The Bradford Witness decided to release a series of articles from local townspeople on the history of certain events in Bradford and West Gwillimbury's time. This week, the Fire of May 25, 1871, and the businesses which rebuilt on Holland Street after the fire, is the topic.

Municipality : Bradford
Community : Bradford

Description : Picture of the damage done by fire on Holland Street West in 1959.

Bradford High School, destroyed by fire in 1923. These are the remains.

The Breen Refrigeration Service store prior to the 1959 fire on Holland Street W. which damaged the building.

"The new fire alarm siren has been installed and some time Friday evening an alarm will be sounded to test the system and also the response of the firemen to the new alarm.
The brigade will hold a meeting during the evening to discuss general business."

Article about the Post Office fire which occurred on April 29, 1981.
Photo at the bottom of the article was captioned: "Cleaning Up, I the aftermath of last week's post office fire, postal worker Bill Marks shows a gentleman all that's left of a letter he mailed. In the photo at the right [see Related Description], postmaster Keith Stevens sifts through some of the identifiable mail. While 125 pieces were identified, at least as many - and likely more - were destroyed, Mr. Stevens estimated. More details on this page."

"Firefighters battle stubborn 7-hour blaze which ripped through industrial complex last Friday afternoon

On April 28, 1988 at approximately 2:20 p.m., a major fire broke out in an industrial complex on Bridge Street (Hwy. 11) in the Town of Bradford, which necessitated the closing of Hwy. 11 both northbound and southbound for a period of six hours." ...

"Rybka Bros. Produce, 251 Holland Street East, Bradford, located immediately west of the C.N.R. station, was completely destroyed by fire, with its contents, late yesterday afternoon." ...

"Firemen were called to The Village Inn about 10 a.m. on Sunday when fire was discovered in one of the bedrooms about two hours after the occupant of the room on the previous night had left the building. The mattress on the bed and the bedding, were burning when firemen entered and these were thrown from a window, thus ending the smoke in the building. It is supposed that a cigarette was the source of the fire."