Brampton, Ontario
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Brampton, Ontario is a city in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada, located in Peel Regional Municipality. In 2004, Brampton's population was 386,000, and it is estimated that by the year 2021, the city population will have almost doubled to 600,000 people. As one of Canada's fastest growing cities, the municipality has found it difficult to cope with its unprecendented growth, in terms of the provision of adequate infrastructure. It celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary in 2003, marking 150 years since its incorporation as a village in 1853, taking its name from the rural village near Chesterfield in England.
It is served by major transportation routes; Highway 401 from Toronto is a short distance south in Mississauga, and is reached by Highway 410. Highway 407 is the present boundary between Mississauga and Brampton, just south of Steeles Avenue, another thouroughfare from Toronto. The former Highway 7 is another east-west corridor, and Highway 427 is to the east. Both Canadian National Railways and Canadian Pacific Railway run through the city, CN's Intermodal Yards are located east of Airport Road between Steeles and the former Highway 7/Queen Street East. The CN Track from Toronto's Union Station, is the Georgetown GO Transit Rail Corridor providing commuter rail and bus services to and from Toronto. VIA Rail connects through Brampton as part of the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. The city is served by Brampton Airport for general aviation, and is near Toronto Pearson International Airport for commercial flights. Local transit is provided by Brampton Transit, with connections to other systems such as Mississauga Transit, York Region Transit, and Toronto Transit Commission.
Major companies include Ford, Nortel, Para Paints, a Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, Nestlé, DaimlerChrysler Canada Ltd., Maple Lodge Farms, Zellers, Frito Lay Canada and Data Business Forms.
Brampton was once known as The Flowertown of Canada, a title it earned due to the city's large greenhouse industry, which included Dale's Flowers, a company that won many international rose awards for nearly half a century.
High schools include: Turner Fenton Secondary School, Canada's only campus-based high school, Brampton Centennial Secondary School and Heart Lake Secondary School. Central Peel Secondary School was the 1975-1976 champions of the game show Reach for the Top. Among other district school boards, Cardinal Leger Secondary School, Notre Dame Secondary School and St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School are among the other schools that belong to a separate school board.
Cultural entities in the city are controlled by the Brampton Arts Council. They include Visual Arts Brampton and the Heritage Theatre. Also in the city is the Peel Heritage Complex, which is run by the municipality.
The city is host to the Brampton Battalion, an Ontario Hockey League (OHL) league team. The Brampton Excelsiors are a highly successful lacrosse team, seven-time winners of the Mann Cup. Their most recent Mann Cup victory was in 2002. The junior Excelsiors won the Minto Cup in 1952.
There are many sporting venues and activities including the outdoor ice path for skating through Gage Park and the ski lift at Chinguacousy Park. In the summer amateur softball leagues abound and crowds line the beaches at Professor's Lake.
A new convention centre, the Pearson Convention Centre, opened in August of 2003. The movie "Men with Brooms" (2002) starring Paul Gross & Leslie Nielsen was partially filmed at the Brampton Memorial arena and the Brampton Curling Club.
The city is home to reserve brigade The Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment).
In 2002, the city had a population of 351,646.
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Heart of Peel
Since its incorporation as a city in 1974, the municipal government of the Regional Municipality of Peel has transformed Brampton into a de-facto "capital." Most of the Region's department offices (including the Regional Council Chamber), the Peel Regional Police force, the fire department, and the region's only major museum, the Peel Heritage Complex, are all housed there. As a result of this, the area has become known as the centre of the region, represented by Peel Centre Drive, on which many facilities are located.
Communities
Brampton is made up of a number of smaller communities.
Bramalea was built as a "satellite city," Canada's first when built in the 1960s. It was annexed into Brampton in 1974, but still remains essentially autonomous in spirit, with even new residents responding that they live in Bramalea.
Chinguacousy and Toronto Gore were two townships incorporated into Brampton mid-way through the twentieth century. From this merger, communities such as Bramalea, Heart Lake and Professor's Lake, Snelgrove, Tullamore, and Mayfield, were formed.
