Live in Carson Grove
A quiet 1960s and 1970s pocket wedged between the federal government's biggest science campus and its most secretive one, with 5,300 new homes going up next door.
Carson Grove and Carson Meadows are two small subdivisions off the Aviation Parkway, built between the early 1960s and the early 1970s on land that had been quarries and farms. Mastercraft built Carson's Meadows first; Campeau followed with Carson Grove, and the first families moved in during the autumn of 1971. What surrounds them is more interesting than what is in them. The National Research Council's Montreal Road campus is immediately west, the security agencies sit on Ogilvie Road to the south, La Cité collégiale is at the northern edge, and the former CFB Rockcliffe next door is being rebuilt by Canada Lands as Wateridge Village, a master-planned community of roughly 5,300 homes on 125 hectares. This is not the former military housing it is sometimes taken for: the base housing was on Rockcliffe, and these were private subdivisions from the start. What they are is an established, unusually francophone, unusually mixed-tenure pocket with a very short commute to some very large employers, next to the largest infill site in the east end.
Two kilometres from work, and next door to the biggest building site in the east end
Carson Grove runs from the Aviation Parkway on the west to Blair Road on the east, with La Cité collégiale to the north and Ogilvie Road to the south. Carson Meadows sits north of it, between Montreal Road and the college, west of the National Research Council's grounds and generally east of Carsons Road. This guide follows the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study's Carson Grove - Carson Meadows unit, which holds 10,694 people. That is more than the two named subdivisions on their own: the 2016 census counted about 2,918 in Carson Grove and about 3,300 in Carson Meadows, so the ONS line takes in ground the local names do not.
Start with the employers, because they are the reason anyone chose this ground. The National Research Council's Montreal Road campus is immediately west, the security agencies sit along Ogilvie Road to the south, and La Cité collégiale is at the northern edge. For a large share of the households here the commute is a five-minute drive or a walk, which is not something most Ottawa suburbs can say, and it is why two ordinary subdivisions on secondary roads have held their value for sixty years.
They were never military housing. That association gets made often enough to be worth correcting: the base housing was on CFB Rockcliffe next door, and these were private subdivisions from the start. Mastercraft built Carson's Meadows in the early 1960s and sold it through Guaranty Trust, and Campeau opened Carson Grove between the Aviation Parkway and Blair Road in 1971, naming it for John Carson, an early settler. Before either of them the place was Rockville, then Quarries, and the stone that came out of the ground here went into the Parliament Buildings.
What is unusual is the tenure mix. Between 1965 and 1975 the Summerhill subdivision, the Hochelaga Rental Homes, the CrossWinds and Las Brisas apartments and an Ottawa Housing project all went in alongside the houses. Bathgate Court and the Concorde followed in 1991, the Desloges co-operative late in the decade, and CMHC built Carson Village in the mid-1990s. Owned houses, private rentals, public housing and a co-op inside two square kilometres. The result is a neighbourhood that is close to evenly split between French and English first languages, at 40% and 39% in Carson Meadows at the 2016 census, and mixed by income in a way the newer suburbs are not.
The thing that decides the next decade is next door. Canada Lands acquired the 125-hectare Rockcliffe site from National Defence in 2011 and the City approved the community design plan in 2015: roughly 5,300 homes, nine parks, three school sites and a commercial core. About 1,700 are built, around 450 of them affordable, and there are eight to ten years of construction left. The National Research Council adopted its own twenty-five-year master plan for the campus in 2023. Both of the neighbourhood's large neighbours are rebuilding themselves at the same time, and what that adds up to for traffic on Hemlock Road, Codd's Road and Ogilvie is not something anyone has published.
The population figure needs a caveat. This guide follows the ONS unit Carson Grove - Carson Meadows, which holds 10,694 people, while the 2016 census counted about 2,918 in Carson Grove and about 3,300 in Carson Meadows. The ONS is the only neighbourhood tier published for the whole city, so it is what the comparisons here rest on, but its line takes in ground the local names do not. Treat the larger number as the statistical area and the smaller two as the subdivisions themselves.
- The NRC campus, the Ogilvie Road security agencies and La Cité collégiale are all inside three kilometres
- Blair, the eastern end of Line 1, is under two kilometres, which makes downtown a train ride rather than a drive
- Wateridge Village will roughly double the housing within a kilometre over the next eight to ten years
- The housing is genuinely mixed: owned houses, private rentals, public housing and a co-op on the same streets
- French and English first languages are close to evenly split, so services here are bilingual in practice
- Ottawa levies tax by class on an assessment still frozen at 2016 values: about 0.83% of a market price
How Carson Grove got here
- 1871–1961The settlement here is called Rockville and gets a post office in 1871, then goes through Robillard and Rock Village before settling on Quarries in 1903. The name is literal: the quarries on this ground supplied stone, including stone for the Parliament Buildings. The post office closes in 1961, just as the subdivisions arrive.
