Hampton Park, Ottawa

Hampton Park is a park and sub-neighborhood of Westboro, in the City of Ottawa, in the province of Ontario that lies to the North of the Queensway. It is considered a sub-neighbourhood of the Westboro area of Ottawa. It was first developed in 1910 by J.C. Brennan who shares his name with Brennan Avenue which is a residential street in the area. The neighbourhood is full of youth and lies quite near Hampton Park Plaza and Richmond Road.

Many streets in the Hampton Park neighbourhood are named for upper-class neighbourhoods of London, including Kensington, Picadilly, Mayfair and Windsor. The name Hampton Park might itself be named after the neighbourhood of Hampton in London.

The park itself has existed in Ottawa's west end for almost 100 years. The area was purchased by the Federal District Commission (now the National Capital Commission) in 1927. The park is several blocks in length and has a flat grassy area with benches as well as a wooded area with paths which is mainly used by people walking their dogs.

The area of the park just north of the Queensway contains a basketball court, two baseball diamonds, a seasonal outdoor swimming pool, a playground, swings and change room facilities.

Dogs are allowed in Hampton Park on leash but many people still allow their dogs off leash in the northern part of the park. City of Ottawa by-law officers have been seen in the park but it is unclear whether they have jurisdiction in the NCC-owned park.Fact|date=June 2008

Queensway expansion and Hampton Park

Hampton Park is notable for being the construction site for the Island Park bridge replacement project that occurred during the Summer of 2007.

In recent years there has been mounting pressure from the Ontario provincial government to expand the Queensway and make it more efficient. This led to a proposal by the National Capital Commision to build a new offramp on the west side of Island Park drive. The proposed offramp would have cut through part of the wooded area north of the Queensway and would have linked Island Park Drive with Merivale Road via a roundabout.

After months of pressure from the Island Park community the plan was eventually scrapped.

External links

* [http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~weinberg/westboro.html A History of Westboro]
* [http://www.central-park.ottawa.on.ca/govt/2005-06-14.phtml Design study for Island Park Drive offramp]
* [http://www.flickr.com/groups/westboro/ Flickr Photo Page]