Rose City | Brampton, Ontario

When it comes to places I’ve photographed in my local area, the city of Brampton isn’t one I often visit for photography. Now, to be clear, I have made several trips to Brampton for photography, but mostly around Sheridan’s Davis Campus. But the historic downtown I’ve only visited twice, the first time was for a PYPS Winter Weekend and the second time to test out a new-to-me Olympus OM-1n. So when I was putting together a plan for this year’s 12 Months on Film, I wanted to include places I’d been only once or twice, and Brampton, though it didn’t make the initial cut, ended up on the March list. I ended up going with my Miranda Sensorex, 35mm f/2.8 lens and a roll of Kentmere 400, which I developed in Flic Film’s Elementary Developer. I also took along my D750 with the Sigma 28-70mm lens and the Hanimex 35ES, although those photos won’t be shown here but rather in that camera’s review later in the year.

I do like to include a bit of history about the places I’ve visited, and when it comes to Brampton, I wasn’t expecting to come across such a rich story. I always figured that the modern city of Brampton is something like Mississauga or Cambridge, several smaller communities with individual names that were lumped together in the 1970s as a cost-saving measure. And while that is somewhat true today, Brampton has a history similar to that of other historic communities in the area. Human settlement in the region dates back to around 8,000 BCE, largely due to fertile soil and the nearby Etobicoke Creek. By the time Europeans began to filter into the area, the land was under the stewardship of the Mississaugas of the Credit. The area, along with most of what would become Halton and Peel, was ceded to the British Crown under the terms of the 1818 Adjacent Treaty (Treaty 19). Surveys were quickly conducted, and Peel County was formed along with Chinguacousy Township. One of the major north-south roads was the Toronto-Syndenham Road, which ran from Toronto Township (Etobicoke) and Collingwood and quickly took on the name Hurontario Street. One of the first settlers in the area was William Buffy, who established a tavern on Hurontario where it intersects with Queen Street today. This tavern became the centre of a bustling agricultural community and a place of business dealings. The area became known as Buffy’s Corner. In 1834, John Elliot conducted a townsite survey, dividing several large lots into smaller plots and giving the new community the name Brampton. The village grew quickly, aided by the creek’s power, which enabled the construction of mills, but the first real industry in Brampton was potash production. By 1853, Brampton was officially incorporated as a village and boasted several taverns, churches, blacksmiths, a tannery, a distillery, mills, a grammar school and even an agricultural fair. In 1856, the Grand Trunk Railway arrived, laying a new rail line from Toronto toward Sarnia. Starting in the 1860s, Brampton became known for its flower growers, with the Dale Nurseries becoming an iconic business in the village and the largest employer. In 1866, Peel and York Counties were separated, and Brampton was named the new county seat for Peel. It saw the construction of a courthouse, jail, and other public buildings in 1867. Brampton would be officially incorporated as a town in 1873. The turn of the century brought several new industries to Brampton, mostly focused on manufacturing around the railway line. By 1910, the population had reached 4,000, and a new armoury was built in 1914 as part of modernisation efforts. It became home to the 36th Peel Regiment (the modern Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment) perpetuate this regiment’s traditions). In 1948, the Etobicoke Creek overflowed its banks, causing widespread flooding through Brampton. The event had happened several times before, but the 1948 flood was the worst on record. To mitigate this, Brampton undertook a major project to redirect the creek and install flood-mitigation systems. Incorporation as a city came in 1973, when several smaller communities and the planned city of Bramalea were incorporated into the new city. Today, Brampton is one of the area’s largest urban centres with a rich multicultural heritage and population.

I wanted to get a wide enough cross-section of the historic core of Brampton as best I could. Having not really walked around the area much, I used Google Maps to plan my shot list and a route accordingly. I worked in an area centred on Main Street (Hurontario), with Church Street to the north and Woodbrook Drive to the south. It’s been a while since I was last in this part of Brampton, and I simply followed the parking signs and ended up in a garage in the northern part of downtown. It wasn’t what I had planned, but you have to work with what you can find. From there, I walked north along Main Street to get to the GO Station, then started to work my way back south, checking out a mix of the main streets and some side streets. There were a lot more people downtown than I expected, and it certainly showed off the city’s multicultural population. Thankfully, no one gave me any sideways glances about what I was doing. Another thing is how small the area is geographically; it looks much bigger on a map than it does on the ground. The one thing that I did not expect was to see the number of surviving historic buildings. It just doesn’t fit with the idea I had of Brampton. Downtown looked a bit sad but was starting to come back up. There was a mix of late 19th- and early 20th-century buildings spread throughout, with a bunch of modern structures thrown in to give a weird patchwork. There were plenty of highlights, though, from the beautiful brownstone county registration office (now a coffee shop), the 1907 GTR Station, which still operates as a GO/VIA station. And a vast number of churches of every type and style. Plenty of surviving historic homes as well, from every period. I was also able to find the Brampton Armoury and the associated museum, which uses an old Carnegie Library and Firehall as part of the complex.

Whenever I go back to a place I’ve only been to a few times, in this case, once for downtown Brampton. I always ask whether I would host a photo walk here? While the route would be difficult to plot, there’s a lot to see and photograph. I don’t know how busy it would be on a Saturday, but a bit of reading would help. There’s an independent coffee shop in the middle of downtown, and there’s a brew pub nearby, also. This makes for a great starting and ending point for a photo walk. There’s also plenty of parking spread around the downtown. The one thing I wish I had taken was a wider lens for my D750 and Miranda. While the 28-70mm was great on the D750, the 35mm was a bit too narrow in some cases; for the Miranda, the 25mm would have been better. You can check out all my photos from the trip over on Flickr.