Welcome to History North Grenville

This is the virtual home of the North Grenville Historical Society. It is our hope that, over time, we will be able to provide access to our holdings of documentary material, newspapers, photographs and artifacts, dealing with the history of the Municipality of North Grenville. North Grenville is an amalgamation, dating from 1998, of the old Oxford-on-Rideau and South Gower Townships, along with the Town of Kemptville. The area has a rich history, dating from pre-European contact, and the First Nations play a role in the story. Among the second tier of Townships to be opened up at the end of the Eighteenth Century, this area has a long history of settlement, economic and social development, and strong links to the history of the Rideau Canal. It was the construction of the Canal that allowed an influx of European settlement from the 1830's. The history of steamships on the Rideau, and the coming of the railways in the 1850's, are all part of North Grenville’s story. The NGHS is an active and energetic group, involved in many on-going projects designed to make this story accessible to the residents of North Grenville and the wider community outside its borders. This site is one of the tools we will use to accomplish this goal, and we hope you visit often to browse through our records and up-coming exhibits from our collections.

The Quarterly is the journal of the NGHS and contains articles on local history, archival methods, books reviews, excerpts from local newspapers of the past, and other news of relevance to the heritage and history of North Grenville. Back issues of the Quarterly are available on this site, using the appropriate link button. As we develop the site and add to it over time, we hope it mirrors, in some way, the on-going story of North Grenville.