Bell Homestead National Historic Site facts for kids
Melville House at the Bell Homestead National Historic Site, Alexander Graham Bell's first home in North America
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| Established | 1910 |
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| Location | 94 Tutela Heights Road Brantford, Ontario |
| Owner | Parks & Recreation Department, City of Brantford |
| Official name: Bell Homestead National Historic Site | |
| Designated: | 1996 |
The Bell Homestead National Historic Site is in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. It's also known as Melville House, which was the first North American home of Professor Alexander Melville Bell and his family. This included his famous son, scientist Alexander Graham Bell.
Young Alexander Graham Bell did his first experiments in North America here. He later invented the telephone at the Homestead in July 1874. In 1906, Bell said: "the telephone problem was solved, and it was solved at my father's home."
The site is about 4 hectares (10.5 acres) and looks much like it did when the Bells lived there in the 1870s. Melville House is now a museum about the family and the telephone. There's also a large visitor centre next to Melville House.
The Henderson Home building was moved to the Homestead in 1969 from downtown Brantford. It was Canada's first telephone company office, opened in 1877. This office was a very early version of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada. After moving, it became a museum about the development of telephone technology. The City of Brantford runs the Homestead.
The Homestead became a National Historic Site on June 1, 1996. Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a special plaque there in 1997. Melville House has been called "...this shrine, where lingers the spirit of the great inventor."
Contents
What is the Bell Homestead's history?
The Bell family arrived at the Homestead in the summer of 1870 from Scotland. Their middle son, Alexander Graham Bell, was very sick. The Homestead today has several buildings. The main one is Melville House, the family's farmhouse. It also has a greenhouse, other small buildings, and a fruit orchard. This farmhouse was bought to be a museum in 1909.
The Henderson Home, which was Canada's first telephone office, was moved to the site in 1969. It was turned into a telephone museum, mainly supported by Bell Canada. A tea house and a visitor centre with a small theatre were also added for guests.
Who were Alexander Melville Bell and Alexander Graham Bell?
Professor Alexander Melville Bell was a Scottish expert on speech. He moved to Canada by steamship in July 1870 with his family. Two of his sons had died from a serious illness, and his son Alexander Graham was also very ill.
They arrived in Quebec City and then travelled to Paris, Ontario. They stayed with Reverend Thomas Philip Henderson, a family friend. After a few days, the Bell family bought a farm of about 5.25 hectares (13 acres) in Tutela Heights, near Brantford, Ontario. The cost was CA$2,600.
When they arrived, Alexander Graham Bell was very thin and unwell. But he liked the Canadian climate and quickly got better. He later said: "I came to Brantford in 1870 to die; I was given six months lease of life, but I am glad to be alive today..."
Alexander Graham set up his lab in the farm's old carriage house. Nearby was his "dreaming place," a hollow in the elm trees above the river. He would relax there, think, and watch the Grand River. He continued his studies of the human voice. When he found the Six Nations Reserve across the river, he learned the Mohawk language. He even translated its words into Visible Speech symbols, a writing system his father invented. For this, he became an Honorary Chief of the tribe.
In his lab, young Bell continued his electrical experiments. He changed a melodeon (a type of organ) so it could send music electrically over a distance. During summer breaks from teaching in Boston, Alexander Graham returned to the Homestead. He rested with his family and worked on his telegraph and telephone ideas.
In the summer of 1874, while at his "dreaming place," Alexander Graham thought about how to reproduce sound electrically. He realized that if he could change the electric current exactly as sound waves change, he could send sounds. He discussed this with his father. On July 26, 1874, in their living room, Alexander Graham Bell figured out the main ideas for the telephone. This is the device he is now famous for. The next summer, in September 1875, Bell wrote the first draft of his telephone patent specifications at the Homestead. This patent is often called the most valuable in history. He built his first working telephone in Boston on March 10, 1876. Later that year, in August, Bell made the first successful voice transmission over a long distance, between Brantford and Paris, Ontario.
On July 26, 1974, the Post Office Department released a stamp to celebrate 100 years since the telephone's invention. It said: "At Brantford... Alexander Graham Bell, a young teacher of the deaf, spent a few weeks of leisurely contemplation and invented the telephone."
What were the three great telephone tests?
After getting his U.S. Patent in March 1876, Bell returned to his parents at Melville House. He then did three important tests of his new telephone. The third and most important test was the world's first true long-distance call. It happened between Brantford and Paris, Ontario, on August 10, 1876.
For this call, Alexander Graham Bell used telegraph lines at a store in Paris. The line between Paris and Brantford was about 13 km (8 miles) long. It was extended another 93 km (58 miles) to Toronto to use a battery there.
When the lines were connected, Bell heard "explosive sounds... mixed with a continuous crackling noise." He fixed his device, and suddenly, voices came through "clearly and strongly." His father, Professor Alexander Melville Bell, sang songs, quoted Shakespeare, and read poetry from Brantford's telegraph office. In Paris, people gathered to hear Melville's voice from the metal box. Alexander Graham could not talk back directly, so he replied by telegraph. He later said this was the first one-way long-distance call.
