A Message from Bell Homestead 100th Anniversary Honorary Chair, Charlotte Gray


Photo: John Scully, Big Red Photography

This sturdy brick homestead was the site of one of the most important scientific breakthroughs in history. On July 26th, 1874, the young Alexander Graham Bell sat in the gardens here, in a spot he called his “dreaming place,” and pondered the quest for a “speaking telegraph.” As he stared down at the Grand River that warm summer day, inspiration struck: Bell grasped the principle on which his most famous invention, the telephone, would work. On a subsequent visit to his parents here two years later, he mounted one of the three crucial public demonstrations that proved the telephone was a practical form of communication. Bell’s invention would reshape the world.

These momentous events created such affection for this mid-Victorian farm that in 1909 a group of prominent local businessmen purchased the property and deeded it to the Board of Park Management of the City of Brantford, for use in perpetuity as a public parkland and memorial of the invention of the telephone in Brantford. The Bell Homestead, as it quickly came to be known, opened its doors to the public for the first time in 1910.
For almost a century, the Homestead has welcomed visitors from far and wide. As one of Ontario’s oldest historic home museums, it has grown significantly in that time, and now includes three restored historic buildings and an eclectic collection of original Bell family artifacts. Together they tell the story of how a young teacher of the deaf came to invent the telephone.

While the site holds significance as the place of the invention of the telephone, it also holds a charm that makes everyone feel welcome, just as it did in the Bells’ time. This is what we will celebrate in the 100th Anniversary “Homecoming Weekend,” planned for 2010. We want to acknowledge the Homestead’s first century of public service, and remind ourselves why Brantford has proudly called itself “The Telephone City” for decades. I invite you to join us in the fun!


Award-winning Canadian author, Charlotte Gray, authored the 2006 bestseller, Reluctant Genius, The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell. Her most recent publication, Nellie McClung, is among the Penguin Canada Series, Extraordinary Canadians.

On June 28th, 1997, the Bell Homestead played host to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Her Visit to the site marked the official designation of the Homestead as a National Historic Site.