The Village Inn is located at 2 Holland St. East (on the corner of Holland and Simcoe Streets). There had been a hotel located at this site before the great fire of 1871. The building in this photo (1995) was built in 1920 in the Ontario Vernacular style. The original two-storey, cement building contained living quarters upstairs. One of the early inhabitants was Dave Watson, a farmer from the Scotch Settlement. He was one of the first to work with Professor Day in bringing about the drainage of the Holland Marsh. The ground floor was a grocery store in the early 1930’s (or before it was bought by Jim Gray and his wife). It was separated by a central entrance downstairs.
Ken Morris bought the building around 1933 or 1934. Renovations were done by Art and Len Saint in 1937. The building was converted into the English Tudor-style hotel currently known as “The Village Inn”. A one-storey addition was added later (on the east side of the building) to contain a restaurant and ladies’ room. Under Jack Pong’s ownership, the addition became a Chinese restaurant. Additions were built later at the rear. Frank Sakowski ran the Inn for a while before it was sold to Bill Callum and Mr. Grant.
The two-storey building has a wide, rectangular plan with an asymmetrical organization and a typical ‘Main Street’, storefront façade located at the street line. It is characterized by a high, flat, ‘boomtown’ façade and cornice with brick dentils. The prominent, corner entrance door is oriented diagonally toward the street intersection. Existing door and storefronts are not original. The upper-floor pairs of windows suggest some original Italianate styling. The windows are not original on either level. At the time of the 2000 inventory, the building had masonry construction, stucco and wood siding, and a built-up, tar and gravel roof. It notes that the modest, commercial building is in fair condition with no original details visible. (1, 2, 3)

Photograph of the farmhouse of Thomas Martin (1840-1919) and Elizabeth Martin (nee Lee) (1850-1936).

Elizabeth Lee was the daughter of Thomas Lee (1794-1868) and Ann Lee (nee Graham) (abt. 1825-1903).

Audio of an interview with Mike and Dorothy McKinstry. The interviewer is not introduced, but it is believed to be Joe Saint. Mike and Dorothy discuss people who lived in the Holland Marsh and Bradford areas, histories of the houses, professions of the home owners, business owners in Bradford and anecdotal stories. See the Related Descriptions below for summary.

Summary of an interview with Sam Neilly. The interviewer is George Jackson. Sam and George discuss where Sam's friends and family lived in accordance with a map of Gilford they are looking at. See the Related Descriptions below for summary.

"It's graced Barrie Street for over 118 years, but last week, the "Old Convent" met the fate it had evaded for so long and fell to the wreckers.
Built in 1876, as the home of attorney and Reeve of Bradford, John MacLean Stevenson, it was one of the few Italianate villa-style Victorian buildings left in Canada. ..."

The Bradford Model School pictured was constructed in 1878 to replace a previous building destroyed by fire.
Mr. Frank Wood was the first principal in 1878.
It was established by Simcoe County Council for the training of teachers, and by 1907, 496 teachers were trained there.
Upon the discontinuance of Model training in Ontario, the building continued to be Bradford Public School until the new Bradford Public School was erected in 1951. The Model School was located east of the present school.
It consisted of three rooms downstairs, and two large ones upstairs. It was made of brick, and was heated by two coal furnaces.

The building located at 15 Holland St. East was bought by Harold Boyd many years ago. He ran a pool room on the ground floor on the west side. He added a second floor above the pool room for living quarters. Jack Pong owned a restaurant on the east side of the building in the 1930’s. (1, 2)
The two-storey, brick and cement building located at 19 Holland St. East was owned at one time by George Simpkins. He ran a plumbing, heating, electrical, and eavestroughing company upstairs. There was a show room downstairs and the east side was a workshop. George and his family lived on Moore St. across from Joseph Street. Ethel Gapp was his bookkeeper, Ted Gapp was his electrician, and George Manton did the heating work. They drove for miles around the country in a Model T truck. Harry Barron bought the business in the 1930’s and kept the same workmen. Then the business was moved to the southwest corner of Holland and Simcoe Streets. (1, 2)

This photograph is of the south side of Holland Street West, looking westward. on the left side is A.Thompson's Hardware store, with the Bemrose Co. next door.

Photograph of the home of Dr. Frederick Coney Stevenson at 136 Barrie Street, c. 1905. In the 1940s it was added to, the facade changed and turned into a nursing home. This picture was given to Lew Campbell by Ken Stevenson, Dr. Stevenson’s grandson. Lew Campbell and his family lived at 129 Barrie Street, across the street from this house . Dr. Stevenson can be seen in the photo (sitting on the lawn).

One of Campbell's strongest childhood memories was seeing Dr. Stevenson collapse while cutting his lawn in 1927. He was pronounced dead when Dr. Lewis H. Campbell arrived minutes later.

The garage in Bond Head. This garage was built by Ron Grimshaw.