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• Founding of Brantford, The
  In the 1820s, significant improvements to the Hamilton and London road attracted settlers to the Indian lands at Brant's Ford where this thoroughfare crossed the Grand River. A thriving village soon developed and in 1830 the Six Nations surrendered its site. The opening of navigation to Brantford in 1848, the completion of the Buffalo, Brantford and Goderich Railway to the town in 1854 and the development of a rich agricultural hinterland fostered significant commercial and manufacturing growth in Brantford.

• Lawren Harris 1885-1970
  Born into a prominent Brantford family, Lawren Harris began to paint as a child. At the University of Toronto, a professor noticed he sketched during lectures and advised he be sent to Europe to study art. While in Germany (1904-1907), Harris was influenced by urban realism, landscape regionalism, and theosophy, a transcendental, mystical school of thought. In 1920 he helped found the Group of Seven, an association of landscape artists dedicated to creating a distinctly...

• Mohawk Institute, The
  The Mohawk Institute was established in 1831 for children of the Six Nations Iroquois living on the Grand River. Pupils from other native communities in Ontario attended the school as well. Like all Canadian residential schools, the Mohawk Institute tried to assimilate its students into the rapidly growing Euro-Canadian society. To that end, it disregarded native cultural traditions and stressed instead Christian teachings, English-language instruction, and manual labour skills. This building was constructed in 1904...

• Mohawk Village
  Allies of the British during the American War of Independence, the Six Nations Iroquois received extensive lands along the Grand River in 1784. Mohawks, led by Joseph Brant, established a village of some 400 inhabitants here by 1788. The community was situated at an important crossing point on the river ("Brant's Ford") and prospered as a resting place for travellers on the "Detroit path", a trail linking the Niagara and Detroit rivers. Increasingly, European settlers...

• Brant County Court House
  In July, 1852, the Six Nations Indians sold to Brant County the land upon which this court-house now stands. Designed by John Turner and William Sinon and errected by the Provisional County of Brant, the stone and brick building was largely completed in l852. The original structure containted court rooms, county offices, a law library and a gaol. Additions were made in 1861 and 1886, but the building remains predominantly Greek Revival in style. The...

• Canada's First Telephone Business Office 1877
  In 1877, this house, then located in downtown Brantford, became Canada's first telephone business office. It was the residence of the Reverend Thomas Philip Henderson (1816-1887), a former Baptist minister and school inspector in Paris, Ontario who in 1870 had encouraged the Bell family to come to Brantford. In 1877, he retired from the ministry to become the first General Agent for the telephone business in Canada and played a significant role in its establishment...

• Reverend Peter Jones 1802-1856, The
  This house, "Echo Villa", was built by the Reverend Peter Jones (Kahkewaquonaby) who lived here from 1851 until his death. Son of the noted surveyor, Augustus Jones, and Tuhbenahneequay, a Mississauga chief's daughter, Peter was born at Burlington Heights. He was converted to Methodism in 1823 and began to preach in the Grand River area. In 1826, he moved to the Mississauga settlement on the Credit River and was elected a chief of that band...

• Honourable Arthur Sturgis Hardy 1837-1901, The
  Ontario's fourth prime minister was born in Mount Pleasant, called to the Bar in 1865, and practiced law in Brantford for many years. In 1873 he was elected to the Ontario legislature and sat as Liberal member for South Brant until 1899. Appointed provincial secretary and registrar in 1877, he became commissioner of crown lands in 1889. Following the resignation of Sir Oliver Mowat in 1896, Arthur Hardy assumed the portfolios of prime minister and...

• Ontario School for the Blind, The
  In 1869, on the recommendation of the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, Superintendent of Education, funds were allocated to establish the first provincial school for blind children. The Ontario Institution for the Education of the Blind, which included the nearby gate-keepers lodge, opened in May 1, 1872, with eleven students. Under its first Principal, Dr. E.S. Wiggins, the residential institution combined elementary school subjects with manual and vocational training, and soon gained recognition for its contribution to...

• Sara Jeannette Duncan 1861-1922
  An internationally renowned author, Duncan was raised in the adjacent house and educated locally. She taught school briefly, but then determinedly turned to journalism, gaining notice for her distinctive and witty writing style. In l890 Duncan published her first book, A Social Departure, based on dispatches produced during a trip around the world. Following her marriage, the next year, she took up residence in India where she continued to pursue a literary career. A prolific...

• William Charles Good 1876-1967
  A leading spokesman for Canadian agrarian and co-operative movements, Good was born and raised on Myrtleville farm. He early developed a strong sense of social responsibility and, returning here after attending the University of Toronto, he embarked upon a career that effectively combined public service with farming. Good initially focussed his attention on agrarian issues. In 1914 he helped found the United Farmers of Ontario and the United Farmers Co-operative Company, organizations he subsequently served...