Main content

Reinventing Brantford : a university comes downtown

Available Formats:

  • Publisher:
    Dundurn Press, 2009
    Note: This book was purchased with support from the Government of Canada's Social Development Partnerships Program - Disability Component.

Details:

  • Date:
    Created
    2009
    Summary:

    Short-listed for the 2012 Speaker's Award. One hundred years ago, the City of Brantford advertised itself as the most important manufacturing centre in Canada. During the century that followed, its industrial economy boomed, faltered and finally collapsed. By the end of the 20th century, Brantford was known for unemployment, hard luck and the infamy of having "the worst downtown in Canada." For 20 years, the downtown was in steep decline. Significant attempts at urban revival had failed until Wilfrid Laurier University decided to locate a campus in the heart of Brantford's crumbling city centre. Leo Groarke revisists the grandeur of the city's past, explores the economic downfall and tells the story of the arrival of the university, its early struggles, its commitment to historic restoration and its ultimate success as a catalyst for urban renewal. The compelling story he recounts will engage anyone interested in the plight of the North-American city core and the role that universities and colleges can play in re-establishing downtowns as vibrant centres of historical and contemporary importance.

    Original Publisher: Toronto, Dundurn Press
    Language(s): English
    ISBN: 9781770705616