The Stoddart House is located at 250 Barrie Street. It was built around 1870 in the Eclectic Neoclassical style. Some of the early settlers in the Bradford area were members of the Stoddard/Stoddart family. John Stoddard settled along the Bond Head Road in 1829. In later times, Major George W. Stoddart was the reeve of Bradford. The two-storey building has a rectangular form and a centre hall plan. There is a symmetry in the large window openings (with high floor to ceiling heights). The double-hung windows with painted-wood lug sills are also neoclassical features. The medium-pitched, hip roof, wrap-around porch (with original turned wood post supports), and remaining wood brackets and decorative trim are Regency Revival features. A projecting, bay window at the ground-floor living (or dining) room is a Gothic Revival feature. The house has solid, brick construction and a stone foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, the metal screen door at the entrance is unsympathetic to the original design. It was also notes that the porch needed repair. (1, 3)
The house, which is currently found at 26 Colborne St., was moved to this site many years ago. It was originally located across the river on the west side of Federal Farms Road. The west entrance to Queensville passed through the property. The one-storey, T-shaped house has a living room, two bedrooms, a front kitchen and a smaller room behind. North of the kitchen there was a sloping roof and a long narrow room that was used as a bedroom. Lorne Church, his wife, and their children (Jim, Marion, Aileen, Jack, Gordon and May) once lived here. Lorne worked at Lukes’ mill. There was a shed behind the house for cars and wood. It was later moved into the garden and converted to a greenhouse for plants to be grown on Mr. Bruce’s marshland property. In addition to farming for Mr. Bruce, the boys delivered milk in a small wagon in the early 1930’s. (1, 2)
This building is located at 26 Holland St. West. H.F.S. Gardner, his wife Bertha, and children Tom and Ada (who was in a wheelchair) moved from Newmarket to this area in 1920. They opened a combination general and hardware store that sold clothing, boots, shoes, paints, tools, coal, oil, etc. The business used all the available space in the building, including the two floors and the basement. The family lived on Simcoe St. in a house owned by Miss Hill. (1, 2)
The building located at 27 John St. West (on the northeast corner of John and Moore Streets) was built around 1890 in the Gothic Revival style. It was the home of John Lee (a retired farmer from north of Bradford) for many years. After World War II, it was the home of Mildred Peelar and her family. Walter Mundy later lived here before the house was sold. The 1½-storey, ‘L’-shaped, main building has a medium-pitched, gable roof with a steeply-pitched, gable dormer. These are Gothic features. There are round-head, coloured transom lights over several ground-floor windows that are structurally supported above by arched, brick voussoirs. There is also a rectangular transom over the entrance door. Windows of various sizes (indicating post-1880 construction) have the original, wood lug sills. The structure has brick, masonry construction and a rusticated, stone foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, the replacement porch varies from the original design intent. (1, 2, 3)
Alex Sutherland’s bakeshop was located at 27 Simcoe Road for many years. It was later sold to Howard Bowser. Howard converted it into a rental dwelling. The building was eventually owned by a market gardener who had a cement garage and storage building constructed by Len Saint on the property. Neil Lathangue and his wife lived here for a time years later. After they left, Tommy and Bill Whiteside moved in and remained here until they died. (1, 2)
The southwest corner of John and Barrie Streets, which is now recognized as 28 Barrie St., was a vacant lot for many years. When Highway 11 was widened, Allan (Wink) Crake built a service station here. Bill Aikens ran it until his death during WWII. After the war, Mr. Hodgson (a retired O.P.P. officer), and then Frank Adamson, ran it. When the station closed, the pumps were removed and the structure became a Becker's Milk store. It was still in operation when this photo was taken in 1995. (1, 2)
The house located mid-block at 28 John St. East was built in the Edwardian Classicism style around 1850 in Amsterdam (on the east side of the Holland River). It was moved to its current site in Bradford around 1890 by Sam Lukes to provide housing for the staff of his flour mill. His mill was in its heyday at the turn of the century (1890-1910). This structure was the home of Stewart and Ina McKenzie (editors of the Bradford Witness newspaper) in the 1930-60’s. The rectangular, two-storey building with a centre hall plan has simple details and a hipped, ‘Pedlar’ metal roof (made by Oshawa Roofing). The original porch was significantly altered after the move from Amsterdam. The simple form and composition of the house was then highlighted with a large, classically-inspired porch that has a pediment-type, porch roof addition. A space between the brick pedestals at the porch has been infilled and the original half columns have been replaced by glazing and infill framing. The house has large window openings and the windows are metal replacements. Shutters on the second-floor are not original. The smooth, brick veneer on the wood frame construction was also added after the house was moved from Amsterdam. There is a parged, block foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, the building is well-maintained l. (1, 2, 3)
This house is located at 28 Letitia Street. The street was named after Letitia Magee, the founder of the original subdivision in Bradford in the 1830’s. The name was later changed to Frederick St. to avoid confusion during emergency calls.
Early research notes on this home from George Jackson lists the home as belonging to Jim McKinstry (Bob), a lumber mill worker before being the home of Henry Bell. The family of Mr. Bell has shared that the home was built by Mr. Bell in 1951, where he lived until his passing in 1987. The home was inhabited by the Bell family until 2000.
Many businesses have used the flat-roofed structure located at 29 Barrie Street. It was once the home of a farm machinery business run by Reuben Tindall. When he retired, he sold the business to Dick Crake. Dick, who sold machinery and 28 Chevrolet cars, was a bachelor who did not drive. Allen Ceeiry(?) was his chauffeur. Dick had one of the first radios in town and his shop was a popular hangout for farmers and teenage boys who wanted to listen to hockey games. Dick ran the business until he retired. Then John Morden (from Kirkland Lake) started a body, fender, and paint shop at this location which he ran until his death. A businessman from Bond Head ran a blacksmith shop here for a period of time after WWII. (1, 2)
