Bell Telephone Memorial

Bell Telephone Memorial
City of Brantford
The Bell Telephone Memorial frontside
For the invention of the telephone
Unveiled	24 October 1917
Location	43°8′27.94″ N 80°16′4.88″ W near Brantford, Ontario
Designed by	Walter Seymour Allward
Commemorating the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1874

Coordinates: 43°8′28″N 80°16′5″W / 43.14111°N 80.26806°W / 43.14111; -80.26806

The Bell Telephone Memorial, also known as the Bell Memorial, is a monument commemorating the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in July 1874 at his parents' home, Melville House, in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.

In 1906, the citizens of the Brantford and Brant County areas formed the Bell Memorial Association. In 1908, the association's designs committee asked sculptors on two continents to submit proposals for the memorial. The submission by Canadian sculptor Walter Seymour Allward of Toronto won the competition. The memorial was originally scheduled for completion by 1912 but Allward, aided by his studio assistant Emanuel Hahn did not finish it until five years later. The Governor General of Canada, Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire, unveiled the memorial on 24 October 1917.

Allward designed the monument to symbolize the telephone's ability to overcome great distances. A series of steps lead to the main section where the floating allegorical figure of Inspiration appears over a reclining male figure representing Man, discovering his power to transmit sound through space, and also pointing to three floating figures, the messengers of Knowledge, Joy, and Sorrow positioned at the other end of the tableau. Additionally, there are two female figures mounted on granite pedestals representing Humanity positioned to the left and right of the memorial, one sending and the other receiving a message.