Ontario's Historical Plaques

at ontarioplaques.com

Learn a little Ontario history as told through its plaques

Canada's First Telephone Business Office 1877

Canada's First Telephone Business Office

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted June, 2004

Canada's First Telephone Business Office

Photo from Google Street View ©2011 Google - Posted January, 2011

Plaque Location

The County of Brant
In front of this building at the Bell Homestead
on the north side of Tutela Heights Road
a little less than 1 km east of Road 24


Coordinates: N 43 06.454 W 80 16.229

Map

Plaque Text

In 1877 this house, then located in downtown Brantford, became Canada's first telephone business office. It was the residence of the Reverend Thomas Peter Henderson (1816-1887), a former Baptist minister and school inspector in Paris, Ontario, who in 1870 had encouraged the Bell family to come to Brantford. In 1877 he retired from the ministry to become the first General Agent for the telephone business in Canada and played a significant role in its establishment and development. Henderson used this house as his office until 1880, when he joined the newly formed Bell Canada in Montreal as Purchasing Agent and Storekeeper.

Related Ontario plaques
The Bell Homestead
Invention of the Telephone
Walter Allward (1875-1955)

Related Toronto plaque
Bell Telephone Company Building 1926

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