Brantfordis a city insouthwestern Ontario,Canada, founded on theGrand River. ModernHighway 403connects it toWoodstockin the west andHamiltonin the east; andHighway 24connects toCambridgeto the north andSimcoeto the south. It is the seat ofBrant County, but it is politically separate with a government independent of the county.
Brantford is sometimes known as the "Telephone City": former city residentAlexander Graham Bellinvented the telephone at his father's home, theBell Homestead. In 1876 he conducted the first long-distance telephone call, making it from Brantford toParis, Ontario.
Brantford is also the birthplace of hockey playerWayne Gretzky, comedianPhil Hartman, as well asGroup of SevenmemberLawren Harris. Brantford is named afterJoseph Brant, an important Mohawk chief during the American Revolutionary War and later, who led his people in their first decades in Upper Canada. Many of his and other First Nations citizens live on the neighbouring reserve ofSix Nations of the Grand River First Nation, the most populous reserve in Canada.
