Showing 44 results

People and organizations
Adams, Maureen (1924 - 2011)
CA : RPA · Person · 1924 - 2011

Maureen Adams was a children's librarian and puppeteer who lived in Brampton. She is best known for the 1950s family troupe "The Adams Marionettes", which performed across southern Ontario.

Studying at the University of Toronto, she earned a Bachelor of the Arts and a Bachelor of Library Science, working at libraries in Niagara Falls, Welland, Saskatoon, and Leeds, England. Once in Brampton, she was a teacher-librarian at Ridgeview Public School, McHugh Public School, and Agnes Taylor Public School.

She introduced puppetry into schools as an extracurricular activity, and taught workshops in Brampton and Toronto. She was a Charter member of the Ontario Puppetry Association, member of the Puppeteers of America, and co-founded the Puppetry Guild of Halton/Peel, of which she was President. (The guild made many appearances at the Peel Heritage Complex during kid's events in the 1990s.) A member of the Brampton Arts Council, she received Arts Person of the Year from the organization in 2006.

She met her husband John Adams while in library school, and married in 1952. They had three children.

Atkinson Bros.
Frost postcard collection · Corporate body · [190]-[190]
Avondale Recreation Centre
CA : RPA · Corporate body

Avondale Recreation Centre is 55 Avondale Boulevard, a structure in front of Victoria Park Arena.

As of 2019, the building is home to 758 Argus Squadron and Peekaboo Child Care - Avondale.

Betts, Al
CA : RPA · Person · 1924-2017

Al was born in the City of Toronto on February 3rd, 1924 to Fred and Violet Betts. He was named Alfred like his dad; however, to avoid confusion he was called Al. He spent his formative years growing up in the north part of the city.

Al enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1943. He trained in Medicine Hat, AB, Chatham, NB, and Charlottetown, PEI as a Navigation-Bombardier on the Lancaster bombers. During the Second World War he was stationed in Bournemouth in the south of England.

Al’s passion was photography. Family legend has it he became interested in photography when he scooped up an old Kodak “Brownie” camera that had been tossed away. Always the curious individual he took it apart, repaired it, and started experimenting with photography.

After the Second World War he began working at Toronto Western Hospital where he met the love of his life, Helen Colville. They wed in 1950 and lived in Toronto before leaving the city in 1956 for Streetsville, then in Toronto Township (now Mississauga). By the time they moved to Streetsville, their first two children, Doug and Marylyn, had been born.

In 1958 a second son, Brian, was born and Al was working at A.V. Roe in Malton. Here he had the privilege of working on the Avro Arrow project in the Photography Department. He took several of the iconic pictures of the Avro Arrow in production and in flight. This job was short-lived, however, with the cancellation of the Avro project in 1959.

Al started A. Betts Photography in Streetsville around 1965. During this time Al and Helen completed their family with the addition of Stephen and Cynthia. The entire family settled into the three bedroom bungalow on Vista Boulevard in Streetsville. He gave back to the town by initiating the Bread and Honey Festival, helping with the Boy Scouts, and being the official photographer for the local Streetsville newspaper. He was active as a professional photographer to ca. 1983.

As the children grew older, Al had more time to travel the world with Helen (and sometimes with their children in tow). Their travels took them throughout North America, Europe, as well as Central America and the Caribbean.

Al passed away peacefully, with family by his side, on Friday, January 20th, 2017, at the Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga.

CA : RPA · Corporate body · [ca. 1975] - [ca. 1994]

Bramalea Parent Co-op Nursery School was originally created as the Bramalea Parent Co-operative Association, a group of nine parents from the Bramalea community, led by Anne Phillips. With the cooperation of the Greater Metro Toronto Parent Co-operative Preschool Council, the program was initiated "after some months," in September 1973, running two days a week.

The organization reached two milestones in September 1974. The first was growing to its maximum capacity of 42 children, spread between morning and afternoon programs, an enrollment cap that it maintained until at least 1991. The other occurrence was incorporation, incorporation was complete by February 1975. The co-op corporation became a registered charitable organization in July 1976. The group chose to become a formal affiliate of the City of Brampton in 1977, which afforded it various privileges, such as an exemption from Day Nurseries Act.

but also required the filing of board minutes, annual meeting minutes, and financial statements with the City.

