Brantford Ontario and Area in Colour Photos: Saving Our History One Photo at a Time

Publisher Marketing: Brantford Brantford is a city located on the Grand River in Southern Ontario. Brantford is connected to Woodstock in the west and Hamilton in the east by Highway 403 and to Cambridge to the north and Simcoe to the south by Highway 24. Brantford is known by the nickname The Telephone City as former city resident Alexander Graham Bell conducted the first distant telephone call from the community to Paris, Ontario in 1876. It is also the birthplace of hockey player Wayne Gretzky. Iroquoian-speaking people lived in the Grand River valley area before the 17th century; their main village and seat of the chief, Kandoucho, was located on the Grand River where present-day Brantford developed. In 1784, Captain Joseph Brant and the Six Nations Indians of the Iroquois Confederacy left New York State for Canada. As a reward for their loyalty to the British 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. Brant's crossing of the river gave the original name to the area: Brant's ford. By 1847, European settlers began to settle further up the river at a ford in the Grand River and named their village Brantford. Brantford was incorporated as a city in 1877. Shakespeare This tiny village located on Highway 7 and 8 between New Hamburg and Stratford was known as Bell's Corners after David Bell who founded the village. In 1852, the name was changed to Shakespeare. Bethel Road Bethel Road is located south of Highway 403, northwest of Brantford and south of Paris. Falkland Falkland is located on Falkland Road and King Edward Street, west of Paris, southeast of Etonia. Eastwood Captain Drew named it Eastwood Park, from which is derived Eastwood Village. Eastwood is west of Woodstock on Dundas Street, and east of Highway 401. Etonia Etonia is located on Governors and Canning Roads, north of Highway 403, west of Paris.