- Early 1960sMastercraft Homes builds the first subdivision, sold through the Guaranty Trust Company of Canada and called Carson's Meadows. It is a straightforward postwar suburb of single-family houses, well inside the city and a long way from the edge of it.
- 1965–1975The rental layer arrives: the Summerhill subdivision on Bathgate Drive, the Hochelaga Rental Homes, and the CrossWinds and Las Brisas apartments, alongside the Carson's Community Ottawa Housing project. This is the decade that gives the neighbourhood its unusual tenure mix.
- 1971Campeau Corporation opens Carson Grove between the Aviation Parkway and Blair Road, named for John Carson, an early settler. The first families move into their houses in the autumn.
- 1991–1990sBathgate Court and the Concorde apartments go up in 1991, the Desloges housing co-operative follows late in the decade, and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation builds Carson Village in the middle of the 1990s. Four different tenures inside two square kilometres.
- 1994–2011The military presence at CFB Rockcliffe next door ends in 1994 and the base is decommissioned. Canada Lands Company acquires the site from National Defence in 2011, after the Algonquins of Ontario participation agreement of 2010.
- 2015–2017The City approves the Wateridge Village community design plan in 2015 for the 125-hectare Rockcliffe site: about 5,300 homes, nine parks, three school sites and a commercial core. Construction begins around 2017.
- 2020sRoughly 1,700 Wateridge homes are built, about 450 of them affordable, with another eight to ten years of construction to come. The National Research Council adopts a new master plan for the Montreal Road campus in 2023, a twenty-five-year vision for the site immediately west. Both of the neighbourhood's big neighbours are rebuilding themselves at once.
The green here is borrowed, and there is a lot of it
The neighbourhood's own open space is modest: Carson Grove Park on Matheson Road with its tennis courts, ball diamond and winter rink, and Bathgate Park on the Carson Meadows side. What makes up the difference is the Aviation Parkway, which carries a separated recreational pathway north past the Wateridge lands to the Aviation Museum and the Ottawa River pathway. Beyond that, Beechwood Cemetery is ten minutes west and Mer Bleue Bog fifteen minutes east.
What the map does not show: the parkway pathway is the asset, and it is the reason the neighbourhood feels less enclosed than its road layout suggests. Wateridge is also adding nine parks immediately north, which will change this section of the guide considerably before the decade is out.
Elsewhere in Ottawa, not Carson Grove
22 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 22 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are estimated from a representative point between the two subdivisions, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model. Honest ranges, not routed times. Note how tightly the first six destinations cluster: the useful things here are close, and the rest of the city is a train ride away.
Every gym within reach
The Splash Wave Pool at 2040 Ogilvie Road is the City's aquatic centre for this part of the east end, with a wave pool, children's pools and a hot tub at municipal prices. For a gymnasium and programme rooms the nearest full City centre is the Richelieu-Vanier Community Centre, and for everything else there is Carson Grove Park inside the subdivision.
- Municipal pricing, and the nearest public pool to the neighbourhood by a long way
- Carson Grove Park on Matheson Road has tennis, a ball diamond, basketball and the winter rink, all free
- The Richelieu-Vanier Community Centre is the nearest full City centre, with bilingual programming as the default
- Ray Friel and Bob MacQuarrie in Orléans carry the east end's arena and pool programme lists, at a longer drive
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Splash Wave Pool open | 2040 Ogilvie Road: the City's aquatic centre, with a wave pool, children's pools, warm wading pools and a hot tub. Municipal pricing, and the nearest public pool to the neighbourhood by a long way. | 4–6 min |
| Carson Grove Park open | The park on Matheson Road inside the subdivision, with tennis courts, a ball diamond, a basketball court, a playground and the outdoor rink in winter. Free, and within walking distance of most of Carson Grove. | 2–3 min |
| Richelieu-Vanier Community Centre open | The nearest full City community centre, with a gymnasium, programme rooms, a park and an outdoor rink, and programming delivered in both languages as a matter of course rather than as an accommodation. | 6–10 min |
| The Aviation Parkway pathway open | Not a gym: the recreational pathway beside the parkway runs north from Montreal Road past the Wateridge lands to the Aviation Museum and the Ottawa River pathway. Flat, separated from traffic, and the free option most people here actually use. | 2–4 min |
The free option is the Aviation Parkway pathway, separated from traffic and running from Montreal Road north past Wateridge to the Aviation Museum and the Ottawa River.
