Brampton Historical Society

Mattamy preserves railway heritage

Like the trains that once stopped there, the historic 1902 Brampton CPR station has reached its final destination after a long convoluted and often perilous journey that started when it was closed in 1970.

Threatened with demolition more than once, the station was dismantled in the late 1990s and its sections stored in a barn and a field as part of stop-gap measure to save it. Earlier this year, it was finally rebuilt at the new Mount Pleasant community now under development in the Creditview Rd. and Bovaird Dr. area in the city's northwest quadrant.

Fronting on to the community's central square, and within sight of the Mount Pleasant GO Train station, it is part of an arts and cultural facility that has been seamlessly integrated with a two-storey elementary school to form an overall complex.

An approximately $23 million grant under the federal government's infrastructure program earmarked for a “mobility hub” was used to finance its reconstruction.

But the station is more than a recreational feature, says Michael Seaman, a past president of the Brampton Historical Society and former chair of the Brampton Heritage Board. “It is a symbol of how far the city has come in terms of heritage preservation.”

In the late 1990s, Seaman led a grassroots campaign to save the station from demolition.

It had escaped that fate 20 years before. At the time, many of the city's heritage buildings had been lost, he says.

Originally located in downtown Brampton, it was used as a storage depot for a few years after being closed. In 1977, CPR applied for a demotion permit but was thwarted by the city in a fight that went to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice with the court granting an injunction against demolition.

A nursery operator then stepped in, bought the building for $1 and relocated it to the nursery. However, the business was eventually sold and the station was left to deteriorate. By 1995, it was facing demolition again.

Preserving railway heritage - Yourhome.ca

Like the trains that once stopped there, the historic 1902 Brampton CPR station has reached its final destination after a long convoluted and often perilous journey that started when it was closed in 1970.

Threatened with demolition more than once, the station was dismantled in the late 1990s and its sections stored in a barn and a field as part of stop-gap measure to save it. Earlier this year, it was finally rebuilt at the new Mount Pleasant community now under development in the Creditview Rd. and Bovaird Dr. area in the city's northwest quadrant.

Fronting on to the community's central square, and within sight of the Mount Pleasant GO Train station, it is part of an arts and cultural facility that has been seamlessly integrated with a two-storey elementary school to form an overall complex.

An approximately $23 million grant under the federal government's infrastructure program earmarked for a “mobility hub” was used to finance its reconstruction.

But the station is more than a recreational feature, says Michael Seaman, a past president of the Brampton Historical Society and former chair of the Brampton Heritage Board. “It is a symbol of how far the city has come in terms of heritage preservation.”

In the late 1990s, Seaman led a grassroots campaign to save the station from demolition.

It had escaped that fate 20 years before. At the time, many of the city's heritage buildings had been lost, he says.

Originally located in downtown Brampton, it was used as a storage depot for a few years after being closed. In 1977, CPR applied for a demotion permit but was thwarted by the city in a fight that went to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice with the court granting an injunction against demolition.

A nursery operator then stepped in, bought the building for $1 and relocated it to the nursery. However, the business was eventually sold and the station was left to deteriorate. By 1995, it was facing demolition again.

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