Brantford (2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independent of the county's municipal government.
Brantford is situated on the Haldimand Tract, and is named after Joseph Brant, a Mohawk leader, soldier, farmer and slave owner. Brant was an important Loyalist leader during the American Revolutionary War and later, after the Haudenosaunee moved to the Brantford area in Upper Canada. Many of his descendants and other First Nations people live on the nearby Six Nations of the Grand River reserve south of Brantford; it is the most populous reserve in Canada.
Brantford is known as the "Telephone City" because the city's famous resident, Alexander Graham Bell, invented the first telephone at his father's homestead, Melville House, now the Bell Homestead, located in Tutela Heights south of the city. Brantford is also known as the birthplace and hometown of Wayne Gretzky and Phil Hartman.
In 1784, Captain Joseph Brant and the Mohawk people of the Iroquois Confederacy left New York State for Canada. As a reward for their loyalty to the British Crown, they were given a large land grant, referred to as the Haldimand Tract, on the Grand River. The original Mohawk settlement was on the south edge of the present-day city at a location favourable for landing canoes. Brant's crossing (or fording) of the river gave the original name to the area: Brant's ford The Glebe Farm Indian Reserve exists at the original site today.
The area began to grow from a small settlement in the 1820s as the Hamilton and London Road was improved. By the 1830s, Brantford became a stop on the Underground Railroad, and a sizable number of Black Canadians settled in the town. From the 1830s to the 1860s – several hundred people of African descent settled in the area around Murray Street, and in Cainsville. In Brantford, they established their own school and church, now known as the S.R. Drake Memorial Church. In 1846, it is estimated 2000 residents lived in the city's core while 5199 lived in the outlying rural areas. There were eight churches in Brantford at this time – Episcopal, Presbyterian, Catholic, two Methodist, Baptist, Congregational, and one for the African-Canadian residents.
By 1847, Europeans began to settle further up the river at a ford in the Grand River and named their village Brantford. The population increased after 1848 when river navigation to Brantford was opened and again in 1854 with the arrival of the railway to Brantford.
Because of the ease of navigation from new roads and the Grand River, several manufacturing companies could be found in the town by 1869. Some of these factories included Brantford Engine Works, Victoria Foundry and Britannia Foundry. Several major farm implement manufacturers, starting with Cockshutt and Harris, opened for business in the 1870s.
The history of the Brantford region from 1793 to 1920 is described at length in the book At The Forks of The Grand.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Canadian government encouraged the education of First Nations children at residential schools, which were intended to teach them English and European-Canadian ways and assimilate them into the majority cultures. Such institutions in or near Brantford included the Thomas Indian School, Mohawk Institute Residential School (also known as Mohawk Manual Labour School and Mush Hole Indian Residential School), and the Haudenosaunee boarding school. Decades later and particularly since the late 20th century, numerous scholarly and artistic works have explored the detrimental effects of the schools in destroying Native cultures. Examples include Ronald James Douglas' graduate thesis titled Documenting Ethnic Cleansing in North America: Creating Unseen Tears, and the Legacy of Hope Foundation's online media collection: "Where are the Children? Healing the Legacy of the Residential Schools".
In June 1945, Brantford became the first city in Canada to fluoridate its water supply.
Brantford generated controversy in 2010 when its city council expropriated and demolished 41 historic downtown buildings on the south side of its main street, Colborne Street. The buildings constituted one of the longest blocks of pre-Confederation architecture in Canada and included one of Ontario's first grocery stores and an early 1890s office of the Bell Canada. The decision was widely criticized by Ontario's heritage preservation community, however, the city argued it was needed for downtown renewal.
The famed Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant (Thayendanega) led his people from the Mohawk Valley of New York State to Upper Canada after being allied with the British during the American Revolution, where they lost their land holdings. A group of 400 settled in 1788 on the Grand River at Mohawk Village which would later become Brantford. Nearly a century later (1886), the Joseph Brant Memorial would be erected in Burlington, Ontario in honour of Brant and the Six Nations Confederacy.