Rural villages, such as Claireville, Ebenezer, Victoria, Springbrook, Churchville, Coleraine, and Huttonville were merged into the larger city. While only Victoria, Huttonville, and Churchville still exist as identifiable communities, other names like Claireville are re-emerging as names of new developments.
The early 1980s brought new development, as the city released large tracts of land to residential developers. This land began in its largest boom in 1999, when development started to appear as far north as the city's border with Caledon. The Region has designated this border as being the line of demarcation for urban development until 2021. However, neighbouring communities not part of Peel have also been massively affected by the city's sudden spurt. The end of Brampton and start of Georgetown, for example, is essentially non-identifiable.
Bramalea, Canada's Satellite City
Bramalea is a Canadian new town in Ontario, approximately 40 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital, Toronto. Located in the former Chinguacousy Township, it was Canada's first satellite community developed by one of the country's largest real estate developers, Bramalea Limited, formerly known as Brampton Leasing. The community had an extensive Master Plan, which included provisions for a parkland trail system and a "downtown," which would include essential services and a shopping centre.
Each subdivision of the city used street names that began with the same letter. The "A" section is the oldest part of the community, with street names like Argyle, Avondale, and Aloma. Children on the boundaries of these divisions would regularly compete in street hockey games, pitting, for example, the "D" section versus the "E" section.
The downtown area's centrepiece was the Civic Centre, which included the city hall and library. Directly across Team Canada Drive from the Civic Centre, Bramalea Limited built a shopping centre named Bramalea City Centre. The two centrepieces were connected by a long underground tunnel. Other features included a police station, fire hall, bus terminal, and a collection of seniors' retirement homes.
There is an extensive parkland trail and sidewalk system that connects the entire town. One can get anywhere in the town without having to use a road.
There are a large number of recreational facilities available in the town, including tennis courts, playgrounds, hockey/lacrosse rinks, swimming pools, and indoor hockey rinks.
History of Brampton
See also: List of mayors of Brampton, Ontario.
The two cities merge
Bramalea merged with its neighbouring city, Brampton, in 1974.
Upon merging with Brampton, many parts of the town changed. The Civic Centre housed the Brampton City Hall, until the early 1990s. The library merged with the Brampton Library system, and soon the Central Services moved to what became the Chinguasousy Branch, making the collection the head branch and Resource Center.
Notable people born or living in Brampton
- Nathaniel Branden, psychotherapist and author of books on psychology and philosophy.
- Michael Cera, comedian, Arrested Development
- Paulo Costanzo, comedic television actor, a lead in the Friends spin-off Joey
- Mike Danton, born Mike Jefferson, NHL hockey player charged by the FBI for plotting to hire a hitman to murder an unidentified person.
- William Grenville Davis, Bill Davis, or Brampton Billy, a former premier of Ontario.
- Susan Fennell, current mayor, commissioner of the NWHL.
- Scott Thompson (b. 1959), openly-gay television comedian, member of the noted comedy troupe Kids in the Hall.
- Alan Thicke, actor, singer, songwriter. Starred in 1980's sitcom Growing Pains and "Thicke of the Night". Father and sister still live and work in Brampton, although born in Kirkland Lake in Northern Ontario.
- IMDb listed actors: Andrew Bednarski, Daryl Jaye, Tyler Labine, Kris Lemche, Johanna Black, Joanne Boland, Sabrina Grdevich, Nicole Lyn, Brenna O'Brien, Leah Straatsma, Lynley Swain
Deceased
- John Coyne (died 1873), Peel County's first representative in the Ontario Legislature
- Gordon Graydon, politician
- JoAnn Wilson, wife and murder victim of politician Colin Thatcher, moved here
External links
- City of Brampton (http://www.city.brampton.on.ca/)
- Brampton Arts Council (http://www.artsbrampton.ca/)
See also
Unrelated: Brampton Lake, Ontario
| North: Caledon | ||
| West: Halton Hills | Brampton | East: Vaughan, Toronto |
| South: Mississauga |