Vroomanton

By Guy Scott

Vroomanton was one of Brock Township’s earliest crossroads hamlets. It was named after Colonel James Vrooman, a hero from the War of 1812. Originally from a Loyalist family at Niagara, the colonel was granted land near Perth with other Veterans, but parlayed his fame into better land in Brock. Vrooman was a local leader who held various government positions. A village with several mills grew up around his home west of the present village of Sunderland. In fact, Vroomanton was the centre of western Brock until the railway came along. For some reason it bypassed Vroomanton in favour of Jones Corners (now Sunderland).

The directory of 1869 listed the population of Vroomanton as 150 with the following: 2 merchants: a hotelkeeper, a blacksmith, a jeweller, a shoemaker, a tailor, a wagon maker, a sawmill, a gristmill, one minister and 22 farmers! With the railway drawing businesses away from Vroomanton, the village gradually declined until all that was left was a school, a church with a graveyard and the Orange Hall. Oh, yeah, farmers still till the fertile farmland in the area.