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The building located at 23 Holland St. West may have been owned by George Stoddart Jr. at one time. It had living quarters upstairs. The ground floor once housed a bank (possibly the Imperial Bank) and there was a large vault in the back. The manager was Fred Stevens. He moved to Barrie when the bank closed. This left the Canadian Bank of Commerce as the only bank in Bradford at that time. The Bradford Witness newspaper, under the direction of Stewart and Ina McKenzie, later moved to this location from the Seim Building. (1, 2)
The building located at 27 Holland St. West also had living quarters upstairs. The ground floor housed the practice of lawyers Gardner, Morris and Denney for a while after WWII. Mrs. Marg Fallis lived upstairs for many years before moving to John Street. (1, 2)

The one-storey building with a flat roof located at 23 Barrie St. (as seen in the photo) replaces the round, metal building originally found on this site. It was an implement store and later the home of a pop business moved here by Keenty O’Keife (?) and run by Dave Smith (who helped deliver in and around the county). The building became a Chinese restaurant owned by Jack Pong around 1938. He ran it until after WWII (when he moved to Holland Street). (1, 2)

The buildings shown in this photo are located at 21, 23, 25 and 27 Holland St. East. One of the buildings in this row was once a bakery and confectionary owned by Jack Madil. There were two ovens in the rear and a barn at the back of the property. Jack later sold the business to Fred Gowland in the early 1930’s and bought a farm (on the north side of Concession 10, on the west side of Sideroad 10). Fred and his family moved into the living quarters above the bakery. He had a partner and second baker named Bert Hunt. Fred later got a job as head baker at the Penetanguishene Asylum and moved to that area. Bert was left to run the business until he got sick. The business was then closed and the building was sold.
The 25 Holland St. East address was the Liberal Party office for Kraft Sloan in 1995.
The 27 Holland St. East address was the location of a barber shop run by Joe Scotto for over thirty years. (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)

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)

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)

The structure located at 29 Holland St. West was vacant for many years. Howard Bowser bought and restored it as a shop with living quarters upstairs. Ted and Audrey Gapp lived here for a number of years. Helen Bantam ran a ladies’ shop downstairs and lived upstairs. She may have bought it from Bowser. At the time of this photo (1995), it was a barber shop.
The building located at 31 and 33 Holland St. West (on the northeast corner of Holland and Moore Streets) was built around 1880 in the Ontario Vernacular style. It was constructed on the site of the former Edmanson Bakery (33 Holland St. West). The bakery was the origin of the big fire on May 23, 1871 that destroyed much of downtown Bradford. E.P. Snow had a harness and saddle shop at 31 Holland St. West for many years. He lived on the north side of John Street. Later it was bought by Secondo Cavallo, who ran a shoemaking business at this location. He lived on the south side of John Street. Cavallo’s daughter (Aida) ran the business for a few years and then it was sold. Lash Davey and Bill ran a butcher shop at 33 Holland St. West for several years. They had a slaughter house on Piccadilly Hill (Simcoe St. South). James Webb, a butcher and lacrosse player, later ran his shop here. Webb was joined by his son Jim, who eventually took over the business and employed Harold Boyd. Jim originally had an ice house at the back of the property. A freezer locker was built later by Len Saint at the back. The building and business were eventually owned for many years by the Pezzanitti family.
The one-storey, commercial, semi-detached ‘row’ building has a wide, rectangular plan with an asymmetrical organization. There is “Main Street” frontage with a typical, storefront façade located at the street line. A plain façade is characterized by a high, flat, ‘boomtown’ façade with brick dentils. The two-bay façade is dominated above the storefronts by an applied, pressed- metal cornice with stone brackets at each end. Existing doors and storefronts are not original. Wide, glass, storefront windows with stone sills are also not original. The building has masonry construction with brick cladding, a stone foundation, and a flat, built-up tar and gravel roof. According to the 2000 inventory, the modest building is in good condition. (1, 2, 3)

The building located at 30 Holland St. West (on the southeast corner of Holland and Drury Streets) has been the site of many businesses, including Bradford Travel (as seen in this photo from 1995). Many years previously, George Ogilvie, a tailor, moved to this area from Bond Head. He employed five or six cutters and seamstresses to help run his business. It occupied the first and second floors of the building. John Depew moved here years later. He ran a barbershop on the ground floor and lived upstairs with his children (Oswald, Eddie and Georgina). The two boys became barbers and Georgina was a nurse in the Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital in Orillia. Archie Hammell and his wife Minnie (Spence) opened and ran a grocery store here for a time. Gerry McTavish worked for them, and he and his wife took over the business when the Hammells retired. (1, 2)

The building located at 30 Simcoe Road was known as the Lathangue & Skwarchuk Funeral Home when this photo was taken in 1995. The Kilkenny family was the first to serve Bradford with a funeral home in 1836. Neil Lathangue owned the business from 1950-1963. Mac Lewis was the owner from 1963-1973. He brought Bill Skwarchuk into the business in 1968. Today (2017), the funeral home is owned by Bill Skwarchuk and his family. (1, Skwarchuk Funeral Home web site)