Dave Allston

Dave Allston is the senior asset manager (heritage) at National Defence, where he has worked in various capacities, including almost six years managing small team performing data quality and analysis on the National Defence portfolio, and five years as acting chief, IE Business and Data Support. He is also the returning officer for Ottawa Centre with Elections Ontario. Dave has a strong interest in local history and, since 1998, has been operating Houstalgia Research Company, providing historical research and detailed reports on the history of heritage and non-recognized properties, houses and neighbourhoods, as well as social, legal and architectural studies of properties over a 200-year period. In 2015, he began writing for the Kitchissippi Times community newspaper, and launched his own history blog, the Kitchissippi Museum. Dave has been a guest speaker for many groups and organizations, and contributes regularly to many mainstream media groups (such as the CBC and Ottawa Citizen) when a Kitchissippi-area local history issue arises. He also volunteers at community events, promoting his collection of local historical photos, maps and artifacts, as well as at local seniors’ residences, as well as at local seniors’ residences, conducting genealogical research.

Early Days: From landfill to useable land: How the Ottawa River shoreline was built using garbage

By Dave Allston The waterfront along the Ottawa River in the west end of...

Early Days: The Kitchissippi-Parliament Buildings connection

By Dave Allston Some of Kitchissippi’s most famous residents of all time also qualify as...

Early Days: The interprovincial LRT that nearly was

By Dave Allston In the late 19th century, most of Kitchissippi was not yet...

Early Days: How women’s hockey was started in Westboro

By Dave Allston The movie A League of Their Own brought to life the story...

Early Days: When Holland and Byron was mostly railways

By Dave Allston The intersection of Holland and Byron was for many years known...

Early Days: From Klondike to Westboro:How coal and lumber shaped western Ottawa

By Dave Allston Twenty years have passed since ground was broken for the Metropole...
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Early Days: The forgotten legacy of Hintonburg’s first thrift store

By Dave Allston Ottawa Neighbourhood Services was once a Hintonburg mainstay. For nearly 90...

Early Days: Wartime history: Tracking down the “Hintonburg Howitzer”

By Dave Allston Somerset Square is in the heart of Hintonburg, a landmark meeting point...

The history of Mechanicsville: Forged through hard work for 50 years

By Dave Allston This year marks an incredible milestone in the history of Mechanicsville: 150...

The doctor is in: Meet Israel Goldwin Smith, Kitchissippi’s first doctor

By Dave Allston Like out of an old movie or storybook, late-Victorian era Hintonburg was...

Hampton-Iona’s history: Standard Bread and a community on the rise

by Dave Allston As shared in part one, by 1909, the future Hampton-Iona neighbourhood had...

The early history of Hampton-Iona

By Dave Allston One of the historic hidden gems of Kitchissippi is the neighbourhood of...
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