Take a Look at our Present and Past Exhibitions
What's on Now!
Military Heritage Trail
Discover Owen Sound's military heritage through the Military Heritage Trail. Come to the museum when we are able to be open, and for now, you can do the trail using your smart phone.
Ticketed guided tours available in July.
In Their Steps
Retrace the steps of soldiers and nurses from the Owen Sound area, and learn about the institutions which helped raise them!
This 3.5km walking tour takes you around Owen Sound, so it can be seen like never before
The Unseen: 75 Years in the Canadian Armed Forces
An engaging and unique exhibit guest Curated by local veterans Warrant Officer Rene Michael Joseph Boudrais, Master Warrant Officer Steven Lehman, and Sergeant Radoslaw (Roger) Weron.
Learn about the role Canadian Armed Forces had in conflicts around the world since the end of the Second World War. See artifacts from the personal collection of three veterans with a combined service of over 80 years, from Korea to Afghanistan.
Highlighting the Canadian effort to achieve victory in the Netherlands, this ambitious exhibit is a curatorial collaboration led by a group of grade 12 history students from Owen Sound District Secondary School.
The students approached a number of groups in our community to ascertain their thoughts on peace seventy-five years after the Liberation of the Netherlands and the end of the Second World War. Their target groups included grade 1 and 2 students from École Hillcrest Elementary School, grade 6 and 7 students from Alexandra Community School, students from the Arden Language Centre, local veterans and civilian survivors of occupation during war. This last group includes stories from the local Dutch diaspora who immigrated to Canada after the Second World War.
Visitors will gain perspectives on the meaning of peace and the Canadian effort to obtain it. They will have an opportunity to offer their insights as to what peace means to them.
Want to learn more? Please check out the dedicated website https://www.liberationspring75.com/
Liberation Spring: 75 Years of Peace
Past Exhibits!
Celebrating the Seasons In Victorian Fashion
The Victorian Era saw increased industrialization and ease of travel with the expansion of railways. It became fashionable for the growing middle class to go away
for the weekend for a 'sea-side getaway'.
This exhibit features the rise of travel in the Victoria era. Getting out of the city to take in some fresh air and a swim was just what the doctor ordered. While spa towns like Bath and Harrogate still held their appeal during Victoria's reign, seaside resorts were becoming popular.
There was also a relatively new idea of camping; going out into the wilderness to set up a home like situation, where the family could bond and be together, sleeping under the stars, cooking over the fire and washing in the river or lake
The exhibit has been extended to November 12, 2020.
Come see this exhibit today.
Conduct Unbecoming Murder & Mayhem
Terrible atrocities of war were committed around the Battle of Normandy.
This special exhibit curated by Owen Sound and District Secondary School Grade 12 students will focus on three specific events for this 75th Anniversary exhibit.
Historian Howard Margolin in his work "Conduct Unbecoming: The Story of the Murder of Canadian Prisoners of War in Normandy" has documented the deliberate murder of 156 Canadian Prisoners of War during the Battle of Normandy. The murders were directly attributable to units of the 12th SS Hitlerjugend Panzer Division.
The murder and mayhem touched Owen Sound. This exhibit examines the stories of three hometown boys that were murdered during this time of the Second World War.
Billy Bishop Home & Museum thanks Ryan McManaman, his Grade 12 History class, especially Sydney Thornton, Caleb Keeling, and Adrian Wagenaar for their research and creation of panels for this exhibit.
Living Memory: Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła (Poland is not yet lost)
May 4, 2019, to April 2020
During the Second World War, there was a camp of Polish Soldiers stationed right here in Owen Sound. Having fled their own country after the German invasion the Polish Government in Exile regrouped and set to the task of reclaiming their country.
Please visit our website created especially for this exhibit
https://museumstaff.wixsite.com/polish-soldier-tree
Near Owen Sound, we have a Polish Soldier Tree symbolizing the living memory of those stationed here during the War.
This exhibit will be traveling onto London to be displayed at the Polish Combatants' Association
The Final 100 Days
September 8, 2018, to November 2019
This exhibit featured the soldier who had fought for four bloody years in fierce and costly battles such as 2nd Ypres, the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Hill 70, and Passchendaele and withstood a determined German offensive in the spring of 1918.
As the Allied Armies ramped up for further offensive action in the summer of 1918, the Canadian Corps was called upon to be the spearhead troops, given the reputation they had earned fighting on the Western Front. Along with their Australian cousins they would lead the assault.
Beginning with a spectacular victory at Amiens in early August, the four Canadian divisions attached to the British Fourth Army continued to batter German defenses as they fought through Arras, the Drocourt - Queant Line, Canal du Nord, Cambrai and on to Mons, Belgium, when an armistice had finally been negotiated for the eleventh hour of November 11th
Let us focus the historical lens on those local individuals who fought and died during the 100 Day Campaign to achieve this great final victory of the First World War.
