The Ottawa Rowing Club (ORC) is a rowing club based in the city of Ottawa, Ontario. It is the oldest continuous rowing club in Canada. It is a registered club with Rowing Canada and Row Ontario. Location Members of the Ottawa Rowing Club practice on the Ottawa River, from Chaudière Falls to Lower Duck Island, passing in front of the mouths of the Rideau River and Gatineau River, and along the shore of Kettle Island. History Early rowing clubs In the 1840s, rowing clubs and regattas appeared in the Upper Canada communities of Toronto, Brockville, Monkton, and Cobourg. By this time, Canadian oarsmen were competing against British and American oarsmen in regattas in Halifax, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and other centres. History from 1867 to 1896 The Ottawa Rowing Club was founded on June 6, 1867. One of its founders and first patron was John A. Macdonald, and notable vice-presidents were Robert Lyon, Mayor of Ottawa, and Allan Gilmour, a businessman. The club's first regatta, on September 26, 1867, was described as follows: The initial regattas organized by the club were mainly for professional rowers and attracted numerous crews and spectators. As an example, ten races were held at the 1869 regatta, with entrance fees per crew up to $10 and prizes for first place up to $100. A special train by the Saint-Lawrence and Ottawa railroad was offered for "the convenience of parties desiring to return the same evening." Barges were also provided for spectators. The original club house was a wooden building, initially built on pontoons, and moored to the shore of the Ottawa river at the foot of Parliament Hill, between the Rideau canal and the Chaudière Falls. Whilst the view from the club house over the Chaudière Falls was picturesque, the rowing conditions were difficult: vast fields of sawdust and other refuse from an immense lumber mill situated about the falls, and logs escaping from the booms. Each spring, along with the melting ice, the club house floated downstream and came aground. Every year it was brought back up near the Rideau canal. As a result of those difficult environmental conditions, a "new and commodious boat house" was built in preparation to the 1869 Regatta organized by the club. In 1870, the club would have ceased their activities and the ownership of the boat house was transferred "to two or three members of the late Club".