Museum

Hours of operation

Monday to Friday: 9:30 am to 4:30 pm (closed during the lunch hour)

• Visits available evenings and weekends by appointment.
• Admission is free but donations are accepted.

Collection

Marc Dorion Room

The Marc Dorion room contains all the exploits of local sports groups and the individual exploits for amateur and professional sports of the people of the region.

Laporte Family Room

The Laporte Family Room houses models of buildings from the beginning of Rockland in 1868, heritage, genealogy and obituaries of the entire region.

Archives Room

The archives room has more than 700 binders containing approximately 450 000 complete documents of local, regional, provincial, national and even international interest.

Gilles Chartrand Room

The Gilles Chartrand Room houses the section on Francophone authors and writers, the section on world conflicts and a collection of military bravery medals.

2nd floor

On the 2nd floor is the Inuit Exhibit that includes more than 300 items. Groups of 10 to 20 school children visit it regularly.

Basement

The basement houses the 2nd archive room, but also a brand-new addition with its zoology, astronomy, mineralogy, fossils, reptiles, mammals including dinosaurs, etc. section.

History

The Clarence-Rockland Museum, inaugurated on April 29, 2010, is located in the former École La Ste-Famille at 687, Laurier Street, Rockland, Ontario.

Ste-Famille School

In 1909, Sainte-Famille School opened its doors. This two-story school had four classrooms and welcomed all the children of Rockland East. Brigitte Séguin, one of the pioneers of education in Rockland, was the principal at the time. She was assisted in her work by her sister Georgianna, Joseph Aspeck, Alma Marier and Irène Deshaîtres who taught the students in French and English.

Previously, the Académie du Sacré-Cœur, established in 1896, was no longer able to keep up with the demand. It was a little too far from the eastern part of the city, so the school authorities agreed to build the Sainte-Famille School on Laurier Street.

In 1968, Sainte-Famille School closed its doors to the population of Rockland East. After a metamorphosis, the establishment was reborn in 1973 to become the Centre culturel Sainte-Famille and continues its educational vocation in another form until 2010. Over a period of more than 36 years, the Cultural Centre offers courses in pottery, silk-screening, photography, music, drawing, theatre and even carpentry. From 1982 to 2010, its "Découvertes" artist development program encourages a good number of artists to pursue a career in the arts.

Since 1995, the Rockland United Soccer Club has been using two rooms on the second floor. This club has several hundred young soccer players from Clarence-Rockland. The Clarence-Rockland Museum, inaugurated on April 29, 2010, occupies the rest of the building and is also considered a research centre for students at the elementary, secondary, college and even university levels.

Heritage Site

The former Sainte-Famille School is considered a local heritage site because of the role it has played in the education of the community over time, and because of its new cultural vocation.

The building is part of Clarence Rockland's Heritage Tours, which allows visitors to discover the history of the municipality's villages while appreciating the architecture of various buildings built between 1825 and 1950. These places have, in their own way, witnessed the life of the people of this region, like a footprint of the history of the region.

Visit the Clarence-Rockland Heritage Tours.