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This was the home of Sam and Gilbert Lukes. It was originally built by John MacLean Stevenson in 1876. It was sold, first to Robert Bingham in 1877, then to James Boddy in 1894(?) who named it "Fairview". Later, after a number of other sales, it became the property of Rev. Egerton R. Young in 1903, and was renamed "Algonquin Lodge". Rev. Young in turn sold it to the Lukes family in 1910. The Lukes family, who owned the Bradford Flour Mill, made several repairs and alterations to the house under their ownership. In 1949, the house and property was sold to the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation for the Diocese of Toronto, but they soon sold the house to the Ursuline Order of the Diocese of London. In the years since, the building has been sold, re-sold, had court cases fought over ownership until late in the 1980's. In 1994, the building was torn down and the "Common Roof" facility was built.

This portrait is of Samuel Lukes, businessman and mill owner of Bradford. At the time of this edition, he was a successful owner of the Bradford Flouring Mills and lived on Holland Street. Later, he would own the Algonquin Lodge (now known as the Convent).

BRADFORD - Life-long Bradford resident and lawyer C.T.S. "Charlie" Evans last week shed further light on the history of the old convent on Barrie St.

The convent it currently the object of a legal tussle over ownership between the town and the contractor Fred Picavet.

Mr. Evans said he recalls being told by Kate Stevenson, the daughter of 19th century Bradford lawyer John MacLean Stevenson, that her father constructed the house based on plans of a Scots castle.

A CASTLE
"I recall her telling me that at one time he had gone to Scotland and had come back with plans of a castle and that he had this house built according to that plan," Mr. Evans said.

According to his personal records, Mr. Evans noted that Mr. Stevenson had been a Master of the Masonic Lodge in Bradford in 1877, a post usually held by older men.

"So hazarding a guess I would have to say that that house would be 150 years old," he surmised.

FIRST WAR
He said that the Lukes family, who owned the Bradford flour mill in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, likely moved into the house around the beginning of the First World War.

"Dick Crake bought the Lukes' house (where the Anzil Plaza now stands) around that time and the Lukes moved into what everyone now knows as the old convent."

Mr. Evans said a check could be made in the registry office in Barrie to determine when the property was originally purchased by Mr. Stevenson.

Article features news on construction for the new post office over the land of the old gaol, the history of the old fire hall and the opening of the Holland Theatre.

"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. ..."

Contains news clippings and articles on various people of Bradford West Gwillimbury

A piece of plaster decorative moulding recovered during demolition of The Lukes House/The Convent in August 1994. This house had various owners throughout its history. Most notably, Reverend Egerton Ryerson, Samuel Lukes and the Ursuline Order of the Diocese of London (Catholic sisters).

Letter regarding constructing roads and highways that afford property owners the ability to come and go from their lands, particularly if their land is part of the drainage scheme. Includes list of land owners that would be affected, 1920s.

This building was built in 1876 by John Maclean Stevenson, a lawyer and reeve of Bradford from 1871-1877. It was sold to the Lukes Family in 1910, who owned and operated the Bradford Flouring Mill since 1878, which was one of the best equipped mills in the province. It is a copy of Queen Victoria's residence, Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, but built on a smaller scale. It was later occupied by Egerton Ryerson, a famous Methodist preacher, educator, writer and printer (Ryerson Press in Toronto). He died in 1882. In 1949 the building was called 'The Convent' because it became St. Mary's Convent of the Assumption, housing Ursuline Sisters.
In 1969 it became an apartment building but was torn down in the late 1980's.