We take them for granted nowadays, a means of conveyance from one level to another but at one time an escalator and an elevator were marvels of engineering that were celebrated like a magical ride.

Prior to the arrival of the elevator and escalator, we would use stairs to climb up to a higher level, or to go down into the lower levels of an establishment. That all changed in 1854 when Elisha Otis introduced his “safety elevator” and demonstrated it at the New York exposition in the Crystal Palace through a dramatic, death-defying presentation.

The Equitable Life Building, completed in 1870 in New York City, is thought to be the first office building with passenger elevators and retail department stores soon followed.

OTTAWA

It is not exactly known what building housed the first public elevator in Ottawa, but it most likely was installed in the Charles Ogilvy department store in 1907. Charles Ogilvy opened his famed department store at 126 Rideau in August of 1907 and installed a new elevating device by Otis-Fensom, a Hamilton company, the same elevating device that Timothy Eaton had installed in his Toronto department store in 1886.

Ogilvy’s ground floor had a men’s wear department, silks, gloves, hosiery, underwear, ladies’ neckwear, ribbons, laces, and embroidery. Customers could visit the second by staircase or by taking the new elevator up to the second floor to “Ladies Wear”.

Ogilvy’s prosperity as a department store declined in the 80s and by 1992 it had closed operations with the department store being demolished in 2013 for the Rideau Centre expansion project, and eliminating what was probably Ottawa’s oldest public elevator.

THE ESCALATOR

After the elevator’s success, the escalator came onto the scene in March of 1892 when Jesse W. Reno patented his “Endless Conveyor”. In 1896 the first working escalator (called the “inclined elevator”) was installed at Coney Island, New York City in 1896.

Later that year another one was installed on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge, and in Boston some of these escalators were still in use until the 1990s.

It wouldn’t be until 1899 that the first commercial escalator was introduced, which won first prize at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle created by the Otis Company and subsequently placed in department stores in both France and England.

Otis holds the trademark rights to the word “escalator” so competitor companies call their versions the “Motorstair”, while Westinghouse calls their model an “Electric Stairway”.

Department stores like Macy’s in New York City installed their escalators in 1927 and are still in use, but where would Ottawa’s first escalator be and when was it installed?

UP ESCALATOR

According to an Ottawa Citizen article from September 14th, 1950, the very first escalator in the Nation’s Capital was installed in a store called “METROPOLITAN” which is now the Indigo Store at Rideau Centre. Heralded as the a “modern escalator for shopping comfort and convenience”

Sadly, Ottawa’s first escalator would be disappear from history when construction began on what would become the “Rideau Centre Mall” and the Metropolitan was torn down to be replaced by the 1980s mall version of the Rideau Centre. It would have been located where the current Indigo store is at Rideau Centre.

With Ottawa’s first escalator entering service in 1950 at the Metropolitan, the competition across the street at Freiman’s Department Store got in on the escalator action and had their very own escalator installed a year later in 1951 when a Westinghouse Electric Stairway was installed to service floors one to three, then later an Otis Escalator installed to access Floors 4 and 5.

This would make it the SECOND oldest escalator in Ottawa, but what was after these trailblazing customer conveyances? Well, Freiman’s opened a second location at Westgate Mall and also installed an escalator there in 1955, making it the THIRD oldest escalator in Ottawa.

But do Ottawa’s oldest escalators still exist and are they in operation? The wonderful website of Urbsite says the original Westinghouse Electric Stairway was still operating in 2015 at the Hudson’s Bay Store that took over Freiman’s department store in 1973.

Heading out this past weekend to see if Ottawa’s oldest escalator was still there I went to the newly renovated Hudson’s Bay store at the Rideau Centre hoping to see the original 1951 escalator. The Hudson’s Bay store that now exists in the space of the original Freiman’s Store did indeed have the original installation of escalators but I was saddened to see the original had been recently replaced with a modern KONA escalator for the floors 1 to 3 that used to be serviced by the old Westinghouse. Ottawa’s oldest escalator was no more.

BUT wait!

As I went up to Floor 4 in the Hudson’s Bay store I noticed the original 1950s Otis Escalator was still there! Yes! The original old base plates marked “OTIS” are still there with likely updated internal mechanics, but the original Freiman’s department store escalator was still operating as it had 73 years ago!

I must have looked like a fool to the staff who were watching me ride up and down the escalators not realizing this was Ottawa’s oldest surviving escalator. Clickety Clack the old escalator whirred as it took customers up and down between floors, proudly carrying on a little known piece of Capital History.

So we have learned that the FIRST escalator, the one from 1950 at the Metropolitan is now gone, but the SECOND oldest from 1951 at Freiman’s is still operating within the Hudson’s Bay store. But what about the THIRD oldest escalator in Ottawa, the one at Freiman’s Westgate Mall location? An investigative checkup was in order.

WESTGATE

Westgate Shopping Centre opened May 12, 1955, and is considered Ottawa’s first shopping centre. The anchor of the mall was the Freiman’s department store, owned by Lawrence Freiman who already operated the department store on Rideau Street with its brand new escalators.

In advertising for its grand opening, Freiman’s new Westgate store boasted that it had parking for over 1200 cars, weather-protected shopping and music for its customers as well as an “escalator to our beautiful home furnishings level”. That escalator from 1955 would make it Ottawa’s THIRD Oldest escalator.

Upon entering what would have been Freiman’s at Westgate is the eastern most entrance to the mall and the escalators that had been there since 1955 are now boarded up and concealed by an advertising wall.

Sadly, it seems the Ottawa’s third oldest escalators were functioning up until 2020 or so, and were an enduring legacy to the Freiman’s store that used to occupy the space around them. With Westgate Mall facing imminent destruction for more condos, we will lose not only Ottawa’s first shopping centre, but another facet of escalator history.

It seems that Ottawa’s department stores have suffered the ups and downs of society and retail markets, just like the escalators that used to expedite customers between their shopping floors. Before it too is demolished, I recommend riding Ottawa’s oldest surviving escalator from the Freiman’s days between floors 4 and 5 at the Hudson’s Bay store in the Rideau Centre. Until then, watch your step…

Andrew King, February 5th, 2024

SOURCES

http://urbsite.blogspot.com/2015/05/metropolitan-stores.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freimans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westgate_Shopping_Centre_(Ottawa)

Google News Archives

Lost Ottawa