Video: Say farewell to Chinguacousy Library with a flashback to Bramalea Civic Centre in the ’70s

The Chinguacousy Library branch has shut its doors for the last time at the Bramalea Civic Centre, but the Peel Archives is giving residents one last blast from the past with a look at the centre when it first opened in the ’70s.

Originally known as the Chinguacousy Civic Centre, the sprawling facility opened in 1972 – two years before the merger of Chinguacousy Township with the Town of Brampton and Toronto Gore to form the City of Brampton.

Back in January, Brampton City Council gifted the $48-million building and most of the surrounding land to the Toronto Metropolitan University for its planned medical school in Brampton, evicting the library and spurring calls and petitions from the community to reverse the decision.

And with the library officially closed as of Tuesday night, the Peel Archives is offering residents a flashback look at when Brampton was still a town.

The Civic Centre was the crown jewel of the downtown at the time and housed the Township of Chinguacousy council chambers, a post office, a theatre, a fire dispatch control centre, a library branch and the upstart Rogers Cable community production centre.

The video from the Peel Archives shows the opening of the Civic Centre, with Ontario Premier and Brampton’s own Bill Davis touring the various facilities of the then-state-of-the-art building.

The Chinguacousy branch was the largest and busiest library in the city before it was closed on Tuesday, and will see a downgrade in both size and services when it finally does reopen at the significantly smaller Mount Chinguacousy ski chalet.

Brampton City Council unanimously passed a motion in April renewing its commitment to finding a permanent home for the branch, along with a pledge to hire a consultant using city funds to find a suitable location.

The temporary branch will continue to offer a selection of books and other materials, computer access, study space, various programs and makerspace services, but will not have a recording studio like the one at the current Chinguacousy Branch.