Brantford, Ontario

Brantford is a city in Ontario, Canada.  There were 93,650 people in Brantford the last time the Government of Canada did a census count, in 2011.

Brantford is near Hamilton.

Brantford is sometimes called The Telephone City, because the inventor of the telephone lived in Brantford. Hockey player Wayne Gretzky was born in Brantford.

History 

Brantford was settled by United Empire Loyalists led by Joseph Brant of the Iroquois in 1784. It became a city in 1877.

Business 

From 1900 until 1950, Brantford had many companies that made equipment and machinery. Those items were sold in Canada and many other countries. Having the river and a railroad for transportation made it easier to ship the items made in Brantford. That helped Brantford change from a farming town to an industrial city.

By the 1980s and 1990s, business in Brantford was dropping and some companies like White Farm Equipment, Massey-Ferguson, Koering-Waterous, Harding Carpets, and others stopped making products. Many people lost their factory jobs.

A new piece of highway (Highway 403) was built in 1997. The new highway made it easier to drive Hamilton and Toronto, and also to Detroit and Buffalo. So, in 2004, Procter & Gamble and Ferrero SpA moved to Brantford. Now other companies set up in Brantford because it is a good location for shipping products to eastern North America.

Education 
40% of people in Brantford did not finish high-school.  In the rest of the province of Ontario, this number is 33%.

People in Brantford earn 9% less than people in the rest of Canada.

Universities and colleges 
 Wilfrid Laurier University has a campus and offers programs in Brantford.
 Nipissing University offers a program with Laurier Brantford 
 Conestoga College offers a Bachelor of Education program with Laurier Brantford.

Politics 

The city council was elected on October 27, 2014, and is led by Mayor Chris Friel. The city council, in addition to Friel, includes Larry Kings and Rick Weaver (Ward 1), John Sless and John Utley (Ward 2), Greg Martin and Dan McCreary (Ward 3), Cheryl Antoski and Richard Carpenter (Ward 4), and David Neumann and Brian Van Tilborg (Ward 5). There are municipal elections every four years across the province of Ontario. The next election will be in October 2018.

Newspapers, radio and television (TV) 
The Brantford Expositor, which began in 1852, is printed six times a week (everyday except Sunday). The Brant News is published weekly in Brantford.

 AM 1380 - CKPC (AM), oldies
 FM 92.1 - CKPC-FM, adult contemporary
 FM 93.9 - CFWC-FM, religious

Brantford has its own television service: Rogers TV (cable 20), a local community channel on Rogers Cable.  Other television stations come fromToronto, Hamilton and Kitchener.

Filming in Brantford 
Brantford has been used to film parts of the Murdoch Mysteries television series because it has lots of old architecture that fits with the years that the stories take place.

Movies like Welcome to Mooseport and Where the Truth Lies were partly made in Brantford.  Part of Due South, "Dr. Long Ball", was made at Arnold Anderson Stadium in a park in Brantford. Also, Weirdsville, was made in Brantford in 2006.  "Silent Hill" was made in the downtown in 2005.

Airports, trains, buses and roads

Airports 
Brantford Municipal Airport is in the west end of the city. It has an air show and sometimes the Snowbirds perform. The John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Hamilton is about 35 km east of Brantford. Toronto Pearson International Airport is in Mississauga, about 100 km north and east of Brantford.

Trains 
The train station is located just north of downtown Brantford. VIA Rail has trains for people every day.  Trains travel between Windsor, Ontario and Union Station in Toronto, Ontario.

Buses 
Brantford Transit has nine bus routes that go every half-hour from the middle of the city on Darling Street.  There are other buses for school times.

Greyhound Canada has buses that go to Toronto, Hamilton, London, Windsor, and other cities.

Main roads 
 Highway 403, East Hamilton, West Woodstock.
 Highway 24, North Cambridge, South Simcoe.

