Showing 104 results

Archival description
Item Sports
Print preview View:

99 results with digital objects Show results with digital objects

10 and 12 Holland Street West - Compton's IGA

The mid-block building located at 10 and 12 Holland St. West was built in the Ontario Vernacular style around 1872-1899. The two-storey, commercial, detached ‘row’ building had a narrow rectangular plan with an asymmetrical organization. ‘Main street’ frontage with a typical storefront façade was located at the street line. The plain façade was characterized by a high, flat, ‘boomtown’ façade and cornice with brick dentils. The two bay-façade each had its own entrance and storefront. Existing doors and storefronts are not original. The original, large, second-floor windows (characterized by segmented arch openings and concrete sills) have been partially bricked in, but are still visible from the brick voussoirs. The building has masonry construction with brick cladding and a flat, built-up tar and gravel roof. (1, 3)
The west side of the building (10 Holland St. West and the location of Pizzaville in this 1995 photo) was once the site of a drugstore run by W.L. "Billie" Campbell. Fred Cook helped him for a number of years. Billie’s son, Lou, and druggist Clarence Ritchie took over the business. Eventually Clarence Ritchie ran it on his own before he retired. Fred McKay sold phonographs on the upper floor and there was a pool room run by James Ferguson. The Salvation Army held services here in the 1930’s. (1, 2)
Sutherland’s Grocery Store was once found at 12 Holland St. West (site of Karen’s and Tina’s Flowers in this 1995 photo). Alec Sutherland was a baker. He had a bakeshop on the south side of Simcoe St. that was run for many years by his daughter Jessie and sister Mrs. Bessie Ryan (and her daughter Betty). They eventually retired and moved to St. Catherine’s. There were living quarters upstairs. William Compton and his wife bought the store and ran it as an IGA grocery store. Gord and Marilyn Compton later took over the store. They built a new store on John St. (where Frank Kilkenny’s house had been). The Comptons’ store eventually moved to what was known as the IGA plaza (located at the corner of Collings Ave. and Holland St. West). As of 2014, 12 Holland St. West is the site of The Holland Bloom florist shop. (1, 2)

George Jackson

1969 Detroit Tigers

This baseball team photograph of the Detroit Tigers contains Mike Kilkenny, a Bradford resident signed on to the team in 1964.

20 John Street West

This photo (from 1995) shows the remains of the foundation wall of a large, natural-ice skating rink that was once located on the southeast corner of Moore (Lovers’ Lane) and 20 John St. West. The rink, built in 1910, was owned by Thompson Fisher. It was run by Fred McKay and Bethel Sawyer. The ice surface was also used as a curling rink. There were seats for spectators and the ticket office was on the east side. There was a men’s change room and hoses for watering the ice behind the rink (where snow was piled). A lunch room, ladies’ change room, and toilets were on the west side. Overhead was a viewing platform and an organ provided skating music. There was a very large water tank in front for fighting fires and making ice. The rink was well-patronized before the war and skating to band music was also very popular. The entrance fee was 15 or 25 cents. The curling surface was used by quite a number of older people. Horse shows were held here in the summer. The cleanup man was “Sank” Lowe. He wore a white uniform and used a two-wheeled barrel, broom, and shovel for picking up manure. Box lacrosse was also played here. The facility was demolished after the war and the property became a town parking lot. (1, 2)

