"To help solve the housing problem for the thousand or more people made homeless by the flood a trailer town is being planned. Bradford Rotary Club members are in charge of this project and the objective is 100 trailer cabins to be located on the ball grounds. It is proposed to install showers and toilet facilities to serve this big trailer camp. The search for a sufficient number of trailers is already underway."
Article features news on Canada's Centennial celebrations, extra copies of the Bradford Witness, and recalling the fall fairs around the county. It also mentions the upcoming Ontario elections.
Article features news and the history of Victoria Day, questions of creating a horticultural society in Bradford, county boundary issues, talk of a Centennial Park, and new copies of a historical map of Simcoe County and of York County obtained.
Article features news on strikes at Bradford's vegetable processing plants (Federal Farms and United Farms), including publicity in other papers, Bradford's image with the strike and lack of export.
Article features news on strikes at Toronto's Globe and Mail, the deal with John Zima's Luxury Homes Ltd and C.N. Rail off Dissette Street, and more news on garbage collection/ backyard burning.
Event Date : Wednesday, July 08, 1981 Event Type : Death
Description : Former owner, publisher, and editor of The Bradford Witness, Ina McKenzie, died last Wednesday, July 8, after a lengthy illness. She was 89. Born Ina Galbraith in Paisley, Bruce County, Mrs. McKenzie learned to be independent at an early age after the death of her father at age 29. Her mother, a school teacher, struggled to raise her and younger sister Donalda. "I went into teaching as well because there was nothing else a girl at that time could do except become a nurse" Mrs. McKenzie remarked in an interview before her death. She taught for several years in the tough downtown Toronto core where her students included the famous Conacher brothers. "They were wonderful boys. Perhaps a bit mischievious though" she recalled laughing. After marrying her childhood sweetheart Stewart McKenzie (who died in 1975) she left teaching to move to Detroit with her husband."All that time - it was in the 1920s - Detroit was a boom town. Everyone was playing the stock market and making a great deal of money - on paper at any rate. Stewart got a job on a financial publication called Saturday Night."Mr. McKenzie had an extensive background in the newspaper business. His father had owned the Paisley Advocate.While in Detroit the stock market crashed and Mr. McKenzie because he was a Canadian citizen was in danger of losing his job."I told Stewart 'Let's look for a business now while you've still got a job' so we went on vacation and looked at what appeared to be a very prosperous newspaper in Trenton" Mrs. McKenzie remembered.However being a very astute business woman she noted that the paper printed a great deal of political material that would come to a halt if the government changed. They decided to look elsewhere.Bradford was their next stop."When we arrived in Bradford it was a beautiful day" she recalled. However the condition of The Bradford Witness was something else again."Stewart went in and told me 'The machinery is a disgrace'" she remembered but they loved the little town and decided to stay contributing greatly to its prosperity and growth over the years.In those first years of the Depression Bradford was little more than a main street the lower end shabby the western portion relatively prosperous she recalled. "Everything was booming when we arrived in Bradford." Mrs. McKenzie noted. "But shortly after many people were in dire poverty. If we would have collected what was on our books we could have retired however people gave what they could."During this time they relocated the paper's office from Holland St. to Barrie St. (where the European Bakery is currently located) remaining there until they retired in 1968 selling the paper to Gerry Barker.Before deteriorating eyesight hampered her activities Mrs. McKenzie was extremely active in various organizations in Bradford. During the Second World War she headed the Bradford chapter of the Canadian Red Cross. She was a charter member of the West Gwillimbury chapter of IODE and a past president of the Bradford Women's Institute. She also taught Sunday School at the Bradford United Church. One of the driving forces behind fund-raising efforts for the Bradford Community Centre. Mrs. McKenzie also lent her considerable energies and intelligence to the Hurricane Hazel flood relief program and various other community projects. Ina McKenzie is survived by her sister Donalda Crosbie of Toronto nephew Robert W. Crosbie and good friend Ella Langford of Bradford. She was also great-aunt to Alexander George and Cynthia. Friends called at the Lathangue and Skwarchuk Funeral Home and a service conducted by Rev. G. McFarlane was held in the chapel on Friday July 10. She was buried next to her husband at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto.Donations to the West Gwillimbury chapter of IODE would be appreciated.
Article features local news, such as the start of the Bradford and Holland Marsh horticultural season, the Lodge's Ladies Night at Bond Head, and news on the Earl Rowe dam, it also features the latest Ontario Legislature news about taxes.
Article features news on newspapers and opinions (via the Canadian flag debate), news on the Schomberg Agricultural Society annual fair, and historical information from a 1904 version of Toronto's Globe & Mail. It also features the purchase of Joseph Wolfe's farm on Hwy 88, and information on an extension of the 404.