Ownership

		Future site of the campus, looking south from current Bronson Avenue 1943.
		Library, Special Collections and Archives

In 1946, before Carleton officials had purchased any lands or buildings of their own, the board of governors established a property committee to "secure options on properties that would seem best suited for the College purposes" (minute of 21 June, 1946). A number of sites were under consideration then for future acquisition and development as a campus. It is believed they were located on Range Road in Sandy Hill, on Riverdale Road in Ottawa South (Rideau Gardens), on the south side of Billings Bridge, on Carling Avenue beyond Maitland Road, and "on the road leading to Hog's Back". The latter site eventually became part of the current campus.

In late 1946 and early 1947 D. K. MacTavish, an Ottawa barrister and member of the Federal District Commission (hereafter, FDC), purchased all available land between Dow's Lake and the Rideau River. According to the Grant filed at the registry office dated April 1947, D.K. MacTavish and his wife, J.S. MacTavish gave about a third of the acquired land to the Ottawa Association for the Advancement of Learning, the original name for Carleton University.

At that time the land was referred to as "Rideau Campus". The stated intent of this gift to the College was for the land to be used for a campus site or to be developed jointly with the adjacent land and then sold for the profits (board of governors' minutes, 25 March 1948).