Our Society

The Cumberland Township Historical Society is a non-profit, volunteer and community-based organization whose goal is to preserve Cumberland Township history.

At that time the Municipality of Cumberland merged with 10 other local municipalities to become the new City of Ottawa. The rural Cumberland area is now referred to as Cumberland Ward 19. The urban Cumberland and Gloucester areas are now referred to as Orléans ward.

In 2022 Cumberland Ward was cut and redivided into; Osgoode Ward 20, south of Russell Rd., Orleans South Navan Ward 19 taking in the central part of the Township and Orleans East Cumberland Ward 1 which takes in the northern part of the Township.

To help keep our local history alive and of value to our members, the executive hosts meetings throughout the year where members and guest speakers engage in often lively discussion on a variety of topics of local historical significance. Since 1988 we’ve published the Society’s newsletter – The Caboose – now twice a year, copies of which, copies of which you can view from our web site. Our local history room (Cumberland branch, Ottawa Public Library) contains family and parish records, maps, periodicals and other historical documents.