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Brantford, Canada Brantford (2001 population 86,417)[1] is a city located on the Grand River in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Today, Brantford is connected by Highway 403 to London and Hamilton, and by Highway 24 to Cambridge.
HistoryThe city was first settled in 1784 when Captain Joseph Brant and the Six Nations Indians left New York to settle in Canada. As a reward for their loyalty to the Crown, they were given a large land grant 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. By 1847, European settlers began to settle further up the river at a ford in the Grand River and named the village Brantford. The native settlement was abandoned except for the Mohawk Chapel which remains Ontario's oldest church. Brantford was incorporated as a city in 1877. EconomyBrantford was an important Candian industrial center for the first half of the 20th century, and was once the third largest city in Ontario. The city is at the deepest navigable point of the Grand River and was once the railroad hub of Southern Ontario. The combination of water and rails helped Brantford develop from a farming community into a blue collar industrial city based on the agriculture implement industry centred around companies such as Massey Harris 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, the economy of Brantford was in steady decline as a result of the bankruptcies of White Farm Equipment, Massey Ferguson, Koering Waterous, Harding Carpets, and other manufacturers. The closure of the businesses left thousands of people unemployed and created one of the most economically depressed areas in the country. The completion of the Brantford to Ancaster section of Highway 403 in 1997, provided an increased incentive for business to locate in Brantford because of easy access to Hamilton and Toronto, as well as being along the quickest route through southern Ontario between Detroit and Buffalo. In 2004 Procter & Gamble and Ferrero SpA chose to locate in the city. However, Wescast recently relocated their local foundry to China, although their headquarters and research facility remains in the city. PeopleBrantford is called the Telephone City because Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone while living at the Bell Homestead located on the outskirts of the city. The first long distance telephone call was made on August 10, 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell from downtown Brantford to his assistant in Paris, Ontario. Other famous Brantford natives are actor Phil Hartman, Group of Seven founder Lawren Harris, aboriginal poet Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake), electron microscope inventor James Hillier, Olympic runner Kevin Sullivan, professional golfer David Hearn, and hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky. The Six Nations 40, Ontario Native Reserve is adjacent to Brantford and is the largest in Canada. DemographicsRacial make-up
EducationWilfrid Laurier University and Mohawk College have small satellite campuses in Brantford. The Wilfrid Laurier campus offers a joint program in education with Nipissing University. Brantford's high-schools are Pauline Johnson Collegiate, North Park Collegiate, Brant Collegiate Institute, Assumption College, St. John's College and Tollgate Technological Institute (formerly known as Herman E. Fawcett). Statistics from the 2001 Census indicate that 40% of Brantford residents had not earned a high-school diploma, compared to the provincial average of 33%. The W. Ross Macdonald School for blind and deafblind students is located in Brantford. PoliticsThe city council was elected to a three-year term in November, 2003, and is headed by Mayor Mike Hancock. Two councillors were elected to represent each of five wards. The current councillors are: Larry Kings and Mike Quattrociocchi (Ward 1), Stephen Lancaster and John Sless (Ward 2), Greg Martin and Dan McCreary (Ward 3), Richard Carpenter and Dave Wrobel (Ward 4), and Marguerite Ceschi-Smith and John Starkey (Ward 5).
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