Editing Brantford (section)

== History ==
[[File:Joseph Brant 2.jpg|thumb|upright|Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant, Mohawk military and political leader]]

The Iroquoian-speaking Attawandaron, known in English as the [[Neutral Nation]], lived in the Grand River valley area before the 17th century; their main village and seat of the chief, [[Kandoucho]], was identified by 19th-century historians as having been located on the [[Grand River (Ontario)|Grand River]] where present-day Brantford developed. This community, like the rest of their settlements, was destroyed when the Iroquois declared war in 1650 over the fur trade and exterminated the Neutral nation.<ref>Reville, F. Douglas. [http://www.brantford.library.on.ca/genealogy/pdfs/reville1.pdf ''The History of the County of Brant''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215232423/http://brantford.library.on.ca/genealogy/pdfs/reville1.pdf |date=2010-02-15 }}, Brantford: Hurley Printing Company, vol. 1, pp. 15–20, 1920.</ref>

In 1784, Captain [[Joseph Brant]] and the [[Mohawk people]] of the Iroquois Confederacy left New York State for Canada.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/joseph-brant |access-date=2021-06-05 |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca |archive-date=2021-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605115032/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/joseph-brant |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Mohawk Language in the Workplace |url=https://snpolytechnic.com/sites/default/files/docs/resource/mohawk_in_the_workplace_booklet_2015-snp.pdf |website=Six Nations Polytechnic |publisher=Six Nations Polytechnic University |access-date=21 January 2024}}</ref> As a reward for their loyalty to the [[British Crown]], they were given a large land grant, referred to as the [[Haldimand Proclamation|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 40B|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|runaway African-Americans]] settled in the town.<ref>{{cite web |title=- Grand River Branch – United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada |url=http://www.grandriveruel.ca/Newsletter_Reprints/99v11n1African_Canadian.htm |website=www.grandriveruel.ca |access-date=11 February 2019 |archive-date=27 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127013856/http://www.grandriveruel.ca/Newsletter_Reprints/99v11n1African_Canadian.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> From the 1830s to the 1860s – several hundred people of African descent settled in the area around Murray Street, and in [[Cainsville, Ontario|Cainsville]]. In Brantford, they established their own school and church, now known as the [[British Methodist Episcopal Church|S.R. Drake Memorial Church]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Lieuxpatrimoniaux.ca – HistoricPlaces.ca |url=https://www.historicplaces.ca/fr/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=10046 |website=www.historicplaces.ca |access-date=11 February 2019 |archive-date=12 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212011945/https://www.historicplaces.ca/fr/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=10046 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1846, it is estimated 2000 residents lived in the city's core while 5199 lived in the outlying rural areas.<ref name=Smith1>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Wm. H. |date=1846 |title=SMITH'S CANADIAN GAZETTEER – STATISTICAL AND GENERAL INFORMATION RESPECTING ALL PARTS OF THE UPPER PROVINCE, OR CANADA WEST |url=https://archive.org/details/smithscanadianga00smit |location=Toronto |publisher=H. & W. ROWSELL |page=[https://archive.org/details/smithscanadianga00smit/page/19 19]}}</ref> There were eight churches in Brantford at this time – Episcopal, Presbyterian, Catholic, two Methodist, Baptist, Congregational, and one for the African-Canadian residents.<ref name="Smith1" />