The co-op had programs in music, creative arts (in partnership with Sheridan College), and Parent Education. The latter's involvement with the Toronto Association of Individual Psychology led to the creation of the Peel Parent Education Committee, formed of representatives from the Peel Children's Aid, Peel Family Services, Region of Peel Social Services department, the Brampton Public Library system, the YMCA, and Bramalea Parent Co-operative Nursery School. The organization also produced nine half-hour television programs, "Parents are People", aired on Rogers Cable 10.

The program expanded to three days a week in 1980, and five mornings a week in autumn 1985, split between two-day and three-day programs. With the creation of Junior Kindergarten in the autumn of 1989, enrollment declined and staff was decreased.

CA · Corporate body · 1856 - 1983

Successor to a rough cast school on Chapel Street, the Alexander Street facility is known to have been open by 1856. Originally housing both elementary and secondary level students, Central Public and Grammar School became Central Public School in 1877, after the construction of Brampton High School. Even with the opening of additional schools, the facility repeatedly needs expansions to deal with overcrowding; the present structure dates to 1916. The school closed in the 1980s, was condemned, and then turned into a parks and recreation facility.

A variety of the mid-20th century public schools that replaced the site (Beatty-Fleming, Helen Wilson, and Agnes Taylor) were named for teachers from the facility. W. J. Fenton was also among the teaching staff.

CA : RPA · Corporate body · 1944-

The Cloverleaf Garden Club of Mississauga was founded in February 1944 as the “Clover Leaf Horticultural Society.” In 1964 the name was changed to “Cloverleaf Garden Club” with the current name adopted in 1999. The club was started with the goal of providing a meeting forum for people interested in gardening.

The club is the oldest gardening club in Mississauga, and has been very active since its founding: at the first meeting 100 members signed up; by the end of its first year membership had grown to around 200, with overall membership hovering at or around 200 from 1946 to 2013. Some ongoing activities include booking guest speakers at meetings, hosting monthly flower shows, and taking part in annual plant sales and tours. The club belongs to the Ontario Horticultural Association (District 15).

The specific objectives of the club include:

  • Spreading the knowledge of horticulture by means of regular meetings, illustrated lectures, and free workshops
  • Holding exhibitions of flowers, vegetables, and decorative arrangements at which members are encourage to participate
  • Encouraging the beatification of home and public grounds
  • Stimulating the interest of children in gardening and the environment through the Junior Programme.

Various committees reporting to the Club Executive Board administer activities and programs in support of club objectives. As of 2013 the following committees are active: Awards; Bus Tour; Communications; Community Projects/Civic Program; Draw [raffles]; Flower Show; Garden Tour; Junior Program; Membership; Member Greeter; Newsletter; Nominating; Plant Sale; Official Photographer; Premiums; Program; Publicity; Social Convenors; Social Secretary; Yearbooks; and Website. The club used to have a Library Committee, but this has been discontinued.

Sources: Club Yearbook, Club website, and FAQ provided by the Club

Fitler, William Crothers
CA : RPA · Person · 1857-1911

Fitler is known as a "tonal landscape painter," whose works primarily covered New York, Connecticut, and Long Island. He moved from Philadelphia to New York in 1881.

Fitler married Claude Raquet Hirst, a female still life artist, on 18 June 1901. He became seriously ill in January 1911, dying on October 31. Hirst spents the majority of 1912 to 1915 liquidating Fitler's studio, and selling off his work throughout New York and the Midwest.

CA : RPA · Person · 1850 - 1938

John Wycliffe Lowes (1850-1938) was an artist. Born in Norval, Ontario, he was a Methodist/United layman active in church affairs. As an artist, he was known principally as a portrait painter. He travelled and painted in Europe, did portraits of several Canadian Prime Ministers and Governors-General, leaders of the Methodist Church in Canada and England, the Emperor and Empress of Japan, and many other Canadian leaders.

Forster, John, 1818-1896
CA: RPA · Person · 1818-1896

James Forster (1790-1873, in Glen Williams) and Elizabeth Moffitt (1795-1847, in Streetsville) had seven children, including John Forster (1818-1896, buried at Churchville Cemetery) and Thomas Forster (ca. 1825-1872). Thomas is the father of John Wycliffe Lowes Forster (1850, Norval–1938, buried at Brampton Cemetery), making John his uncle.

Frost, Richard L.
CA · Person · born 20th century

Frost was the Chief Administrative Officer of the Regional Municipality of Peel (1978-1989).