Blackburn Hamlet, ON

Since January to September 2009 the Community of Blackburn Hamlet has participated in many wonderful fundraising events such as: the Help Emily Help Tyler which helped raise over $4,000 for McMasters University to help find a cure for a fatal disease called Syalidosis, The Blackburn Fun Fair which helped raise funds and non perishable food items for Joseph Storehouse, The Blackburn Hamlet Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Women’s League which donate $2,000 to Joseph Storehouse, the Blackburn Bonanza which was held by the Life Centre, donate over 500 school bags and school supplies to the children of Blackburn Hamlet and other fundraising event held by other organizations.

This fall the Blackburn Community will be hosting other events such as the 7th Annual Run [and Walk] for the Cure on October 4th, the opening of the Blackburn Hamlet Community Church new location on September 24th, the opening of the Life Centre Blackburn Campus on September 20th, the Ovarian Cancer Awareness Talk held at the Blackburn Library on October 20th, and the Remembrance Day concert with Blackburn’s Navan Road Anglican Church. This is truly a community who prides itself in serving each other to maintain an old fashion country village charm.

Why choose Blackburn Hamlet as your residential community of choice. The Hamlet is closer to downtown Ottawa than almost all the "new" suburbs (only a 10 minute drive), yet offers an old-fashioned country village feeling rarely found in neighbourhoods today. This community is connected end to end via a series of treed parks and bike paths. Blackburn Hamlet is pedestrian friendly and offers all modern amenities within no more than a 10 minute walk from most homes. Those include: grocery store, medical, dental & legal practices, drug stores, several pubs and restaurants, banks, service stations, convenience stores, pizza delivery, video rental, dry cleaners, pawn shop and a local Tim Horton’s.

The community of Blackburn is the home of 2 seniors’ residences, public, catholic and French schools, private schools and day-cares, many baseball diamonds, soccer fields, indoor arena and several outdoor rinks, large community centre, public library, outdoor pool, tennis courts, 11 children's play parks, and access to the Ottawa Regional bike paths. There is a host of activities and amateur intramural sports available as well.

Blackburn Hamlet is represented at city council but there is active community volunteer involvement as well through the Blackburn Community Association (BCA). Many activities, clubs, events and committees are run through the BCA.

Blackburn Hamlet is a community of approximately 9,000 people, located between the east end of Ottawa and Orleans. This community of Blackburn Hamlet was considered to be an independent outer suburb until the amalgamation of the city of Gloucester with the city of Ottawa in 2001.

The community of Blackburn Hamlet underwent several name changes until 1858, when the first post office was erected, at which time the community was named after Robert Blackburn, One hundred years later, in 1958, the government gave the National Capital Commission authority to establish the greenbelt, which displaced part of the community and forced redevelopment. Renamed Blackburn Hamlet, the first residents moved arrived in 1967.

Known locally as ‘the Hamlet’ it is a community within itself and surrounded by the NCC Greenbelt, the Canadian Federal Conservation Authority land, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Blackburn Hamlet provides its residents and visitors with over 250kms of hiking, cross country ski trails and walking paths. In addition, this community house the region’s most sought after toboggan hills at Green’s Creek, and an series of outdoor soccer fields, known collectively as the Hornet’s Nest, which host international soccer tournaments and a cooperative garden maintained by residents of Blackburn for over 25 years. This area is also home to an indoor recreation dome, called the SuperDome.

Blackburn Hamlet has several schools in the area, but the most notable is the French public school, Louis Riel, which is home to North America’s largest air supported fabric structure, at 12,422 square metres [133,705 square feet].