Vars, Ontario

Vars is a small village in eastern Ontario, located within the municipal boundaries of Ottawa. Vars has a French elementary school called St-Guillaume, two churches (one Anglican and one Roman Catholic), and an outdoor skating rink located in the "Alcide Trudeau Park". There are few businesses, but there is a corner store, a pizzeria and other small businesses. The town's fire station has been recently relocated and rebuilt and is currently recruiting voluntary firefighters. The local softball teams for children and teenagers, the Vars Vipers and the Vars Vikings, are sponsored by local businesses. The current population (2004) is approximately 1000 people, up about 250 people from 2000

History

The Bearbrook area was first colonized in 1824 and by 1836 a small settlement began to form. The brook originally got its name from the plentiful amount of bears that foraged on acorns produced from the large quantities of oaks found alongside its sides. Mr. Dunning set up a sawmill operation that used logs that had been channelled down through Bear Brook, and which continued on eastward to the South Nation River, the Ottawa river and finally to the St. Lawrence Seaway. Bear Brook now flows with less than half the water it did when settlers first arrived. By the time the mill was set up the town consisted of a hotel, many stores and approximately 200 people in which the vast majority were francophone. In 1881, a train station was built and the area was named Bearbrook Station which would help transport logs towards the St. Lawrence. In 1886, the community reached a large enough population to gain a post office which lightened the work load for Jack Young who had previously brought the mail in by horse and by snowshoe in winter. Bearbrook Station was difficult to distinguish from the nearby community of Bearbrook; therefore, it was renamed. There are two stories for how Vars actually got its name. The first, is that with the building of the new post office, the people of Bearbrook Station decided to name the community after the four people who brought the post office to the area: Mc(V)eigh, (A)rmstrong, (R)onan, and (S)mith. The second story is that the town was given the name by a retired priest from Embrun, Abbé C. Guillame, in memory of the Department of Var in France. Interestingly, the town of Embrun is also named after a place in France. In 1915, permanent sidewalks were built in the main community area. In 1931, the village streets were lit up by street lights, one year earlier than the neighbouring village of Cumberland.

References

Brault, L. 1965. Histoire des Comtés Unis de Prescott et de Russell. Conseil des Comtés Unis, L’Original, ON, CAN.

City of Ottawa, Rural Ottawa Counts. http://www.ottawa.ca/city_services/statistics/counts/rural/index_en.html