The Ottawa Journal was a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, from 1885 to 1980.

The newspaper, originally called the Ottawa Evening Journal, was founded in 1885 by Alexander Smith Woodburn (1832-1904). Woodburn had been in the printing business for decades, having apprenticed in the late 1840s and early 1850s under Dawson Kerr, publisher of The Orange Lily, one of Bytown's early literary newspapers. By 1860, he and John George Bell (who had previously published the Bytown Packet) had established a printing office on Elgin Street under the name of Bell & Woodburn. After Bell retired in May 1872, Woodburn continued the business on his own.

The newspaper's office was originally located at 36 Elgin Street (now 40 Elgin St.), where Woodburn's (and previously Bell & Woodburn's) printing business had been operating from since the building was constructed in 1867. The first edition was published on December 10, 1885, and in it Woodburn gave his reasoning for starting the paper. He stated that Ottawa was lacking an "able and independent" newspaper and needed a daily that was "of high moral tone, free from partizanship and party prejudices." Ottawa had an existing English-language newspaper, the Ottawa Citizen (then the Daily Citizen), which Woodburn felt was too partisan.

The newspaper's first editor was John Wesley Dafoe. In early May 1886, he left the Evening Journal to join the staff of the Manitoba Free Press, which was later renamed the Winnipeg Free Press. He was succeeded by Arthur H. U. Colquohoun of the Montreal Star.

The Evening Journal soon faced financial difficulties, racking up several thousand dollars of debt by the end of 1886. Philip Dansken Ross, then editor of the Montreal Star, paid Woodburn $4,000 in exchange for a half interest in the newspaper. Their partnership came into effect on January 1, 1887 and was announced two days later. Their partnership was dissolved on October 31, 1891, with Ross purchasing Woodburn's interest in the newspaper.

The Evening Journal expanded in June 1887. On June 4, the Saturday edition of the Journal doubled in size to eight pages long, while the rest of the daily editions remained four pages. On June 6, Woodburn and Ross began publishing the Semi-Weekly Journal twice a week to service the rural areas surrounding Ottawa. In 1899, the Semi-Weekly Journal would be renamed the Ottawa Valley Journal, and in 1917, it became the Ottawa Farm Journal.

In 1892, the business became a joint stock company and gained a charter of incorporation from the provincial government; publishing was afterward carried out by The Journal Printing Company (Limited) with P. D. Ross as the managing director and editor. In 1893, the newspaper was enlarged to an eight-page paper after the purchase of a new Goss Straight-Line Newspaper Perfecting Press, which dramatically sped up the printing process.

The newspaper office moved from 36 Elgin St. to 34 Elgin St. on March 1, 1894. By 1912, the Evening Journal would occupy both 34 and 36 Elgin St.