You wouldn't know it to look at it now, but today's booming City of Brampton started with humble beginnings as a largely agricultural burg.
Our forefathers were among the tough pioneers who settled this part of the country, and they had to over come many of the same hardships and obstacles. With no roads, no electricity and no running water, they started from scratch in the dense hardwood forests that once covered this area.
In 1819, Richard Bristol and a team of surveyors traveled to Chinguacousy Township, set up camp near present-day Churchville, and completed a survey of the area. From the southwest comer of the township they cleared a line through the trees, marking the centre of each future road and measuring each lot. It took them six months and that line ended at the Street of Communication, which is called Hurontario Street today.
The early days were harsh. The area in the present-day downtown core was described by the surveyors as low, swampy and covered with a dense hardwood forest. Present day Gage Park was a swamp.
That land had to be cleared by settlers to make way for the first primitive roads. Those roads were almost impassible with fallen trees often blocking the way, and mud and dust creating their own hazards. As well as clearing their own lots and farms, the settlers also built all of the main roads in Peel County, which was made up of five townships - Chinguacousy, Caledon, Toronto, the Gore of Toronto and Albion- 293,000 acres in all.
The roads became marginally better as they were turned into what was called "corduroy" roads-surfaced with trees split down the middle and laid rounded-side up.
In the valley of the Etobicoke River, shoemaker William Buffy built a store on the northwest corner of present-day Queen Street and Main Street. Although in some accounts it has been called "Buffy's Tavern" it was not licensed as a tavern. However, like other businessmen of the day, Buffy kept a few bottles of spirits on site for customers and friends. He was building a hotel on the site when, ha1f-finished, he sold it to William Gardner.
The first tavern licence in the area was issued in 1829 to Archibald Pickard. A short time later, more taverns opened and in 1834 there were at least two breweries here. The first inn was built just north of what is now Vodden Street.
Through the 1830s and 1840s the area grew slowly, but steadily. An influx of immigrants in 1845 boosted the population and gave birth to many more businesses. John Holmes opened a tannery on the hill opposite today's Christ Church; there was a distillery in addition to the breweries and taverns, two saddlers, a general store and at least two mills.
In 1848 George Wright registered the very first plan of subdivision and in 1849 the Haggert Brothers opened a foundry and farm machine manufacturing business on the southwest corner of Hurontario Street and what is now Nelson Street. The three-storey building would become one of Brampton's largest industries, giving steady employment to 100 men. It was the area's first true industry.
By the mid-1840s, Hurontario Street was a mud track and the Etobicoke Creek crossed both Hurontario and Queen Street, forcing residents to cross the water either on foot or horseback in the shallowest spots.
Both main roads were 8 feet lower than they are today. In the beginning, the Etobicoke Creek was a source of fresh water to drink and fish to eat, but it was clear early on that it was a river prone to flooding. The first reported flood hit in 1834. It soon receded and the perennial flooding wasn't cause for too much concern until bridges were built and the bridges began to fall victim to the occasional flood.
The two roads were built up, over the river, eliminating the need for bridges, but not eliminating the damaging floods that would plaque the downtown until a diversion was built after the major flood of 1948.
In addition to these problems, settlers also had to battle disease. Cholera, scarlet fever, diphtheria and smallpox were among the virulent epidemics that took many lives in developing Upper Canada in the 1800s. By the 1850s there were several doctors in Brampton, but there were also unlicensed and unscrupulous men who called themselves healers.
John Elliott is one of the most well known of Brampton's early settlers. He wasn't the only pioneer who called Brampton Cumberland, England 'home', but it was his advertisement in the Canadian Correspondent newspaper in 1834 that eventually helped lead to the naming of the village 19 years later. His ad offered lots for sale in the "Village of Brampton". Elliott, a hardworking man and a teetotaler, owned 100 acres in what is now the downtown and he seemed to want to name an area after the village near his birthplace in England.
In England, the name "Brampton" dates back to 1606 when the Earl of Carlisle received a charter from King James I granting the establishment of the Brampton Parish in England. It is believed the name is derived from the word Brambles, which is a thorny tree bush native to the area.
