Members of the Caledon Heritage Foundation - Andy Priede, treasurer; Fay McCrea, director and Caledon village historian; Alex Raeburn, Councillor Richard Paterak, director — presented the minute book to Diane Allengame, acting manager of Peel Heritage Complex in Brampton. Submitted photo Today the old Caledon Township Hall, built in 1875, is home to the Caledon Town Hall Players, the well-known local theatre troupe.

But for the first half of the last century and for part of the century before that, it was the seat of local municipal government. Council meetings were held, issues of the day were debated, motions were raised and bylaws were passed by the former Township of Caledon.

The content of these meetings were transcribed in the quaint language of yesteryear and preserved in “minute books” to act as the official record of the Township’s deliberations.

Recently, one of these bound minute books, containing minutes from 1868 to 1879, was made available by a local collector, and the Caledon Heritage Foundation (CHF) was contacted. It did not take long for the Board of Directors of the Foundation to pass a motion setting aside funds to purchase this unique record of Caledon history. After brief negotiations, a final price was agreed upon and the transaction was concluded.

Upon purchase, the minute book was first loaned for perusal to Alex Raeburn, life-long Caledon resident and a Lieutenant Governor’s Award recipient who, at age 97, is the sole remaining member of the last Caledon Township Council. Subsequently, CHF has donated the minute book to the Peel Archives to become part of the public record for current and future generations.