Plaque commemorating the first telephone exchange in the British Empire in the old Exchange Building at 8 Main Street East in Hamilton, Ontario

On this date in 1922 Alexander Graham Bell died.

Frye in his “Convocation Address, University of Bologna” (April 24, 1989):

In Canada, with its sparse population, immense area, and physical obstacles separating each part of the country, communication has always been a major preoccupation.  Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Alva Edison both lived a good deal in Canada; the building of railways and bridges and canals have formed much of Canadian history, and a fair number of Canadian intellectuals have been philosophers of communication theory.  (CW 10, 343)