As of January 2002, the independent municipality of Bromptonville (formerly Brompton Falls) became Brompton, District #1 of the City of Sherbrooke. Bromptonville has joined other area towns as "boroughs" of Greater Sherbrooke. Lennoxville, Rock Forest, Fleurimont, Deauville, Saint-Élie-d'Orford, Stoke, and Ascot have all gone the same way. That old names, like Bromptonville, are disappearing from the map is a fact that some people deeply regret. This is especially true of "old-timers" in the area, many of whom still remember the early days of these communities.
In honour of the hundredth anniversary of the name "Bromptonville," which takes place in 2003, the images on this page have been provided to us by local resident Mario Hains.
According to Hains, Hains' great grandfather, Onésime Lambert, purchased "half of Brompton" in 1890, including all of the buildings and store of the Cyrus Clarke Mill (built 1853). The mill (left, c.1870) was a massive enterprise employing many of Brompton's labourers.
After he bought it, Onésime Lambert transformed the Clarke store into his home (right), and extensively remodeled it in the Victorian style. According to Hains, the house was soon nicknamed La Villa des Hirondelles ("the house of the swallows"), because of all the birds that used to nest in its many cornices and bays.
"Wood Heaven" (left) was a luxurious mansion built by Onésime Lambert and Edmund Tobin in 1907. Tobin, the son of Irish immigrants, was a prominent local businessman and a Member of the House of Commons under Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He and his family lived at Wood Heaven until the house was destroyed by fire in 1932. The mansion had 27 rooms, eight fireplaces, and three stairways -- a veritable "royal residence."