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  History of Rockwood

 

One gentleman settler, Henry Strange, had about 1,200 acres of land throughout Eramosa. He arrived circa 1840 and was later appointed Magistrate of the Township. He built a magnificent stone home and barn, and started several business ventures: the grist mill across the road from the house on Main Street South, a sawmill, the lime quarry on Old Quarry Road, a carding machine shop, and a cloth factory. Strange surveyed the village and laid out building lots, sold or gave away much of his land, and often provided stone from his quarry free of charge. It has been rumoured that he lost his business to arson, and died a pauper in a small cottage on the Eramosa River.

Several churches set up houses of worship in the village: the Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, and Presbyterians.

On December 1, 1853, Robert Pasmore became the first postmaster in his log general store at the southeast corner of Harris and Main Streets. The construction of the Grand Trunk Railway from Toronto to Sarnia went through the top of Rockwood and within two years, non-stop trains began throwing off mailbags, attracting curious onlookers when the enormous steam trains trundled through.

Saunder's Bakery delivery wagon,
circa 1925

The frame Quaker church, or Friends Meeting House, circa 1850.

Rockwood train station, circa 1890 (moved to Halton County Radial
Railway Museum)

 

Written and compiled by Deb Quaile of Wordbird Press.
Reproduced with permission of the author.

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