By 1847, Europeans began to settle further up the river at a ford in the Grand River and named their village Brantford.<ref>{{cite web |title=Brantford Facts |url=http://www.brantford.ca/discover/AboutBrantford/Pages/BrantfordFacts.aspx |website=Brantford.ca |access-date=5 May 2016 |ref=10 |archive-date=2 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602215214/http://www.brantford.ca/discover/AboutBrantford/Pages/BrantfordFacts.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> 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.<ref name="archive" /> Some of these factories included Brantford Engine Works, Victoria Foundry and Britannia Foundry.<ref name=archive>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/provinceontario00mcevgoog |title=The Province of Ontario Gazetteer and Directory: Containing Concise ... |last=Henry McEvoy |date=21 October 1869 |publisher=Robertson & Cook |isbn=9780665094125 |access-date=October 21, 2017 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> 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''.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4BVGImuSa_oC&q=at+the+forks+of+the+Grand |title=At the Forks of the Grand |first1=Donald Alexander |last1=Smith |first2=Paris Public Library Board |last2=(Ont.) |date=21 October 2017 |publisher=Brant County Library |via=Google Books |isbn=9780969124511 |access-date=16 October 2020 |archive-date=14 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814062241/https://books.google.com/books?id=4BVGImuSa_oC&q=at+the+forks+of+the+Grand |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Canadian government encouraged the education of First Nations children at [[Canadian Indian residential school system|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'',<ref>{{cite news |title=Documenting ethnic cleansing in North America: Creating unseen tears (AAT 1482210) |author=Douglas, Ronald James |year=2010 |id={{ProQuest|757916758}}}}</ref> and the Legacy of Hope Foundation's online media collection: "Where are the Children? Healing the Legacy of the Residential Schools".<ref>{{cite news |journal=Where Are the Children? |title=Healing the Legacy of the Residential Schools |url=http://www.wherearethechildren.ca/en/ |author=Legacy of Hope Foundation |access-date=2012-12-04 |archive-date=2012-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121205232302/http://www.wherearethechildren.ca/en/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In June 1945, Brantford became the first city in Canada to fluoridate its water supply.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thespec.com/news-story/6383872-the-great-debate-to-fluoridate-or-not-/ |title=The great debate to fluoridate (or not) |newspaper=[[Hamilton Spectator]] |date=March 10, 2016 |author=Chris Purdy |access-date=February 28, 2019 |archive-date=March 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301074526/https://www.thespec.com/news-story/6383872-the-great-debate-to-fluoridate-or-not-/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thestar.com/calgary/2019/01/14/windsor-flips-back-to-fluoride-why-thats-unlikely-to-change-minds-in-calgary.html |title=Windsor, Ont. flips back to fluoride — why that's unlikely to change minds in Calgary |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=January 14, 2019 |author1=Madeline Smith |author2=Andrew Jeffery |access-date=February 28, 2019 |archive-date=March 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301013431/https://www.thestar.com/calgary/2019/01/14/windsor-flips-back-to-fluoride-why-thats-unlikely-to-change-minds-in-calgary.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

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|Bell Telephone Company of Canada]]. The decision was widely criticized by Ontario's heritage preservation community, however, the city argued it was needed for downtown renewal.<ref>{{cite news |last=Blaze Carlson |first=Katherine |title=Ontario city to demolish historic street, despite Ottawa's objection |url=https://torontosun.com/news/canada/ontario-city-seeks-to-demolish-historic-street-despite-ottawas-objection |access-date=February 8, 2022 |newspaper=Toronto Sun |date=June 8, 2010 |archive-date=February 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208221214/https://torontosun.com/news/canada/ontario-city-seeks-to-demolish-historic-street-despite-ottawas-objection |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Wilkes |first=Jim |title=Demolition of historic buildings begins in Brantford |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/2010/06/08/demolition_of_historic_buildings_begins_in_brantford.html |access-date=February 8, 2022 |newspaper=The Toronto Star |date=June 8, 2010 |archive-date=February 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208221212/https://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/2010/06/08/demolition_of_historic_buildings_begins_in_brantford.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Historical plaques and memorials ===
Plaques and monuments erected by the provincial and federal governments provide additional glimpses into the early history of the area around Brantford.<ref name="waynecook.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.waynecook.com/abrant.html |title=Historical Plaques of Brant County |website=Waynecook.com |access-date=2017-04-07 |archive-date=2017-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326000209/http://waynecook.com/abrant.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

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.<ref name="waynecook.com"/> Nearly a century later (1886), the Joseph Brant Memorial would be erected in [[Burlington, Ontario]] in honour of Brant and the Six Nations Confederacy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ontarioplaques.com/Plaques/Plaque_Brant19.html |title=Thayendanega (Joseph Brant) Historical Plaque |website=ontarioplaques.com |access-date=2017-04-07 |archive-date=2021-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210821103306/http://ontarioplaques.com/Plaques/Plaque_Brant19.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Mohawk Chapel]], built by the British Crown in 1785 for the [[Mohawk Nation|Mohawk]] 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]].<ref name="waynecook.com"/> 
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.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Mohawk Chapel |title=History |access-date=7 April 2017 |date=2011 |url=http://mohawkchapel.ca/html/history-of-mohawk-chapel.shtml |archive-date=30 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130160904/http://mohawkchapel.ca/html/history-of-mohawk-chapel.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

Chief [[John Brant (Mohawk leader)]] (Ahyonwaeghs) was one of the sons of Joseph Brant.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eighteentwelve.ca/?q=eng/Topic/104 |title=War of 1812 |website=Eighteentwelve.ca |access-date=2018-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013014253/http://www.eighteentwelve.ca/?q=eng%2FTopic%2F104 |archive-date=2018-10-13 |url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref name="waynecook.com"/> Chief Brant was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada for Haldimand in 1830 and was the first aboriginal Canadian in Parliament.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vitacollections.ca/sixnationsarchive/2687515/data |title=Ahyouwaighs, Chief of the Six Nations 1838 |website=vitacollections.ca |access-date=2017-04-07 |archive-date=2017-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170408171621/http://vitacollections.ca/sixnationsarchive/2687515/data |url-status=live }}</ref>

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 gaol. During additions in the 1880s, the Greek Revival style, with Doric columns, was retained.<ref name="waynecook.com"/>

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 area<ref name="Patten-Bell">Patten, William; Bell, Alexander Melville. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4KzVAAAAMAAJ Pioneering The Telephone In Canada] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101083924/https://books.google.com/books?id=4KzVAAAAMAAJ |date=2016-01-01 }}, Montreal: Herald Press, 1926, pg.7. (Note: Patten's full name as published is William Patten, not Gulielmus Patten as stated at Google Books)</ref> 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]].

