About Us

The Brockville Museum preserves and utilizes an evolving collection of objects and stories representing Brockville’s past and present to provide inspiring, inclusive, and collaborative experiences that enhance well-being and strengthen the community’s social and human capital in the service of Brockville’s future.

Governance

The Brockville Museum is part of the City of Brockville’s Cultural Services Department. A Museum Advisory Committee, appointed by Brockville City Council, provides operational advice and support to staff. The Advisory Committee consists of up to ten members. If you are interested in serving on the Advisory Committee, please check out our Volunteer Program Guide (Governance), and apply to the Clerk’s Office at City Hall (we recommend volunteering with us for at least one year to become more familiar with our programs and activities).

As part of the City of Brockville’s Cultural Services Department, the Brockville Museum receives annual operating funds from the City of Brockville. The Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport also provides annual operating funding through the Community Museums Operating Grant. These operating funds help cover core staffing and facility costs, but we rely on program fees and donations from the community and from the Friends of the Brockville Museum to cover the costs of exhibitions, programming, collections care, and other special projects.

Museum Advisory Committee Meetings are considered public meetings. Minutes of our Advisory Committee meetings are shared publicly with the City’s General Committee. Please contact the museum if you are interested in attending an upcoming meeting.

View the museum’s current 5-year plan for 2020-2025 as adopted on December 9, 2019.

History

The Brockville Museum was formally established at the present site in 1981. For nearly a decade prior to that, the Brockville Historical Society had held a “summer museum” in various historical locations throughout Brockville on a variety of local heritage themes. Since 1981 the museum’s collection grew substantially, and in 1995 expanded its facility at 5 Henry Street. Today the Brockville Museum is entrenched in this community as a vibrant hub of activity.

For a detailed history of the Brockville Museum click here (opens PDF).

The Brockville Museum was governed by a Board of Management between 1981 and 2022. In 2023 the museum became part of the City of Brockville’s new Cultural Services Department and the Board of Management transitioned into an Advisory Committee.

Stone house turned into a museum.

Future

As our services and collections have continued to grow, we’ve come to identify several shortcomings in our current home on Henry Street.

In addition to a critical lack of storage, we have also identified critical failings of the current buildings, including susceptibility to flooding and insufficient environmental controls.

In 2017, the (then) Museum Board of Management voted to begin investigating relocation options for the museum, with a vision to moving to new premises by 2032, the year of Brockville’s 200th anniversary of incorporation. (View motion here)

To this end, the City of Brockville, with financial support from the Friends of the Brockville Museum, procured the services of Lord Cultural Resources in late 2020 to prepare a detailed needs assessment and development strategy for the re-development of the Brockville Museum at a new site. The Final Report provides the guidance for the size, location, construction, mandate, and operation of the relocated and expanded Brockville Museum.

  • Undertaken with stakeholder and community consultation, the study prepared a vision for the Brockville Museum in a new location that serves as a destination for both residents and tourists, and which aligns with City priorities and goals, as well as community needs. The study helped identify action items that will bring this vision to fruition.
  • A virtual public meeting was held on November 25, 2020. The meeting’s agenda is available here, and a copy of the Museum’s slide presentation (identifying issues and discussing facilities) is available here.
  • An online public survey was circulated in late December 2020.

On May 4, 2021, the completed Feasibility Study was presented to the City’s Economic Development, Recreation, and Tourism Committee (EDRTC) – a recording of the meeting is available here (click here) (the presentation starts around the 4:30 minute mark).

On June 20, 2023, the Canadian Conservation Institute Facility Assessment (2022) was shared with the City’s General Committee – the meeting agenda includes links to the report (click here)

The Vision: A dynamic new museum in a larger modern facility that serves as a welcoming community hub, offering engaging experiences to connect with each other through our stories.