The Mohawk Chapel, built by the British Crown in 1785 for the Mohawk Nation and Iroquois people (Six Nations of the Grand River), was dedicated in 1788 as a reminder of the original agreements made with the British during the American Revolution.
In 1904 the chapel received Royal status by King Edward VII in memory of the longstanding alliance. Her Majesty's Royal Chapel of the Mohawks is an important reminder of the original agreements made with Queen Anne in 1710. It is still in use today as one of two royal Chapels in Canada and the oldest Protestant Church in the province. Joseph Brant and his son John Brant are buried here.
Chief John Brant (Mohawk leader) (Ahyonwaeghs) was one of the sons of Joseph Brant. He fought with the British during the War of 1812 and later worked to improve the welfare of the First Nations. He was involved in building schools and improving the welfare of his people. Brant initiated the opening of schools and, from 1828, served as the first native Superintendent of the Six Nations. Chief Brant was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada for Haldimand in 1830 and was the first aboriginal Canadian in Parliament.
The stone and brick Brant County Courthouse was built on land purchased from the Six Nations in 1852. The structure housed courtrooms, county offices, a law library and a jail. During additions in the 1880s, the Greek Revival style, with Doric columns, was retained.
Among the most famed residents were Alexander Graham Bell and his family, who arrived in mid 1870 from Scotland while Bell was suffering from tuberculosis. They lived with Bell's father and mother, who had settled in a farmhouse on Tutela Heights (named after the First Nations tribe of the areaPatten, William; Bell, Alexander Melville. Pioneering The Telephone In Canada , Montreal: Herald Press, 1926, pg.7. (Note: Patten's full name as published is William Patten, not Gulielmus Patten as stated at Google Books) and later absorbed into Brantford.) Then called Melville House, it is now a museum, the Bell Homestead National Historic Site. This was the site of the invention of the telephone in 1874 and ongoing trials in 1876. The Bell Memorial, also known as the Bell Monument, was commissioned to commemorate Bell's invention of the telephone in Brantford; it is also one of the National Historic Sites of Canada.
Canada's first telephone factory, created by James Cowherd, was located in Brantford and operated from about 1879 until Cowherd's death in 1881. The first telephone business office which opened in 1877, not far from the Bell Homestead, was located in what is now Brantford. The combination of events has led to Brantford calling itself "The Telephone City".
At the federal and provincial levels of government, Brantford is part of the Brant riding.
Brantford City Council is the municipal governing body. As of October 22, 2018, the mayor is Kevin Davis.
In more recent times, the city was hit hard by the opioid crisis. In 2018, Brantford had the highest rate of emergency department visits for overdose of any city in Ontario. In 2018, Brantford police reported an overall crime rate of 6,533 incidents per 100,000 population, 59% higher than in Ontario (4,113) and 19% higher than in Canada (5,488). The same year, Maclean's magazine ranked Brantford as having a higher rate of crime severity than most of the province.
The city developed at the deepest navigable point of the Grand River. Because of existing networks, it became a railroad hub of Southern Ontario. The combination of water and rail helped Brantford develop from a farming community into an industrial city with many blue-collar jobs based on the agriculture implementation industry. Major companies included S.C. Johnson Wax, Massey-Harris, Verity Plow, and the Cockshutt Plow Company. This industry, more than any other, provided the well-paying and steady employment that allowed Brantford to sustain economic growth through most of the 20th century.
By the 1980s and 1990s, Brantford's economy was in steady decline due to changes in heavy industry and its restructuring. Numerous companies suffered bankruptcies, such as White Farm Equipment, Massey Ferguson (and its successor, Massey Combines Corporation), Koering-Waterous, Harding Carpets, and other manufacturers. The bankruptcies and closures of the businesses left thousands of people unemployed. As a consequence, it became one of the most economically depressed areas in the country, leaving a negative impact on the once-vibrant downtown.
