Pembroke, Ontario

Pembroke
—  Independent city  —
Pembroke City Hall and Muskrat River
Nickname(s): The Heart of the Ottawa Valley
Pembroke Location of Pembroke, Ontario
Coordinates: 45°49′N 77°06′W
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
County	Renfrew (independent)
Established	1828
Government
• City Mayor	Ed Jacyno
• Governing Body	Pembroke City Council
• MPs	Cheryl Gallant
• MPP	John Yakabuski
Area
• Total	14.35 km2 (5.54 sq mi)
Elevation	130 m (492 ft)
Population (2011 )
• Total	14,360
• Density	1,000.7/km2 (2,592/sq mi)
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Postal Code	K8A
Area code(s)	613
Website	City of Pembroke
Dwellings: 6,594

Pembroke (2011 population 14,360; CA population 24,017) is a city in the province of Ontario, Canada, at the confluence of the Muskrat River and the Ottawa River in the Ottawa Valley. Pembroke is the seat of Renfrew County, though it is politically independent.

History

The first European settler to the area now known as Pembroke was Daniel Fraser in 1823, who squatted on land that was discovered to have been granted to a man named Abel Ward. Ward later sold the land (where Moncion's Grocers is located) to Fraser, and nearby Fraser Street is named after the family. Peter White, a veteran of the Royal Navy arrived in 1828, squatting beside Fraser on the land where Dairy Queen is now located. Other settlers followed, attracted by the growing lumbering operations of the area.

Originally named Miramichi, Pembroke became a police village in 1856. Pembroke is named after Sidney Herbert, First Admiralty Secretary from 1841 to 1845 and son of George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke.

Pembroke was incorporated as a town in 1878 and as a city in 1971. It was named seat for Renfrew County in 1861. This set the stage for construction shortly thereafter on the Renfrew County Courthouse, which finished in 1867, and the arrival of many civil servants, much wealth and much construction. In the 20-year period following 1861, Pembroke basically became the city it is today in terms of layout and buildings, although many homes and other structures have been lost to time. A fire in 1918 destroyed much of Pembroke's downtown.

From 2005 to 2007, the Courthouse and Jail (now non-functional) were re-constructed into one building and historic renovations were also completed. Visitors on weekdays can view original 1867 jail cells in the basement, and the original courtroom, complete with a huge replica of the original brass light fixture. County meetings were held here for many years. Three hangings occurred at the indoor gallows inside the Courthouse, two in the 1870s and one in 1952.

Other historic buildings that survive in Pembroke include a historic synagogue, two original hospitals, the Dunlop mansion (Grey Gables Manor Bed & Breakfast), the 'Munroe Block' downtown, and two houses belonging to the White family. A fire in 1918 downtown destroyed many buildings, including the Pembroke Opera House.

In 1898 it became the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pembroke.

Economy

Pembroke's public library.

Pembroke is the largest commercial centre between North Bay and Ottawa. Historically, forestry and farming formed the backbone of the local economy and remain important today. Local timber products include lumber, plywood, veneer, hydro poles and fibreboard. Other local manufacturing operations produce office furniture. CFB Petawawa in nearby Petawawa, Chalk River Laboratories of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited in Chalk River are also regional employers. The economy also benefits from tourism, aided partly by Pembroke's location on the Trans-Canada Highway. Pembroke is a gateway to natural adventures on the Petawawa and Ottawa Rivers, Algonquin Park and to world-class white water rafting a short distance to the southwest.

Attractions

Champlain Trail Pioneer Village

Local attractions include 30 historic murals in the downtown area depicting the history of the city, from steam engines to logging. Pembroke has more murals than almost any city in Canada.

At the Champlain Trail Pioneer Village and Museum the history of Ottawa Valley settlers comes alive inside the fully furnished schoolhouse, pioneer log home and church - all built in the 1800s. Other outdoor exhibits include train station, sawmill, blacksmith shop, stonelifter, carriage shed, woodworking shop, bake oven, smokehouse and a 1923 Bickle fire engine. The large museum features artifacts which range from fossils and Native Canadian arrowheads to furniture, clothing and manufactured products of Pembroke from various eras. There is also a replica of Samuel de Champlain's Astrolabe (he brought the original to the Valley in 1613), an original Cockburn pointer boat, Corliss steam engine, doctor's examination room, fancy parlour rooms, general store, hair salon and more.

The Pembroke Hydro Museum commemorates national hydro-electric development in Pembroke, including the first electric streetlights in Pembroke, and the first municipal building with electric lights (Victoria Hall).

Pembroke hosts one of the campuses of Ottawa-based Algonquin College. Among the new programs are 'Outdoor Adventure' and 'Outdoor Adventure Naturalist'.

The city is home to an annual Old Time Fiddling and Step Dancing Festival, which happens Labour Day weekend at Riverside Park. There are often up to 1400 RVs parked there for the week preceding the event. Award-winning fiddler/step dancer April Verch is a Pembroke native. Pembroke has a 600 plus seat arts facility, Festival Hall. The facility hosts various top Canadian artists during the year, promoted by Green Tomato Productions. It is also host to the annual Silver Stick Minor League Hockey Tournament, which brings in several hundred children and youth on weekends in November and early December for regional qualifying games.

