Builder: Horse Racing
Year to be Inducted: 2026
Born in: Kentucky, USA

Paul Barber was among Ottawa’s most successful horse trainers and harness racing reinsmen around the turn of the 20th century.

Born as a child of slaves in Kentucky, he learned how to care, train, ride and race horses on the Barber Farm. Once he landed in Ottawa in the 1880s, Barber arrived with an established reputation for his tremendous skills and knowledge in equine sport, earning additional notoriety as a rare Black jockey/trainer in the U.S.

Barber worked as a horse handler for many of Ottawa’s most prominent and wealthy families of the era. McCandish stables provided his first assignment, and over time, he became well-known for his innovations in racing equipment and the technical aspects of horse training, plus veterinary care.

In 1905, Barber was called upon to train 16 new horses for the municipality’s police force, making him the City of Ottawa’s first Black employee. He joined the Ottawa’s Horsemen’s Club as an employee and mentor around the same time.

Barber also excelled as a talented harness racing driver. He raced his sulky (a harness racing cart) in Ottawa and beyond, recording victories in the three-minute class race at Winchester Horse Racing in 1894 and 1897.

He also raced on the frozen Ottawa River and Lac Leamy during a time when horse racing was the king of sport in Ottawa’s Victorian society. His experience and knowledge, later shared with others, helped build the horse industry in the area for many years ahead.