George Brown College
George Brown Institution is a publicly funded, fully recognised college of applied arts and technology with three campuses in the heart of Toronto's financial district (Ontario, Canada). GBC, like many other colleges in Ontario, was authorised by the provincial government in 1966 and officially opened its doors the following year.
When Ontario's community college system was created in 1967, the college was one of the first institutions to open its doors. It was on May 21, 1965, that the first Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology were opened their doors. He was a prominent 19th-century politician and newspaper publisher (he created the Toronto Globe, which was the ancestor of The Globe and Mail) who was also one of the Fathers of Confederation. George Brown was the inspiration for the college's name.
Founded in 1951 by the provincial government to provide apprentice training on behalf of the Department of Labour, the college's precursor was known as the Provincial Institute of Trades (PIT). The PIT opened its doors at 21 Nassau Street in Toronto's Kensington Market in 1952 and, after expanding with the construction of two additional buildings on the site, was able to offer programmes in lathing and structural steel, barbering, diesel mechanics, jewellery arts, watchmaking, and welding by 1961. Today, the PIT continues to offer programmes in these and other fields. At 555 Davenport Road, near Casa Loma, the government established the Provincial Institution of Trades and Occupations (PITO), a sister training institute to complement the existing ones.
When George Brown College was established in 1967, it absorbed the both PIT and the PITO and established its Kensington and Casa Loma campuses on the sites of the old locations of the two institutions, respectively. In addition, George Brown College absorbed four former Toronto Board of Education Adult Education Centers in 1969, creating a third campus at 507 College Street, and five Toronto-area Schools of Nursing in 1973, including St. Joseph's, St. Michael's, Toronto General, Atkinson (Toronto Western), and Nightingale, creating a fourth campus at 507 College Street.
The Casa Loma site was enlarged in 1973, and a new building was dedicated in 1974. The St. James Campus, located at 200 King Street East, was established in 1976 in buildings that had formerly housed Christie Bakery and Hallmark Cards.
During the same year that the College Street Campus closed, the Hospitality building (300 Adelaide E.) on the St. James campus opened its doors to students. Kensington Campus was decommissioned in 1994.