happened in "The Glebe" for many years; perhaps because the land had little value for agriculture (much was swamp and the soil which is mostly sand or glacial till). In 1826 the colonial government expropriated part of the land to build the defensive canal which runs between Kingston, Ontario and Ottawa. As the Canal used the Rideau River for much of its path, it naturally cut through "the Glebe", severing a small portion of land to the south and east. The canal may have never gone through "the Glebe" but for the speculative subterfuge of a certain Captain LeBreton. Originally, it was routed north from Dows Lake along modern day Preston street, however, Captain LeBreton purchased most of the land between Dow's Lake and the Ottawa River to the north. Lord Dalhousie refused to pay the princely sum Captain LeBreton was asking and instead chose its eventual route which led to the defensive works on Barracks Hill. (Now Parliament Hill) It probably never occured to Lord Dalhousie, or his engineer Colonel By thatt choosing that route would eventually define the distinctive boundaries of the area we now refer to as "The Glebe".

Work on the Canal brings people and prosperity
Work began on the Canal in earnest in 1827 and the population of Nepean Township (Ottawa) swelled from 580 to 2,758 in one year, creating demand for land, services and churches. In 1836, Lot H was granted as a "glebe" to the Church of Scotland. This church later became St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church located at Kent and Wellington Streets, near Parliament Hill. A "Glebe" was originally intended for the vicarage garden plots, and over time were eventually regarded as pieces of property on which the clergy could earn money. St. Adrews subdivided the land in Ottawa into 14 lots of 10 acres each, anticipating a surge of public servants with the confederation of Canada in 1867 and the renaming of Bytown to Ottawa and the designation of the city as Canada's capital. Still, there was plenty of other land in and around Ottawa and development did not begin in earnest until the 1900's.

The development of "the Glebe" as a community was precipitated by two developments, almost 30 years apart
In 1868 the Ottawa Agricultural Society was deeded some land in the south-east corner of the area for the purposes of a fairground. Considered rural at the time, on many occasions over the years it drew the citizens of Ottawa, particularly for the provincial exhibitions of 1875, 1877 and 1879. The popularity of these first exhibitions prompted the foundation of a permanent exhibition association, and the expansion of the presentation to include industrial and sporting exhibits in addition to agricultural exhibits. In 1888, the eahibition would herald the introduction of electricity to the city, promoted by the owner of the Ottawa Electric Company, Thomas Ahearn. Thus the exhibition was transformed from a rural fair to an urban exhibition. The second founding development, in 1891, was the installation of the first streetcars introduced in Ottawa, and they ran down Bank Street to the exhibition grounds, providing modern public transit in the area. The Glebe also enjoyed other prominence in this period. The Mutchmor Trotting Park, a horse racetrack was established in 1871 and the Queen's Plate, Canada's most prestigeous horse race, was held there in 1872 and 1880. Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show visited in 1893. The McKeens were among the first settlers of "the Glebe" and established their first grocery store on Bank St. in 1920. The "Apothecary" was established in 1985 by Doug's wife Claudia McKeen (nee Moody)

Most of the historical information for this article was found in a wonderful book about our community, aptly titled "The Story of the Glebe" by John Leaning, a local resident and longtime customer. It is a wonderful read for local residents, ex-patriots, visitors, tourists or anyone interested in our local history and retails for $20.00.

Apothecary, what's in a word? A definition of an apothecary is: "one who prepares and sells drugs or compounds for medicinal purposes" Why did we choose "apothecary" as a name? Prior to opening her pharmacy in 1985, Claudia travelled extensively, researching the products, the pharmacies and the practices of pharmacists in Europe. In Europe you often ran across names like "Apotkeka" the German word for pharmacy. Claudia liked that way the word might stand to represent the wider variety of complimentary medicines we offer in addition to traditional pharmaceuticals.