Brampton, Ontario

Brampton ( or ) is the third-largest city in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada. It is in the Peel Region. At the time of the 2006 Canadian census, Brampton's population was 433,806 people. Brampton is now the 11th largest city in Canada.

Brampton was made into a village in 1853. It took its name from the town of Brampton, England. Brampton was once known as The Flower Town of Canada. It was called this because of the city's large greenhouse industry. Today, the city is the home of the national headquarters of Loblaw Companies, HBC/Zellers, Brita, Clorox and other companies. The city is also home to Canadian Forces Army Reserve unit The Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment).

History
In 1834, a man named John Elliott divided land into lots and started to sell these lots. He called the area "Brampton", and others started to do the same.

In 1853 Brampton was made into a village. During that year a small agricultural fair was started. The fair took place at the corner of Main street and Queen street. Grains, produce, and dairy products as well as Horses and cattle were sold at the fair. This fair became what is now called the Brampton Fall Fair.

The village of Brampton built its first public library in 1887. In 1907, the village got money from Andrew Carnegie to build a new library building.

Edward Dale, an immigrant from Dorking, England, opened a flower nursery in Brampton after he got to the town in 1863. Dale's Nursery became the town's largest employer, and began to export flowers around the world. The company became a town landmark, until Brampton Town Council allowed the building to be torn down in 1977. The company once had 140 greenhouses, and was the largest flower business in North America. The company also brought about the development of other nurseries in the town. Brampton became the home 48 flower nurseries.

In 1963, the town started calling itself the Flower Town of Canada. On 24 June 2002 Brampton City Council started the "Flower City Strategy". They wanted to show the town's history of growing flowers using this strategy. In 2007 the Rose Theatre was opened
and the city started taking part in the Communities in Bloom competition as a part of their strategy.

Current events
On October 28, 2007, the Brampton Civic Hospital was opened. The Brampton Civil Hospital was built to replace the old Peel Memorial Hospital which had been closed for renovations. Since Peel Memorial Hospital closed, the residents of Brampton have not been sure what is going to happen to it. Many residents want the hospital to be re-opened. They do not think the Brampton Civic Hospital is large enough for the size of Brampton.

In September of 2007, the Rose Theatre opened in Brampton. The theatre is seen as the start of a rebuilding of Brampton's downtown . Since the theatre opened, new businesses have opened in Brampton, and old businesses have renovated.

References

Other websites

 City of Brampton official website
 The Brampton Guardian, community newspaper
 The Brampton Bulletin , community newspaper
 The Brampton News , online-only news source
 Rogers Community Cable Brampton , television station
 Peel Garage Door Brampton, Garage Door Services

Cities in Ontario