Here in their adoptive home, the name stuck, and in 1853 the Village of Brampton, with a population of at least 1,000, was officially incorporated and the first council meeting was held on Jan. 17, John Lynch was the very first reeve.
Homes were being built in the downtown core and travelers expressed appreciation for the careful architecture used by Brampton designers.
Historians have noted there was a pine grove on Queen Street east of Hurontario where newly established residents would hunt a large covey of partridges. 1here were also plenty of deer, bear, wolves, foxes and raccoons wandering the dirt streets of the village. Even a colony of beavers started building a dam on the river, but they gave up when they realized the settlers were cutting down trees much faster than they were.
The sidewalks were wide and made of wooden planks, and the roads were dirt. By 1868, Brampton looked very much like something out of the Wild West.
There was a number of "firsts" in Brampton’s history.
There are no known surviving copies of the first newspaper, called The Mercury, which was started by a Mr. Judd before 1850. 1he Brampton Times began publishing in 1855 and The Weekly Standard came along in the early 1850s. Alexander Dick founded the Peel Banner and General Advertiser in 1868 and in 1873 Alexander Franklin Campbell started The Conservator.
The opening of the railway on June 16, 1856 sent Brampton's prosperity to new heights bringing businesses and residents here.
There were many private schools in Brampton. Boys learned skills they could use on the job or on the farm while girls learned English, music, French, needlework, drawing and painting. Girls were excluded from high school before public education became more common.
The first grammar school was established in 1853 and after two years more space was needed. Central School was built in 1856 and was added to as needed. Brampton also had a library in the mid-1800s, with two or three shelves of books and several games. John Haggert, Adam Morton and David Lynch Scott started it.
Fire was a common hazard in early Brampton and by the 1860s three fire companies had been set up to respond to the ringing of the fire bell. The town's first fire chief- former Mayor James Golding- was appointed in 1882.
By the 1870s Brampton was a village of 2,500 with eight hotels serving residents and travelers. Some of those hotels remained open until the 1930s.
The first organized sports started in Brampton in the 1860s. Aside from skating on the frozen river, cycling was the first sport to make its appearance in 1866. It was followed by baseball, croquet, lacrosse (the Excelsior’s Club was formed as a team from Brampton High School in 1871), and lawn bowling. Rosalea was the first athletic park created in Brampton in the late 1800s.
In January 1868, a motion to petition for Brampton's incorporation as a town lost at the village council meeting. Because there were some absences from the meeting, a second vote was taken, this time it passed, but the opposition was so strong it held up the process until 1873 when Brampton was finally incorporated as a town. .
The telephone was successfully tested by Alexander Graham Bell in 1875 and two years later a demonstration was done between Brampton and Stratford, Ontario. By 1881 the first telephone exchange was opened in Brampton and by 1883 there were 23 telephones here, only two of them in private homes.
 Crude streetlights were installed in Brampton in the late 1870s in the form of kerosene lanterns. It was 1885 when J.O. Hut ton put a generator in his Huttonville woolen mill, strung an electric line to Brampton and, using the power generated by the Credit River, lit up the first electric light outside the Queen's Hotel. By 1911 power was being supplied to Brampton by the provincial Hydro- Electric Power Corporation, which was formed in 1906.
Brampton's first high school was built in.1877 between Centre Street and Sophia Street. It was destroyed by fire in 1917; caused by an overheated furnace. Classes were held on the second floor of the courthouse until a new school was opened in 1919.
Although it would really come into its own in the 1960’s and 1970’s, Brampton Brick opened in 1904 on land where Archibald Pickard made the first bricks in the 1820’s.
In 1905, after the town had taken over operation of the library, Andrew Carnegie donated $12,800 to build a library for Brampton. It opened in 1907 and the building remains standing today on Queen Street E.
In 1905 the Horticultural Society was formed and in 1906 Brampton's first sewer system was built.
The first automobiles appeared in Brampton in the early 1900s, bringing road paving and improvements. The wooden sidewalks in the downtown were torn up and cement sidewalks replaced them before 1915. By 1914 there were 73 cars in Brampton.