Pembroke's Public Library was designed by architect Francis Conroy Sullivan, a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Sports

Pembroke has been the home of the Pembroke Lumber Kings Junior A Hockey Club since 1958. They have been members of the Central Junior A Hockey League since 1961. Pembroke has won the CJHL Championships the last five years in a row. In 2011, they won their first Canadian Junior A title, the Royal Bank Cup.

Pembroke annually hosts the Kings Sports Tournament, in August.

Demographics

Census	Population
1841	250
1871	1,508
1881	2,820
1891	4,401
1901	5,156
1911	5,626
1921	7,875
1931	9,368
1941	10,999
1951	12,704
1961	16,791
1971	16,544
1981	14,026
1991	13,997
2001	13,490
2006	13,930
2011	14,360

The war memorial in downtown Pembroke.

A monument to the pointer boat, part of the historically important logging industry, near the Pembroke Marina.

Media

Most broadcast media transmitting in the Pembroke area are rebroadcasters of stations from Ottawa, Arnprior or Toronto. CHVR-FM is the only broadcast station directly based in the Pembroke area itself. Pembroke also remains CHRO-TV's official city of license, although the station currently operates out of studios in Ottawa.

Radio

• FM 88.7 - CBOF-FM-9, Première Chaîne (Chapeau, Quebec)
• FM 92.5 - CBCD, CBC Radio One
• FM 96.7 - CHVR ("Star 96"), country music
• FM 99.9 - CKQB-1 ("The Bear"), active rock
• FM 100.7 - CHRI-2, Christian
• FM 104.9 - CIMY ("My FM"), adult contemporary

Television

Except for CIVP-TV, all channels listed below are available on Cogeco, the local cable system for Pembroke.

• Channel 3: CBOT-6, CBC (rebroadcasts CBOT Ottawa)
• Channel 5: CHRO-TV, CTV Two
• Channel 11: CBOFT-1, Radio-Canada (from Chapeau, Quebec; rebroadcasts CBOFT, Ottawa)
• Channel 17: CHLF-TV-13, TFO
• Channel 23: CIVP-TV, Télé-Québec (from Chapeau, Quebec; rebroadcasts CIVM-TV, Montreal)
• Channel 29: CICE-TV-16, TVOntario (local TVO relay)
• Channel 47: CJOH-TV-47, CTV (rebroadcasts CJOH-TV Ottawa)
• Cogeco Cable 12: TV Cogeco

Print

The city's main daily newspaper is The Daily Observer. The Observer also publishes the weekly free advertising paper, The News.

Notable citizens from Pembroke

• Dan O'Connor, a businessman and prospector born and raised in Pembroke.
• Wayne Rostad, Canadian songwriter, singer, story teller, spent his youth in Pembroke.
• Jason Blaine, a country singer who was born and raised in Pembroke
• Rower/kayaker Sarah Boudens, who participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is a Pembroke native.
• Bruce Cockburn spent his childhood on a farm near Pembroke.
• Pembroke is the birthplace of comedian Tom Green, although Green's family subsequently moved to Ottawa.
• Paul Joseph James Martin also known as Paul Martin, Sr., noted lawyer, politician and father of former Prime Minister Paul Martin was raised in Pembroke.
• The editor-in-chief of First Things, the Reverend Father Richard John Neuhaus, was born in Pembroke.
• Pembroke boasts three NHL Hall of Fame hockey players: Frank Nighbor, who was nicknamed "The Pembroke Peach," Harry Cameron and Hugh Lehman.
• Donald Williamson was raised in Pembroke, and was a hockey player on the 1955-1956 undefeated Clarkson University college hockey team. Williamson was one of the founders of the Granite State Hockey League and is in the New Hampshire Hockey Hall of Fame.

Forest fire protection history

See also: History of wildfire suppression

The Pembroke Forest Fire District was founded by Ontario's former Department of Lands and Forests (now the MNR) in 1922 as one of 17 districts to help protect Ontario's forests from fire by early detection from fire towers. The headquarters for the district were housed in the town. It was the central location for 15 fire tower lookouts, including the towers in Algonquin Park. The 15 towers included: Wilberforce, Mt. Edna, Sherwood, Murchison, Preston, Clancy, Fitzgerald, Brent, Big Crow Lake, White Trout Lake, Stonecliffe, Deux Rivieres, Osler, Lauder and Skymount. When a fire was spotted in the forest a towerman would get the degree bearings from his respective tower and radio back the information to headquarters. When one or more towermen from other towers in the area would also call in their bearings, the forest rangers at headquarters could get a 'triangulation' read and plot the exact location of the fire on their map. This way a team of forest firefighters could be dispatched as soon as possible to get the fire under control. These towers would all be phased out after aerial fire fighting techniques were employed in the 1970s.

See also

• Pembroke Airport
• Kichesipirini

External links

• City of Pembroke