Reinventing Brantford. Leo Groarke

Reinventing Brantford

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Reinventing Brantford

Reinventing Brantford A UNIVERSITY COMES DOWNTOWN

| Leo Groarke |

Foreword by William Humber

NATURAL HERITAGE BOOKS A MEMBER OF THE DUNDURN GROUP TORONTO

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanic, photocopying, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

Published by Natural Heritage Books, A Member of The Dundurn Group

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Groarke, Leo

Reinventing Brantford : a university comes downtown / Leo Groarke.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-55488-459-9

1. Urban renewal--Ontario--Brantford--History. 2. Central business districts--Ontario--Brantford--History. 3. Wilfrid Laurier University-History. 4. Central business districts--Conservation and restoration-- Ontario--Brantford. 5. Brantford (Ont.)--History. I. Title.

FC3099.B743G76 2009 971.3’47 C2009-902998-7

1 2 3 4 5 13 12 11 10 09

Front Cover: (Top) The Brantford Carnegie Library, 1906. Courtesy of the Brant Museum and Archives, cat. no. 200727032. (Bottom) The Brantford Carnegie Library, the first building of the Brantford campus of Laurier University, 2006. Photo by Darragh Christie. Courtesy of the author. Back Cover (Top) The Brantford Bicycle Club, 1897. Courtesy of Brant Museum and Archives, cat. no.ch 937101. (Bottom) The former Wilkes House. Courtesy of JG Group of Companies.

Project Editor: Jane Gibson

Text design by Erin Mallory

Copyedited by Allison Hirst

Printed and bound in Canada by Transcontinental

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books and the Government of Canada through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit Program and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

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Dundurn Press2250 Military RoadTonawanda, NYU.S.A. 14150

This book is dedicated to the people of Brantford and Brant County — past, present, and future. I want, in particular, to acknowledge those whose commitment to Brantford’s downtown did not waver in the midst of its most troubled times. It is easy to believe in something in the good times; it takes faith and courage to remain committed in the bad.

| CONTENTS |

Acknowledgements

Foreword by William Humber,Seneca College

Introduction

1 Brant’s Ford

2 The Worst Downtown in Canada

3 In Andrew Carnegie’s Footsteps

4 A New Direction

5 Chasing “UBC”

6 Three Ways

7 Leaning Toward Laurier

8 A Timely Move