This third test in Southern Ontario proved that the telephone worked well over long distances, not just short ones.
One week earlier, on August 3, 1876, Alexander Graham's uncle, Professor David Charles Bell, spoke to him from the Brantford telegraph office. He recited lines from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Young Bell was at a store in Mount Pleasant. At first, his uncle's voice was hard to hear. But when a telegraph manager connected the line to a battery, the voices became clear. The next day, August 4, another call happened between Brantford's telegraph office and Melville House. A large dinner party, including the Cowherd family who would later make phones for Bell, sent "speech, recitations, songs and instrumental music" to the Homestead. To connect Melville House, Alexander Graham bought all the stovepipe wire in Brantford. With help from neighbours, he ran the wire about 800 metres (half a mile) along fence posts to connect to the Mount Pleasant telegraph line.
Scientific American magazine wrote about these test calls in September 1876. Historian Thomas Costain called them "the three great tests of the telephone."
What is Melville House like?
Melville House was the name Professor Bell gave to his home. It was a large, two-story wooden farmhouse built in 1858. It had 10 rooms and was made from hand-cut wood on a stone foundation. Its features included wood floors, walnut window trims, and high ceilings. It even had a bathtub and shower installed by young Bell, which was very rare at the time. The water came from a tank in the attic and a hot water heater in the basement.
The house had a big kitchen, dining room, parlour, study, and four bedrooms upstairs. The Bells also added a greenhouse to the side of the house. This was removed in the 1920s but rebuilt in the 1970s.
The property, next to the Grand River, originally had a 4-hectare (10.5 acres) fruit orchard, a farmhouse, stable, pigsty, henhouse, icehouse, and a carriage house. During the 11 years the Bells lived there, the farm helped them earn money. They sold plums, cherries, pears, apples, and peaches. The family was not rich, but they were upper-middle class.
Melville sold the homestead in 1881 to join his son in Washington, D.C. The property changed owners five more times until 1909. Then, the Bell Telephone Memorial Association bought it to preserve it and build a memorial to Alexander Graham Bell. In 1910, Melville House became a museum. The Association gave the Homestead to the City of Brantford in 1917.
In 1925, the house was moved about 25 metres (80 feet) closer to the road. This was because the river bank was eroding.
The Bell Homestead Museum opened in October 1910 with two rooms. Over many years, it bought back or received donations of many of the Bell family's original items. These included furniture, a piano-like melodeon, and even a silver tea set that was a wedding gift to Alexander Graham and his wife Mabel Bell. Many items had been sold at an auction in 1881 when the family moved.
The Homestead and Melville House museum offer special programs. For example, during Christmas, the farmhouse is decorated like Mabel Bell would have done. Staff in old-fashioned costumes explain things to visitors. Reviewers have praised the museum for being very authentic.
One journalist wrote:
Although the house is kept as a historic site, it has a comfortable look of habitation about it. Freshly pressed, embroidered linens hang on the side of the bathtub, a basket of needlework waits to be completed and clothes hang in the bedrooms.
Amidst all these homey little touches, are some of the Bell family's possessions, which serve as a clue to the kind of clever, inventive mind that thrived in these surroundings. In the parlor hangs a trompe-l'œil print of Saint Cecilia that looks as if it has been framed behind broken glass....
Just as bizarre is the stuffed duck-billed platypus which sits in the study among the books and telephone wires. It was brought from Australia in 1874 by visiting relatives who must have thought it just the right sort of offbeat souvenir for the Bells.
The journalist also noted:
A pretty white home surrounded by shade trees and flower beds may not be the popular idea of the kind of place where a creative genius lives, especially someone who advised people to "leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods." Yet Alexander Graham Bell's Homestead in Brantford presents a dignified picture of middle class bliss.
Melville House and the Homestead have been visited by over a million people. Professor Bell once said: "I now confidently feel that my sojourn in Brantford will outlive my existence because under yon roof of mine the telephone was born."
What is the Henderson Home?
The Henderson Home was the house of Reverend Thomas Philip Henderson. It was his home, library, and Canada's first telephone company office. In 1969, the house was moved from downtown Brantford to the Homestead site. It was then made into a telephone company museum. The house was donated in 1968 by its owner, William C. Burles.
The house was likely built in 1843. Reverend Henderson was a close friend and helper of Melville Bell and his son. Henderson had convinced the Bell family to move to Canada in 1870. Melville Bell made Henderson the main agent for his phone company in Canada. Henderson worked for Bell's company until 1880. He then joined the Bell Telephone Company of Canada (later Bell Canada) in Montreal.
Henderson also oversaw the making of telephones at a Brantford factory run by James Cowherd. Cowherd's father had supplied Alexander Graham Bell with wire for his first telephone line. In September 1877, the Bells installed a 5.25 km (3.25 mile) telephone line from their homestead to Henderson's house in downtown Brantford. This is where the city's telephone exchange was.
On August 9, 1970, the Henderson House officially opened as a museum. It had exhibits of early telephone and switchboard technology from the 1880s. These exhibits were created with Bell Canada. They included a model of Canada's first telephone factory and old telephones.
