Twenty-seven (27) historical plaques were installed along St-Joseph Boulevard on Saturday, thanks to the Société franco-ontarienne du patrimoine et de l’histoire d’Orléans (SFOPHO) in collaboration with the Business Improvement Association (BIA) of the Heart of Orléans. The year 2013 marked the 400th anniversary of Champlain’s voyage through the Ottawa area. It also signaled the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first Francophones in the region. To celebrate these anniversaries and the heritage of Orléans, SFOPHO, in collaboration with its organizational partners, has published, in October 2013, a collection of 32 historical capsules. Those capsules are now reproduced on historical plaques installed along St. Joseph Boulevard. The capsules describe life as it was lived in the 1950s – cultural, economic, social and agricultural – via stories of a number of business establishments and homes that were there on the Boulevard during that era. Each of the locations depicts its unique story, in character with the period.

Photo: SFOPHO’s president, Nicole Fortier, vice-president, Louis V. Patry, and members of the Historical Capsules and Plaques Committee, Marcelle Duford (1st on the left) and Nicole Patry (2nd on the right), were happy Saturday to help Richard Knobbs, from Fontasy Sign & Display Inc, install the plaques.