An economic revival was prompted by the completion of the Brantford-to-Ancaster section of Highway 403 in 1997, bringing companies easy access to Hamilton and Toronto and completing a direct route from Detroit to Buffalo. In 2004 Procter & Gamble and Ferrero SpA chose to locate in the city. Though Wescast Industries, Inc. recently closed its local foundry, its corporate headquarters will remain in Brantford. SC Johnson Canada has their headquarters and a manufacturing plant in Brantford, connected to the Canadian National network. Other companies that have their headquarters here include Gunther Mele and GreenMantra Technologies. On February 16, 2005, Brant, including Brantford, was added to the Greater Golden Horseshoe along with Haldimand County and Northumberland counties. In 2017, Japanese manufacturer Mitsui High-tec opened a factory to produce for electric and hybrid vehicles in Brantford.
In February 2019, Brantford's unemployment rate stood at 4.6% – lower than Ontario's rate of 5.6%.
At the census metropolitan area (CMA) level in the 2021 census, the Brantford CMA had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
The Brant News was a weekly paper, delivered Thursdays until 2018; it publishes breaking news online at their website, and is published by Metroland Media Group.
The Two Row Times, a Free weekly paper started in 2013, is published on Wednesdays, delivered to every reservation in Ontario and globally online at their website, published by Garlow Media.
BScene, a Free community paper founded in 2014, is published monthly and distributed locally throughout Brantford and Brant County via local businesses and community centers, It can also be viewed online at their website. Independently published.
Street rail began in Brantford in 1886 with horse-drawn carriages; by 1893, this system had been converted to electric. The City of Brantford took over these operations in 1914. Around 1936, it began to replace the electric street car system with gas-run buses, and by the end of 1939, the changeover was complete. Brantford, Ontario Principal System , Canadian Street Railways. 31-Mar-2011.
Some former rail lines serving Brantford have been converted to , which allow for intercommunity cycling connections to the north, south, and east. This includes the SC Johnson Trail to Paris (with further connections north to Cambridge and beyond) and the Hamilton to Brantford Rail Trail, which provides a connection east to Hamilton through Dundas and Jerseyville. Twin rail trails, the LE&N Trail and TH&B Trail, connect south to Mount Pleasant, where they connect further south ultimately to Port Dover.
Annual events include the "Brantford International Villages Festival" in July; the "Brantford Kinsmen Annual Ribfest" in August; the "Chili Willy Cook-Off" in February; the "Frosty Fest", a Church festival held in winter;
The Bell Summer Theatre Festival, takes place from Canada Day to Labour Day at the Bell Homestead
Brantford is the home of several theatre groups including Brant Theatre Workshops, Dufferin Players, His Majesty's players, ICHTHYS Theatre, Stage 88, Theatre Brantford and Whimsical Players.
Brantford has a casino, Elements Casino Brantford. The Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts is a local performance venue.
Invention of the telephone
Law and government
Safety
Economy
Climate
*Note Not All Sources Are The Same*
Demographics
Ethnicity
+ Panethnicity groups in the City of Brantford (2001−2021)
! rowspan="2" Panethnicity
group
! colspan="2"2021
! colspan="2" 2016
! colspan="2" 2011
! colspan="2" 2006
! colspan="2" 2001 European 82,015 80,945 81,035 79,205 78,115 South Asian 6,070 3,115 1,640 1,660 1,245 Indigenous 5,415 5,395 4,090 3,440 2,475 African-Canadian 3,570 2,015 1,550 1,580 1,110 2,385 1,805 1,190 1,195 1,045 East Asian 1,020 1,065 1,090 940 670 Middle Eastern 910 490 655 115 140 Latin American 905 445 365 360 140 Other 920 510 355 245 190
Religion
Film and television
Education
Universities and colleges
Secondary schools
Elementary schools
Other
Media
Online
Print
Radio
Television
Transportation
Air
Rail
Bus
Provincial highways
Cycling
Culture and entertainment
Sports, teams and tournaments
Current intercounty or major teams
Defunct teams
Events
Notable people
Twin towns – sister cities
See also
Notes
External links
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