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The Harness Shop – 89 River St This house, immediately east of the Beall Block, was once home to the harness shop of Samuel Charter. Charter purchased the property from Mrs. William Doble and operated his harness-making business from a shop at the front of the building. While Samuel worked at his trade during the … Read more

The William Doble Home – 32 Albert St About 1857, William Doble and his wife, Margaret Ruddy, purchased a farm of approximately 90 acres from the Jones family. The family name recalls an even earlier period in the community’s history, when the settlement that became Sunderland was known as Jones’s Corners. The Doble home remained … Read more

Doyle’s General Store – 3 Albert St By 1912, a general store stood on the east side of Albert Street between the McDermott Block and the Presbyterian Church. Fire insurance maps identify it as a concrete building, while historical records associate the property with Timothy Pangman and businesses operated by the Aziz Brothers and W. … Read more

James Doble Home – 3 Cedar St S James Doble was born in 1826 and became one of the Sunderland area’s wealthiest landowners. He was the brother of William Doble, whose family lived at 32 Albert Street, and his landholdings eventually extended to thousands of acres between Sunderland and Victoria Corners. It was once said … Read more

William Nassau Doble Home – 12 River St William Nassau Doble was the son of William Doble and Margaret Ruddy, whose family home stood at 32 Albert Street. With several men named William Doble appearing in Sunderland’s history, he was often distinguished by his middle name and by the nickname “Gypsy Bill,” reportedly inspired by … Read more

Thomas Welsh Home – 27 River St Thomas Welsh Sr. moved to Sunderland in 1880 at the age of 24 and made his home here at the southwest corner of River and Cedar streets. By 1891, he was listed as a grain merchant and became closely associated with Sunderland’s grist mill, where grain from surrounding … Read more

Robert Doble Home – 48 River St Robert Doble, a nephew of Sunderland banker and landowner James Doble, lived in this River Street home. After Robert’s death in 1949, his son Floyd Doble left the family farm on the 4th Concession of Brock and moved into the house. Floyd apparently took the security of his … Read more

The Early Undertaker – 96 River St In nineteenth-century communities such as Sunderland, undertaking and furniture making were closely connected trades. Furniture makers already possessed the woodworking skills and equipment needed to construct coffins, and families generally held funeral services in their own homes before travelling directly to the cemetery. One of the earliest undertakers … Read more

The Printing Shop – 98 River St By 1910, this River Street building was already divided into two commercial spaces. A fire insurance map from that year identifies an implement business in the western half and a printing shop in the eastern half. During the early decades of the twentieth century, the building accommodated a … Read more