There was a vacant lot located at 11 Holland St. East after the big fire of 1871. Dennis Nolan built an addition to his Model T Ford dealership (located at 9 Holland St. E.) on this vacant lot. Len Saint used cement to build the new structure and Art Saint did the carpentry. The cars arrived at the railroad station in boxcars and then were brought to this new building. There was a display room at the front. At the rear was another service department with a door on the west side leading to the laneway at the rear. In time, Jim Armstrong and Fred Gregory opened a garage at this location. Charles Roberts also ran it and had a taxi business. Armstrong sold the building to Patchett, who turned the upstairs into a bowling alley (while also still running a taxi business) with a garage in the back. (1, 2) There was also a vacant lot located at 13 Holland St. East after the fire of 1871. Russell “Curly” Curtis (from Newmarket) married Aileen Church and they built a butcher shop here after WWII. Years later it became the site of the Simpson order office (which was run by Mrs. Fallis). (1, 2)
The building located at 10 Holland St. East in this 1995 photo is not the original structure on this property. That building was destroyed in the big fire of 1871 and the space stood empty for many years. A man from Aurora hired Art and Leonard Saint in 1936 to build a movie theatre on the vacant lot. It was to be a winter and fall project after they finished building the Post Office on Barrie Street. The Holland Theatre, as it became known, was completed in 1937. It had a basement, a front projection room upstairs, a cement foundation, cement floors and red, block, tile walls. All of the quicklime that was used was hauled in from Hagerville and made into mortar in the basement. The mortar contained camel, goat, and cow hair which came from Colles’ Leather business in Aurora. A steel, suspended lath was plastered in the ceiling. The roof was flat and sloping and the stage was at the rear. The owners in the 1940’s and early 1950’s were Mr. Rees and Mr. Hobberlin. George Carson bought the theatre after WWII. The structure later housed many businesses, including a Deemac Furniture store. The building is currently (2014) unoccupied. (1, 2)
The building located at 1 Holland St. East (on the northeast corner of Holland and Barrie Streets) is part of what is known as the Green Block. The structure was originally owned by Mr. Green, who lived with his family on the west side of Church St. in the hotel. The Masonic Hall is still found upstairs at this location in 2014. (1, 2) Many businesses have been located at 3 Holland St. East (on the northeast corner of Holland and Barrie Streets) over the years. They include a grocery store, a boot and shoe shop (run by Charlie Wilson), an insurance company (that was later run by Fred Cook), a delivery service for C.N.R. (first by horse and buggy, then later by Model T Ford), a hamburger stand (run by Harold ‘Butch’ Boyd), and a telephone office. The first private telephone came to Bradford in 1885 and was run by a number of businessmen. There were ten phones only for Bradford. A garage was later added at the back at the laneway for trucks and cars. (1, 2)