In 1971, a historical marker plaque was placed in front of the Henderson Home. It honours the building as the "cradle of the telephone business."
How has the Homestead been improved over time?
The Homestead and Melville House have been fixed up and restored many times. This happened in the early 1900s, the early 1970s, and the 1990s. The goal was to make the home look like it did when the Bells lived there.
Bell Canada has supported the Homestead since 1921. They helped pay for renovations and other projects. The house was even painted its original cream and green colours.
In the early 1970s, the Henderson Home was moved and turned into a museum. Melville House's ground floor was restored, and the greenhouse was rebuilt. A new house for the caretaker was also built. The carriage house was also improved. These changes were finished in time for the 1974 celebration of the telephone's invention. About 100,000 people visited that year.
In 2005, the carriage house was taken apart and rebuilt in 2007. In the mid-1980s, a new visitor's reception centre and a small theatre were added.
In 1998, the museum's curator, Brian Wood, read hundreds of letters written by the Bells. He used these letters to figure out how the Homestead and its rooms really looked. The Bell Homestead now has many of these letters. This helps the museum show the Homestead exactly as it was when the Bells owned it.
In 2002, the former caretaker's cottage became a tea room and café. It serves hot meals and baked goods to visitors, with staff in old-fashioned costumes.
What special events have happened at the Homestead?
On October 24, 1917, the Homestead and the Bell Telephone Memorial were officially given to the City of Brantford. A city-wide holiday was declared for the event.
Many events have been held at the Homestead to celebrate the 1874 invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell. In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II visited and unveiled a plaque. This plaque showed that the Homestead was a National Historic Site.
100th birthday of Bell, 1947
In 1947, the Homestead hosted a live radio broadcast. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King spoke at a dinner there. Guests included Alexander Graham Bell's daughter, Mrs. David Fairchild.
Canada Post issued a stamp on March 3, 1947, to mark Bell's 100th birthday. Another stamp honouring Bell was issued in March 2000.
75th year of Bell Telephone Company, 1953
In September 1953, ceremonies were held at the Bell Homestead for the 75th anniversary of the Bell Telephone Company. A stone monument was presented. Alexander Graham Bell's granddaughters, Lilian Grosvenor Coville and Nancy Bell Fairchild Bates, unveiled the monument.
The celebrations included a city holiday called "Bell Homestead Day." Bell's granddaughters said that his family were all very talented musicians and singers. Many musical events were held at the homestead when the family lived there.
100th year of the first long-distance call, 1976
On August 10, 1976, Bell Canada and the Bell System celebrated 100 years since the first long-distance call. A special service was broadcast live from the Homestead to Vancouver, British Columbia, using a Telesat communications satellite. A large satellite dish was set up on the lawn for this.
The event celebrated Alexander Graham Bell's "three great tests of the telephone." These tests ended with the call he received on August 10, 1876, in Paris, from his father in Brantford.
75th Homestead anniversary, 1985
In June 1985, the Bell Homestead celebrated its 75th year since opening in October 1910. About 1,000 guests attended. There was a new exhibit of telephone technology in the Henderson Home museum. The celebration included Scottish highland dancers and a Gaelic choir.
National Historic Site plaque unveiling, 1997
On June 28, 1997, Queen Elizabeth II visited the Homestead. She unveiled a plaque that officially named it a National Historic Site. She was helped by Jane Stewart, a local Member of Parliament.
About 2,000-3,000 visitors came to the ceremony. This included local leaders and several of Alexander Graham Bell's descendants. After signing the guestbook, the Queen toured the Homestead. Students from the local Graham Bell School explained the museum exhibits.
Why is it a Heritage Site?
Parks Canada says the Homestead is a heritage site because:
- "it is associated with important events in Alexander Graham Bell's life, especially the idea and early long-distance tests of the telephone."
- "it shows how Bell's parents influenced him to work with the deaf. This interest was key to developing the telephone."
- "it has also become a symbol as the Canadian place most connected to the telephone."
Its special features include:
- "its location on a large rural lot overlooking the Grand River."
- "elements that show its connection to the Bell family, like the house's design, its original parts, the carriage house, and the old-fashioned garden."
- "the house and property are still mostly the same and have a quiet, thoughtful feeling, just like when the Bell family lived there."
The Province of Ontario also named it a Heritage Property.
How is the Homestead managed?
The Bell Telephone Memorial Association first bought the Homestead in 1909. It was then given to the City of Brantford. It was run by the Brantford Board of Park Management and the Telephone Pioneers of America. The Homestead opened to the public in 1910.
Today, the City of Brantford's Parks and Recreation Department manages the Homestead. About 45,000 people visit each year. In 1974, during the telephone's 100th anniversary, about 100,000 people visited.
See also
- Alexander Graham Bell honors and tributes
- Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site, Baddeck, Nova Scotia
- Alexander Melville Bell
- Bell Telephone Memorial, also in Brantford, Ontario
- History of the telephone
- List of National Historic Sites of Canada in Ontario
- National Historic Sites of Canada
- Parks Canada
