Time for a little history lesson! While you may know that the telephone was invented in Canada, what you may not know is that it all happened here in Ontario. Yep, Alexander Graham Bell invented the life-changing creation at the Bell Homestead in Brantford, Ont., a historic house that still stands to this day.
A national historic site
Queen Elizabeth II declared the Bell Homestead a Canadian National Historic Site on June 28, 1997, and today, the Bell Homestead invites the public to come and relive the history that took place 150 years ago on July 26, 1874.
“You will see how the Bell family lived and worked,” says the Bell Homestead website.
The one-hour guided tour will show off the Bell family home and Canada’s first telephone office.
Tours around the house will also show guests how Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and how the telephone has changed since then.
The invention of the telephone
So, how did the invention of the telephone come to be? It started when the Bell family moved to Brantford, Ont., from Scotland and England, in hopes that the clean air in Ontario would help then-23-year-old Alexander recover from a lung infection he was suffering from.
According to the Bell Homestead, Alexander accepted a teaching job at the Boston School for the Deaf in the United States once he recovered, but “would come back to Brantford to spend the summers and holidays with his family.” During one of those summers at the homestead, Bell created the telephone.
From there, just one year later, Bell wrote the first copy of his telephone patent plans, and in 187,6 he made the world’s first successful long-distance telephone call between Brantford and Paris, Ont.
For good reason, this led to Brantford becoming known as “The Telephone City.”
Tours cost $12.50 per adult, $10 for children aged 11 to 17, $7.75 for children seven to 12, and free for anyone four and under.
This is the perfect educational day trip to take with the family this summer, Ontario!
When: Tuesday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: 94 Tutela Heights Rd., Brantford, Ont.
Cost: $12.50 per adult, $7.75 to $10 per child
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