History

Alexander Graham Bell designed the technical aspects of the phone and it was invented in July 1874 while residing with his parents on their farm in Tutelo Heights (the name of the First Nations tribe who settled the area) on the outskirts of Brantford, Ontario. Later, he refined his design in Brantford, having produced his first working prototype in Boston.The factory phone first time, a three-storey brick was soon making phones in Brantford to the Bell System, resulting in a style of the city such as telephone town.

The Bell Memorial Association was formally established in 1906 to commemorate the invention of the telephone by Bell. This year the association was formed and organized by an Act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to commemorate the invention of the telephone in Brantford and perpetuate the name of its inventor.

The association was organized with the support of the Prince of Wales (later King George V), and the Earl of Minto, the Viceroy of India, then Governor General of Canada, and the latter's successor , Governor General Earl Grey (Gris Cup fame), plus about a dozen other highly important leaders in Canada and the United States supported the project with their support. Donald Howard, Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal became the first honorary president, and his death was replaced by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, a former Governor General of Canada. The association process raised over C $ 65,000 (more than $ 1,162,000 in current dollars) with donations from citizens, the Government of Ontario, the Government of Canada, as well as people in then current and former Brantford. The public quickly raised $ 35,000 in a few months, including a federal contribution of $ 10,000 supported by Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

William Foster Cockshutt, the local federal Member of Parliament (MP), who originally proposed the memorial in 1904 became president of the association, assisted by another member Lloyd Harris, who served as vice-president. The other members of the Executive included Mayor of Brantford, JW Bowlby, John Muir (Treasurer) and TH Preston, with the selection committee headed by design Sir Edmund Walker, a prominent Canadian banker and philanthropist patron of the arts.