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Up the Gatineau! Article

This article was first published in Up the Gatineau! Volume 2.

"A Rose by Any Other Name...."

1875-Separation   1975-Amalgamation

In 1875 Hull was incorporated as a city and West Hull was separated, becoming known officially as “The Municipality of the West part of the Township of Hull, County of Ottawa, Province of Quebec.” The cost to West Hull for the separation, according to a minute of the West Hull Council meeting in session on May 3, 1875, was $68.25.

On becoming a city Hull aparently had its acreage increased at the expense of a neighbour. The following minute of the West Hull Council at its session on Nov. 2, 1875 makes interesting reading a century later:

MOTION 113: - Moved by Councillor Burke, seconded by Councillor Fleming that Mayor (Timothy Moffatt) be requested to petition the Legislature at its next meeting, setting forth that under the act of last session incorporating Hull as a City, Limits were defined far in excess of what was justifiable and in no sense contiguous to the settled district of that city; that it is not just to this Municipality to take away so considerable an area of its territory, nor is it reasonable or fair to embrace within city limits a farming population who have nothing in common with the City, and who cannot be fairly represented at its Councils.

The City limits extend in the north west nearly two miles beyond the toll gate on the Gatineau road, the residents in that direction being obliged not only to pay taxes for keeping up the streets in Hull but have also to pay toll to the Gatineau road Company before they can reach the city, a condition of things that ought not in fairness be permitted, that the limits in the north ought not to extend beyond the tollgate.

Motion carried

Researched and written by Patrick M.O. Evans


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