Four boards, and a school whose name is not its boundary
Carson Grove Elementary School on Matheson Road has been here since 1973 and runs junior kindergarten to grade 5, though the board's own profile describes its intake as Cyrville, Pineview and the Donald Street area. Gloucester High School and Lester B. Pearson are a few minutes south on Ogilvie. On the French side, Montfort covers Catholic elementary and Samuel-Genest on Carsons Road the Catholic secondary, with Louis-Riel the public secondary out towards Blackburn.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Carson Grove Elementary School | OCDSB | The English public elementary at 1401 Matheson Road, junior kindergarten to grade 5, open since 1973. Worth knowing that the board's own profile describes its intake as Cyrville, Pineview and the Donald Street and Cummings area, which is a reminder that a school's name is not its boundary. |
| Gloucester High School | OCDSB | The English public secondary on Ogilvie Road, a few minutes south, in the cluster of three high schools shared with Beacon Hill. |
| Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School | OCSB | The English Catholic secondary, also on the Ogilvie Road side, and part of the same three-school cluster. |
| École élémentaire catholique Montfort | CECCE | The French Catholic elementary in the Carson Meadows half of the neighbourhood, in an area where French and English first languages are close to evenly split. |
| Collège catholique Samuel-Genest | CECCE | The French Catholic secondary at 704 Carsons Road, grades 7 to 12, and the main French Catholic high school for the east end. |
| École secondaire publique Louis-Riel | CEPEO | The French public secondary for this side of the city, on Bearbrook Road out towards Blackburn Hamlet. Confirm the current boundary for your own address before assuming it. |
All four Ottawa boards are represented within a short drive, which is the practical benefit of a neighbourhood this close to the old Ottawa and Gloucester boundary. Confirm the current boundary for a specific address with the school board before you buy.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The outdoor rink at Carson Grove Park runs whenever the cold holds, and it is the neighbourhood's winter meeting place
- The Aviation Parkway pathway is not cleared end to end, so the walking route changes for three months
- Blair station and the train become obviously worth having on the worst mornings
- The coldest fortnight of the year, and the month a 1960s bungalow's insulation gets tested
- Winterlude on the canal is a train ride from Blair rather than a drive and a parking problem
- Minor hockey fills the east-end arenas, most of them a short drive away
- Melt season on Ogilvie and Blair, and the potholes that follow it
- March break empties La Cité collégiale and the morning traffic with it
- Construction crews return to the Wateridge site next door
- The Aviation Parkway pathway reopens, and with it the flat cycling route to the river
- The Aviation Museum's outdoor collection reopens at the end of the parkway
- Building season starts at Wateridge, which means truck traffic on Hemlock and Codd's roads
- The mature trees on the 1960s streets leaf out, and the subdivision stops looking like a 1960s subdivision
- Doors Open Ottawa sometimes includes the National Research Council campus next door, which is worth doing
- The best cycling weeks of the year before the humidity arrives
- Sunset near 8:50pm, and the river pathway at the end of the parkway is busy well past it
- The college finishes and the neighbourhood's parking and traffic loosen for the summer
- School ends, and Carson Grove Park's ball diamond takes over the evenings
- Humidex regularly past 35, and the Splash Wave Pool on Ogilvie is the neighbourhood's answer to it
- Canada Day is one train from Blair, which beats trying to park anywhere downtown
- The federal campuses thin out and Montreal Road is briefly easy
- The quietest month here: the science campus, the college and the schools are all closed at once
- Peak humidity, and the month a house with no central air makes its case against itself
- The last weeks before the college restarts and the parking pressure returns
- La Cité collégiale goes back, and the morning traffic on Aviation Parkway and Ogilvie changes shape overnight
- The best weather of the year, and the best weeks on the parkway pathway
- Franco-Ontarian Day on the 25th, marked properly in a neighbourhood where French and English are close to evenly split
- Beechwood Cemetery's arboretum turns, ten minutes west, and Mer Bleue's bog turns red fifteen minutes east
- The first frost usually lands in the first half of the month
- The rink boards go up at Carson Grove Park
- Dark by half past four, and the overnight winter parking ban starts in mid-November
- Leaf collection on sixty-year-old streets is its own annual undertaking
- Remembrance Day at Beechwood, the National Cemetery of Canada, a short drive west
- The community rink opens when the cold holds, usually mid-month
- The first serious snow, and the annual reminder that Ogilvie and Blair are the only two ways out
- The federal shutdown between Christmas and New Year empties the science campus and the roads around it
3 more photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed, via Wikimedia Commons. Filter by category.
Showing 1–3 of 3 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Carson Grove, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Ottawa library.