The Brampton Boy Scouts were founded in 1910.
Plans to build a hospital in Brampton were delayed by the First World War, but an influenza epidemic in 1918 brought the need to the fore again. The William Elliot estate was bought in 1921 and the name Peel Memorial Hospital was born. It opened in 1925 with 12 beds, two public wards, six private rooms and a nursery. The first operation was performed two days later. Soon after the opening it was clear an addition was needed and a new wing was opened in 1933.
The town held a reunion in 1923 and celebrated 50 years since incorporation. The weeklong event included dances, concerts, sports and entertainment.
Brampton as a town was growing quickly and by 1936, traffic congestion was a problem with close to 10,000 cars passing through the four corners on the Victoria Day weekend, causing frustration for drivers.
In the 1940s the Brampton Flying Club moved to the Vradenburgh Farm at the corner of Hwy. 7 and McLaughlin Road. Flying in and out of the property was difficult because of the hydro wires. The club later moved north to its current location on McLaughlin Road in Caledon.
A temperance vote was taken in Peel County in 1947. The campaigning in Brampton was strong. Temperance headquarters was set up in St. Paul's Church. The vote in Brampton was to repeal the act, but those who wanted to keep Peel County dry won a small majority of51.7 per cent. It wasn't until 1952 that the first Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) outlet opened in Brampton. Hotels and restaurants were allowed to serve alcohol again a few years later.
There were taxis in Brampton, but in 1952 residents expressed a desire for in-town bus service. Three private bus companies researched the possibility, but decided against it, so a referendum was held during the 1952 municipal election. Voters were asked if they were in favour of a municipally operated bus service, and the idea was defeated by 242 votes. However, a private service started in 1957. Municipally run transit wasn't established unti1 1980.
Peel Memorial Hospital was trying to weather a crisis in the 1950s. After new wings were added in 1949 (one) and 1951 (two), the hospital was still critically overcrowded and in 1959 the hospital did not meet standards set by me Canadian Hospital Association. Peel Memorial Hospital lost its accreditation, which didn't force its closure, but it did bring one more major expansion.
American Motors opened a plant in 1961 employing 351 and producing 32 cars a day. Twenty years later it had more than doubled in size and was producing 240 cars a day.
Brampton's first shopping centre opened at the end of November 1960. The Brampton Mall, on Main Street S., was an instant hit, attracting huge crowds and doing a large amount of business.
Sheridan College opened in Brampton in September 1962 It was one of 18 arts and technology colleges to open in the province in the 1960’s.
Shoppers World was the first fully enclosed shopping mall built in Brampton, opening in 1969. Bramalea City Centre followed in 1973 and at the time it was the largest shopping development in North America.
The creation of the Region of Peel in 1974 came with controversy. Chinguacousy Township council rejected the idea a vote of 14 to 4. Brampton Mayor Jim Archdekin thought the three proposed areas of Peel were too large and the regional government would be too far removed from taxpayers. Naming the three areas was an emotional issue. The Ontario Geographic Names Board strongly recommended the names Mississauga, Chinguacousy and Osenego. However, residents were allowed to vote on their preference on June 1, 1973, and the names Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon were chosen. With the amalgamation, Brampton became a city in 1974.
As Brampton has grown the focus has moved away from the downtown core, although efforts are continually being made to revitalize the area, including construction of a live theatre on Market Square Boulevard which began in 2003.
A new Brampton City Hall opened in the downtown core in 1990, but it didn't bring with it the boost the area that was hoped.
Hwy. 410 was Brampton's first 400-series highway and was built in 1989/90. Construction on a northern expansion of the highway beyond Bovaird Drive started in 2003. It will eventually wind its way up to Hwy. 10 north of Mayfield Road.
Brampton is only half built-out in 2003. The population of the city is expected to swell to close to 600,000 by 2021. The present-day council is working to try to manage growth, and at the same time trying to recapture the city's Flowertown roots, planting and maintaining colourful flowerbeds across the city.
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