For some decades in the 16th and 17th century, the municipality was ruled by the Lords Van Erp; they resided at their castle of Frisselsteijn in Veghel.

Like all the other areas of Brabant and Limburg which were transferred to the Netherlands by the Peace of Westphalia), Veghel was a Catholic town.

From the middle of the 19th century, the agrarian market town began to industrialize as a consequence of the opening of the South Willem's Canal.

The wealth generated by new industries helped support the construction of large-scale buildings, such as the neogothic church by Pierre Cuypers and the neoclassical town hall, dates from that period.

Monastic orders developed Veghel as a regional centre of health care and education, which it remains to this day.

With the beginning of Operation Market Garden in 1944, Veghel was one of the dropping-sites for Allied paratroops owing to its strategic location.

[8] About 90% of the municipality's total foreign population lives inside the town proper of Veghel.