Buckingham, Quebec

Buckingham is a former town located in the Outaouais region in the western portion of the province of Quebec, Canada. Since January 1, 2002, it has been part of the amalgamated city of Gatineau, which merged five former municipalities, including Masson-Angers, Buckingham, Hull, Aylmer and Gatineau, into a single entity. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the sector was 12,795.

It was in 1799, that land in this area was granted to John Robertson, a former member of a British regiment. The first people settled in Buckingham in 1823 and the first mill was built. More people moved to Buckingham in the years that followed.

In 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte initiated a continental blockade which forced Great Britain to look to other sources for importing lumber. Soon, large wooded areas were discovered in Lower Canada, including the area that became the Outaouais region. The lumber industry was central to the region's economic development for over a century with wood pulp continuing to be important for several decades afterwards. In 1837, the first sawmill was built by Levi Bigelow.

In January 1849, the Hudson's Bay Company opened a store in Buckingham at the mouth of the Lièvre River. It moved there from Lac des Sables to give HBC staff better control of indigenous traders coming down the Ottawa, Gatineau, and Blanche Rivers, as well as the ability to trade with lumberjacks and settlers. The store closed around 1870.

Throughout its history, the city of Buckingham's economy has been dominated by the Albright and Wilson Co (ERCO), which employs most of the people in that area. The Maclaren family may have lived in Buckingham but their industry is part of Masson.

The Maclaren family, who have resided in the region since 1840, have dominated the lumber industry in the Outaouais for over a century. In 1864, James Maclaren launched the family's activities in Buckingham by building a sawmill. The company became J. MacLaren & Co. and later The James Maclaren Company Limited. James' two brothers acquired the company after his death in 1892 and then launched a match company in Buckingham in 1894 which was incorporated a year later. The Maclarens later gained control of the hydroelectricity market in the community and also real estate development and sports facilities. The company built a hydroelectric dam along the Du Lièvre River, just north of Buckingham, at the start of the Great Depression. They later built another one near Masson during the 1950s.

In 1902, the Maclaren group added the wood pulp industry to its activities by building a mill. They later expanded their activities across the region, adding mills in Masson, Mont-Laurier and Thurso located not too far from the Du Lièvre River. The Buckingham mill closed shortly before 1960.

From 1975 to 1980, the townships of Buckingham, Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette, L'Ange-Gardien, Buckingham-Sud-Est, Buckingham-Ouest, Angers and Masson were amalgamated.