The first European settler to the area now known as Pembroke was Daniel Fraser in 1823, who squatted on land that was discovered to have been granted to a man named Abel Ward.

Peter White, a veteran of the Royal Navy arrived in 1828, squatting beside Fraser on the land where Dairy Queen is now located.

In the 20-year period following 1861, Pembroke basically became the city it is today in terms of layout and buildings, although many homes and other structures have been lost to time.

When a fire was spotted in the forest a towerman would get the degree bearings from his respective tower and radio back the information to headquarters.

When one or more towermen from other towers in the area would also call in their bearings, the forest rangers at headquarters could get a 'triangulation' read and plot the exact location of the fire on their map.

Pembroke is a gateway to natural adventures on the Petawawa and Ottawa Rivers, Algonquin Park and to world-class white water rafting a short distance to the southwest.

Pembroke is managed by a Mayor-Council system, with a weak-mayor government form, for a total of one mayor and six councillors who are elected at large.

[10] Local attractions include 30 historic murals in the downtown area depicting the history of the city, from steam engines to logging.

The large museum features artifacts which range from fossils and Native Canadian arrowheads to furniture, clothing and manufactured products of Pembroke from various eras.

There is also a replica of Samuel de Champlain's Astrolabe (he brought the original to the Valley in 1613), an original Cockburn pointer boat, Corliss steam engine, doctor's examination room, fancy parlour rooms, general store, hair salon and more.

The city is home to an annual Old Time Fiddling and Step Dancing Festival, which happens Labour Day weekend at Riverside Park.

[12] The facility is operated by a Consortium consisting of The City of Pembroke and the Townships of Petawawa and Laurentian Valley.

Pembroke's Public Library was designed by architect Francis Conroy Sullivan, a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright.

They have been members of the Central Canada Hockey League since 1964, with the exception of the 1979–1980 season when the Pembroke Royals replaced them.

Although not all schools are able to participate in every sport due to different levels of interest or number of interested students, they students can participate in rugby, volleyball, cross country, football, basketball, alpine skiing, hockey, cross country skiing, snowboarding, curling, wrestling, badminton, golf, soccer, tennis and track and field.

For youth, there is the Phoenix Centre for Children and Families[17][18] that is run by a volunteer board of directors and funded by the provincial government.

[19] Most broadcast media transmitting in the Pembroke area are rebroadcasters of stations from Ottawa, Arnprior or Toronto.

Pembroke also remains CHRO-TV's official city of license, although the station currently operates out of studios in Ottawa.