Nicholas Sparks (1794–27 February 1862) was an early landholder of Bytown, Upper Canada who owned most of the lands in the present day commercial core of Downtown Ottawa.
[1] On 25 September 1823, after saving his salary for several years, Sparks purchased 200 acres (0.8 km2) of land - along with some food and chattels - on the south side of the Ottawa River.
[4][5] It stretched west to modern Bronson Avenue and extended eastwards further than the Rideau Canal[4] (to Waller)[6] into what is today Sandy Hill.
[7] Sparks borrowed £95,[8] to complete the transaction for land that today is in the central business core of Ottawa.
Sparks challenged this appropriation of the land, between Bank Street and the Canal, which lay unused for years.
The Rideau Canal Act of February 1827, by the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada expropriated 104 acres (42 ha) of Nicholas Sparks's land, not returned to him until 1847[10] or late 1849.