George Jackson

61 Holland Street East - The Bradford Town Hall

The Bradford Town Hall is located at 61 Holland St. East. It survived the fire of 1871 that destroyed much of Bradford’s downtown. The building was being used as a schoolhouse in 1875 when a severe wind storm blew off the roof and killed a member of the Woods’ family. Reports disagree about the number of school children injured. Bricks were salvaged from damaged sections of the building and reused in the construction of a duplex at 31/33 Bingham Street. The building was a market place for farmers until the mid 1930’s. There was a commons at the rear for pasturing. It later became a playground. There were stalls and display tables for farm animals, chickens etc. Jim Nesbitt was one of the managers. Upstairs was a hall with a raised stage and raised steps at the front. Readings, lectures, visiting theatre groups, dances, minstrel shows and meetings with dignitaries were all held here. Buster Matthews had a casket-manufacturing business in the basement for a while. Charlie Heath held movies here. Later there was a badminton court.
The structure was overhauled after WWII. The ceiling was lowered, beautiful light fixtures were converted to hydro and refurbished, and the stage was removed. All records and centennial books were destroyed and it was turned into a court house. The west stairs were closed off and the raised steps removed. The building was originally heated by a large wood-burning furnace in the basement before it was converted to oil. It was originally lighted with manufactured gas (?) and then hydro after 1916. The old chandeliers still remain. Bradford’s first police force was located in this building for several years. The town’s administrative business was also conducted from here. On the west side of the Town Hall there once was a three-bay fire hall. At the back there was a Recreation Hall with a kitchen and toilets for the volunteer firemen to use. It was rented by the Lions Club (who met here for a number of years). The firemen provided draws and suppers to raise money for new equipment (a lot of which they manufactured themselves). It was heated by natural gas and built by Irma (?) and the walls were thick enough for a second storey. There is a stone cairn with a plaque in memory of Professor W.H. Day on the east side of the sidewalk. The WWI veterans built a cairn where the fire hall was. A cannon and a plaque with the names of those who perished in Europe were also there.
The current, two-storey Town Hall was built in the 1830-1860’s in the Classic Revival style. It has a symmetrical façade with a simplified, temple form and a medium-pitched, ‘pediment’ gable roof with plain cornice and frieze supported on brackets. There is an enclosed, raised porch with a steeply-pitched, centre gable (reminiscent of Gothic Revival). It is set into a shed roof flanked by corbelled parapets at each side and a plain cornice and frieze supported on brackets. The entrance door, stairs, and railing are not original. The entrance opening had been modified, but the original dichromatic brick that highlighted the top of the original entrance opening is still visible on either side of the new opening. There are tall window openings with high floor to ceiling heights. The windows are set into segmented, arch openings ornamented with alternating voussoirs and ‘ears’ of dichromatic brick and stone (or concrete) lug sills. The centre window above the entrance is raised above the entrance gable and ties together the entrance projection and façade composition behind. Original windows were probably double-hung and multi-paned. The ground-floor windows have been blocked in, but their outline is still visible on the front façade. There is a horizontal, dichromatic brick string coursing. The structure has masonry construction with brick cladding (sandblasted) and a random, rubble-stone foundation. An original, open-frame cupola/bell tower with a steeply-pitched, bell-cast roof and chimneys were missing when the building was inventoried in 2000. At that time the building was considered to be in good condition. (1, 2, 3, 4)

George Jackson

64 James Street

The house located at 64 James St. was considered to be new when this photo was taken in 1995. The area behind the house was once used for lawn bowling. (1)

George Jackson

A meeting of nations

"The Djurgarden Mini-Midgets of Stockholm, Sweden arrived in Canada on Boxing Day to begin a five-game tour against Ontario midget hockey teams from Barrie, Cobourg, Oshawa, Bay Ridges, and Newmarket. For the 20 young hockey players and 14 adults who accompanied them, this was their first visit to Canada and an exciting opportunity to combine good, competitive hockey with lots of sightseeing. It was soon apparent, however, that the players were neither novices at hockey nor travelling. Despite the fact that the Swedish players were only 15 years of age (Canadian midgets are usually 15 or 16), the Swedes emerged from the five games with three wins, a loss, and a tie. The Swedes defeated Cobourg 6-4, Bay Ridges 5-1, and Newmarket 5-3. They battled Oshawa to a 4-4 tie and were upset by Barrie 7-3. Although they had never come to Canada before, the team has toured Germany, Finland, and Norway. Their experience showed."

Mark Witten

A. T. Howes & Co. Store Bill

An account bill made out to the Bradford Lawn Bowling Club by A.T. Howes & Co. Store, dated May 27th, 1911.

Bradford Lawn Bowling Club

Results 1 to 10 of 104