A community lived through the pages

This Douglas Cornish essay celebrates the Chronicle's 75th anniversary by examining its role in the community

By Douglas Cornish

Many of the Chronicle’s early covers were sketches. This line drawing is by Alvin Heights resident and well-known Canadian war artist Tom Wood who was trying to capture “Manor Park in January”. Photo archives

Everything is local. Politics certainly is, as are newspapers. Yes, newspapers still do exist. The Globe and Mail, New York Times, National Post, Wall Street Journal, etc. are all good reads, but they’re not local–they’re out in the world. The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Sun, and Le Droit are local, but mainly cover Ottawa and the surrounding area; if a local neighbourhood is periodically mentioned, it’s usually a fire, a car theft, or such.

In today’s digital landscape, who reads ‘paper’ anymore? The Manor Park Chronicle is truly local. It concentrates on the Manor Park area and is in its 75th year of publication. The neighbouring New Edinburgh News, which is a fine community paper, is 48 years old.

The Chronicle (so aptly named) is an achievement in longevity. Many local community newspapers have fallen by the wayside, so a community paper still to be thriving at 75 is special, reflecting the uniqueness and steadfastness of the community.

When newspapers ruled

A community newspaper is old-fashioned, harking back to days when newspapers ruled, when communities were actual communities, not merely bedroom, Wi-fi, or status places. The community was a local bubble; within that sphere, there was enough to satisfy most. Many long for that nostalgia, which may be part of the reason why the Chronicle remains. Advertisers are important and so is readership. People want to read what’s going on within their local ‘hood. It’s a great venue for local area businesses, community events, and so on, which might not be covered in the larger press. And it comes right to your door, for free.

The Chronicle, as its name suggests, chronicles community life. The community is not a novel with a beginning and an end; it’s a never-ending and ever-evolving tale. There was a beginning for Manor Park, the first planned suburb in Ottawa, but the end has not been written.

The neighbourhood has changed from its early days of small houses to more ‘show me’ type homes. Manor Park real estate, in the beginning, placed more emphasis on the word ‘real’ than on the word ‘estate’. Manor Park is not Coronation Street, but it is also not Downton Abbey. Its original intent was for average families to buy a house and raise children, which was accomplished mainly with one salary. Today it takes two high-income earners with half the kids to afford a Manor Park house.

‘Chronicling’ change

The community story changes, residents change, attitudes and lifestyles change, but that’s the evolving nature of any neighbourhood, and it’s the Chronicle that ‘chronicles’ that journey. The Chronicle is the community diary, the record of the area and the evolution of the neighbourhood. Many neighbourhoods, whenever they are brought up in a conversation, usually invoke the response of, “Ya I used to live there once”.

The story is always personal, and newly-arrived families try hard to inject their story into the neighbourhood. The story of any life is the chronicling of that life. To chronicle is to live. Memories are the bloodstream of any neighbourhood, and a community newspaper is an important conduit. Without chronicling the comings and goings of the neighbourhood, there is no story. The Chronicle, though, is not the story itself but the telling of the story. It provides the means for the community to express itself.

So, please keep calm and Chronicle on.

Many of the Chronicle’s early covers were sketches. This line drawing is by Alvin Heights resident and well-known Canadian war artist Tom Wood who was trying to capture “Manor Park in January”. Photo archives
The 2024 January-February Douglas Cornish essay helps commemorate the newspaper’s 75th anniversary. Many of the Chronicle’s early covers were sketches. This line drawing is by Alvin Heights resident and well-known Canadian war artist Tom Wood who was trying to capture “Manor Park in January”. Photo archives