=== Invention of the telephone ===
[[File:Alexander Graham Bell Brantford Monument 0.98.jpg|thumb|[[Bell Memorial]], commemorating the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell.]]

Some articles suggest that the telephone was invented in [[Boston]], where Alexander Graham Bell did a great deal of work on the development of the device.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.telecommunications.ca/alexander-graham-bell-invention-telephone.htm |title=Alexander Graham Bell and the Invention of the Telephone |website=Telecommunications.ca |series=The Telecommunications Mosaic: An Introduction to the Information Age |first=Robert N. E. |last=Haughton |access-date=2017-04-07 |archive-date=2016-07-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160725232834/http://www.telecommunications.ca/alexander-graham-bell-invention-telephone.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> However, Bell confirmed Brantford as the birthplace of the device in a 1906 speech: "the telephone problem was solved, and it was solved at my father's home".<ref>{{cite book |last=Reville |first=F. Douglas |date=1920 |title=History of the County of Brant |url=http://brantford.library.on.ca/files/pdfs/localhistory/reville1.pdf |location=Brantford, Ontario |publisher=Hurley |page=315 |access-date=6 April 2017 |archive-date=12 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412093913/https://brantford.library.on.ca/files/pdfs/localhistory/reville1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> At the unveiling of the [[Bell Memorial]] on 24 October 1917, Bell reminded the attendees that "Brantford is right in claiming the invention of the telephone here... [which was] conceived in Brantford in 1874 and born in Boston in 1875" and that "the first transmission to a distance was made between Brantford and [[Paris, Ontario|Paris]]" (on 3 August 1876).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://brantford.library.on.ca/files/pdfs/localhistory/bellmemorial.pdf |title=The Unveiling of the Bell Memorial |website=Brantford.library.on.ca |access-date=21 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223180354/http://brantford.library.on.ca/files/pdfs/localhistory/bellmemorial.pdf |archive-date=23 February 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Reville, F. Douglas. History of the County of Brant Vol. 1. Brantford, ON: Brant Historical Society, Hurley Printing, 1920/. PDF pp. 187–197, or document pp. 308–322. (PDF)</ref> As well, the second successful voice transmission (over a distance of 6&nbsp;km; 4 miles) was also made in the area, on 4 August 1876, between the telegraph office in Brantford, Ontario and Bell's father's homestead over makeshift wires.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brantford.ca/residents/WorkingLearning/Learning/BrantfordHistory/Pages/AlexanderGrahamBellBrantford.aspx |title=Alexander Graham Bell & Brantford |website=Brantford.ca |access-date=2017-04-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407054357/http://www.brantford.ca/residents/WorkingLearning/Learning/BrantfordHistory/Pages/AlexanderGrahamBellBrantford.aspx |archive-date=2017-04-07 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>MacLeod, Elizabeth (1999). Alexander Graham Bell: An Inventive Life. Toronto, Ontario: Kids Can Press. p. 14 to 19. {{ISBN|1-55074-456-9}}</ref>

Canada's first telephone factory, created by [[Thomas Cowherd#Earliest telephone production|James Cowherd]], was located in Brantford and operated from about 1879 until Cowherd's death in 1881.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/histoires_de_chez_nous-community_memories/pm_v2.php?id=story_line&lg=English&fl=0&ex=00000267&sl=7681&pos=1 |title=Evolution of Telecommunications |website=Virtualmuseum.ca |access-date=2017-04-06 |archive-date=2017-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304223703/http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/histoires_de_chez_nous-community_memories/pm_v2.php?id=story_line&lg=English&fl=0&ex=00000267&sl=7681&pos=1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QNJGAFkdY40C&q=canada%27s+first+telephone+factory+brantford+cowherd&pg=PA48 |title=The Early Development of Radio in Canada, 1901–1930: An Illustrated History of Canada's Radio Pioneers, Broadcast Receiver Manufacturers, and Their Products |first=Robert P. |last=Murray |date=21 October 2017 |publisher=Sonoran Publishing |access-date=21 October 2017 |via=Google Books |isbn=9781886606203 |archive-date=11 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211011070319/https://books.google.com/books?id=QNJGAFkdY40C&q=canada%27s+first+telephone+factory+brantford+cowherd&pg=PA48 |url-status=live }}</ref> The first telephone business office which opened in 1877, not far from the Bell Homestead, was located in what is now Brantford.<ref name="waynecook.com"/> The combination of events has led to Brantford calling itself "The Telephone City".