Memorial Bell's Invention

In 1906, the citizens of the City of Brantford, Ontario, Canada and surrounding areas served by Bell Memorial Association to commemorate the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in July 1874 at the home of his parents, Melville House, near Brantford. Allward design of unanimously chose among 10 models presented, winning the competition. The monument was originally scheduled to be completed in 1912, but did not finish Allward five years later. The Governor General of Canada, Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire, ceremoniously unveiled the monument October 24, 1917.

Allward designed the monument to symbolize the phone's ability to overcome distance. A series of steps lead to the main section where the allegorical figures of inspiration appears on a recumbent figure representing men man, inventor, and also showing the numbers floating knowledge, joy and sadness, placed at the other end of the table. At each end of the memory, there are two female figures mounted on granite pedestals representing humanity, one sending and the other receiving a message.

The magnitude of the Bell Telephone Memorial has been described as the finest example of early work Allward, sculptor propel to stardom. The monument itself was used as a central device for many civic events and remains an important part of the history of Brantford, helping the style of the city itself as "The City Phone".