Things to see and do 
There are lots of parks and trails in Brantford
Brantford's parks are known for their beautiful gardens
Trails from the Hamilton, Simcoe and Cambridge areas all join up in Brantford so it is called the "Hub of Ontario Trails"
 Brantford has almost 70 kilometres of trails that can be used for walking or biking
 Harmony Square has lots of events all year 'round
Outdoor skating in the winter with family movies at the nearby Brantford Public Library
Festivals and shows
Summertime splash pad 
Movies and music on summer evenings
Outdoor exercise sessions with yoga and Zumba
Brantford Public Library has more than books - it has programs for all ages
 Membership is free for all Brantford residents
Free music downloads for members
Free reading and craft programs for kids
Computers to use at the library
 A 3D printer
Brantford has a Casino Brantford OLG Casino
The Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts has live shows that include music, comedy and plays.
There are many clubs and bars that have live bands and DJs

Brantford's Canada Day Festival 
Brantford has a big Canada Day Festival on July 1.  It has family events and Canadian  music. More than 35,000 people come to the Festival.

In the past, these people have sung:

2005 – Jeff Healy
2005 – Lighthouse
2007 – The Trews
2008 – Theory of a Deadman

Sports teams

Local teams 
 Brantford Red Sox
 Brantford Jr. Braves
 Brantford Posse (minor lacrosse teams)
 Brantford Intercity Soccer (Bics)
 Brantford Saints (hockey team)
 Brantford 99er's (hockey teams)
 Brantford Ice Cats (girls hockey team)
 Brantford Bisons (football team)
 Brantford Red Sox (baseball team)
 Brantford City Soccer Club
 Brantford Briers (basketball team)
 Brantford CYO (basketball team)
 Brantford Aquatic Club

Bigger teams 
 Brantford Red Sox of the Intercounty Baseball League who play at Arnold Anderson Stadium
 Brantford Braves of the Junior Intercounty Baseball League who also play at Arnold Anderson Stadium
 Brantford Blast of the Major League Hockey who play at the Brantford Civic Centre
 Brantford Golden Eagles of the Ontario Hockey Association who play at the Brantford Civic Centre
 Brantford Harlequins of the Ontario Rugby Union

Teams that don't play anymore 
 Brantford Alexanders (1978 to 1984), used to play in the Ontario Hockey League at the Brantford Civic Centre.  They moved and became the Erie Otters.
 Brantford Smoke (1991-1998) of the CoHL, Colonial Hockey League who played at the Brantford Civic Centre. The team moved to Asheville until 2002.
 Brantford Blaze of the Canadian National Basketball League.

Tournaments 
 The Wayne Gretzky International Hockey Tournament  is held in Brantford every year
 The Walter Gretzky House League Tournament is a tournament that is held every year
 Swim International is held every year in November

Other 
 Brantford won the 2008 Allan Cup. 
 The Brantford Golf & Country Club was started in 1879.  It is the fourth oldest golf club in North America.  It is 29th on Score Golf's "Top 100 Golf Courses in Canada" 2006 list.
Brantford has two municipal golf courses, Arrowdale Municipal Golf Course and Northridge Municipal Golf Course and Learning Centre

People

Service clubs 
 Kinsmen Club of Brantford
 Kiwanis Club of Brantford
 Kiwanis Club of Grand River
 Rotary Club of Brantford
 Rotary Club of Brantford Sunrise
 Brantford Lions Club
 North Brantford Lions Club

Religion 
Brantford has many churches and religious temples. It is thought that there are over 35 churches in Brantford, including  Anglican, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Salvation Army, Presbyterian, United, Christadelphian, and Mormon. There are two mosques - a Sunni mosque and a Sufi mosque. There is also one Sikh temple.

Twin city 
Brantford is twinned with:

Related pages
 Brant (electoral district)
 Brantford City Council
 List of mayors of Brantford, Ontario
 Service Clubs

References

Other websites 

 City of Brantford
 Brantford Heritage Inventory
 Brantford Kinsmen
 Brant Museum and Archives
 Brantford Public Library
 Laurier Brantford 
 Assumption College School
 Brantford Collegiate Institute & Vocational School 
 North Park Collegiate & Vocational School 
 Pauline Johnson Collegiate & Vocational School 
 St. John's College

Cities in Ontario