Brockville Museum 5 Henry Street Brockville Ontario Canada K6V 6M4 www.brockvillemuseum.com 613-342-4397
Digital Museum
150 Years of Brockville History of Canada 150
In honour of Canada150, the Brockville Museum will be starting a special project. For the 150 days leading up to Canada Day (beginning February 1st), we will post to Facebook something that happened in the Brockville area every year from 1867-2017. These posts will include excerpts from the newspapers, photographs and artifacts from the Brockville Museum’s collection. After they have been posted to Facebook, we will add them to this site in 25-year increments. (Click on image for details).
In 1892 the Canada Carriage Company (CCC) moved to Brockville from Gananoque. The CCC became one of the largest carriage-works in the country; at one point producing around 40 buggy styles and 15 cutters/sleighs. Tragedy struck in 1905 when the factory was lost to a fire. But they rebuilt and by 1906 they employed 400 people. Buggy on display at the museum.
1893 marked a grim milestone in the history of Brockville and the Counties Court House. At 8:06 on a cold December morning, the last man hanged in Brockville was declared dead. His name was Charlie Luckey. He had been found guilty of killing 3 members of his family the year before. Luckey claimed his innocence right up to the end. Shared here is a view of the Court House from a post card (circa 1906).
Sent in 1916, this post card from Lieut. F. R. Gilbert leads us to the story of another local business: the Gilbert Boat Company. In 1904, Nelson Gilbert opened a boat works on Jessie Street. Despite a devastating fire in 1923, the business continued. Nelson’s sons Fred R. and Merril ran it for a time. The third generation to run the business is Fred N. Gilbert. Now known as Gilbert Marine Ltd., they rent and sell boats of all types. Pictured here is the 1916 post card sent by F.R. Gilbert.
In 1892 the Canada Carriage Company (CCC) moved to Brockville from Gananoque. The CCC became one of the largest carriage-works in the country; at one point producing around 40 buggy styles and 15 cutters/sleighs. Tragedy struck in 1905 when the factory was lost to a fire. But they rebuilt and by 1906 they employed 400 people. Buggy on display at the museum.