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The Thompson Fisher House is located at 37 Queen St. (on the northeast corner of Queen and Rebecca Streets). It was built around 1880 in the Eclectic Neoclassical style. It belonged to J.C. Wood in the 1950’s. He was the principal at the original, adjacent Bradford High School.
The two-storey, rectangular building has a symmetrical façade and a centre hall plan (Neoclassical features). A medium-pitched, hip roof with a wide overhang and a full-width, awning roof at the porch are Regency Revival features. The house has large window openings with high floor to ceiling heights. Ground-floor windows and the entrance door have transom lights. The arched shutters may be original. Decorative details at the porch columns, a busy verge board, and paired, soffit brackets (over new metal soffits) appear to be twentieth-century additions. The house has solid brick construction as well as the original wood banister, doors, and 12” baseboards. According to the 2000 inventory, the decorative trim is excessive and without precedent in the community. It also notes that while some degree of eclecticism is not out of place, the total effect on this well-maintained building is unconvincing. (1, 3, 5)

The Fred C. Cook Senior Elementary School is located at 75 Queen Street. It is not the original building to be found on this site. That structure was a small, two-room, grammar school from Bond Head that was loaded onto a sled and pulled by horses many years ago to the newly-formed town of Bradford. It was set among the pine trees found on a plot of land between Fletcher and Queen Streets. That structure eventually became the first high school in Bradford. It was destroyed by fire in 1890 and a new school was opened on the same site. It burned as well. The Fred C. Cook Senior Elementary School (as seen in the photo) was erected in its place in 1923 or 1924. It was built in the Colonial Revival style. A four-room wing was built in the rear school yard in 1956 (1960’s?) to alleviate over-crowding.
The main building has 2½ storeys. Its large, simple, rectangular form dominates this site. The structure is set well back from the street on a broad expanse of lawn. This positioning suggests its importance in the community. There are large window openings with high floor to ceiling heights, and a flat roof (probably covered with built-up tar and gravel). The entrance is raised one-half storey above grade level. Stairs lead directly to an over-scaled entrance door framed by white-painted pilasters and a plain, wood entablature above. The double door and transom do not appear to be original. The tall, ‘Venetian” windows (characteristic of the neoclassical style) have pilasters and three-foot ‘lights’. The first and second-storey windows are joined by recessed, wood panels. A white-painted, urn-trimmed, roof balustrade is set into a brick, parapet wall. Thin pilaster strips (set into a continuous ‘sill’ at the ground-floor level) sub-divide the front façade into multiple bays. The building has concrete, masonry construction with brick, masonry cladding, applied wood details, and a concrete foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, the building is in excellent condition with many original details.
A new, modern version of the Fred C. Cook Elementary School opened in September, 2013. It is located at 20 Fletcher Street. (1, 3, Bradford District High School’s web site)

Photograph of the old Bradford High School on Queen Street

From the Yesterdays section of the Bradford Witness:
"This is a photo of the 1931 class at Bradford High School submitted by Mr. and Mrs. Grennville Halbert. Shown in the top row (left to right) are Allan Gould, Frank Maurino, Murray Faris, Errol Gray, Don WIlson, Lou Neilly, Lorne West, James Darling, Keith Kilkenny, and Laurie Melbourne. Second row (left to right) Mr. Clary, the principal; Miss Cook, teacher; Home Henbest, Addison Black, Emory Belfry, Ivor Rogers, Marion Bell, Muriel Kneeshaw, Helen Clubine, Helen Clark, Ann Watt, and Connie Nolan. Third row (left to right) Zella Gardner, Maude Gardner, Edith Noble, Kathleen Holdane-Wilson, Marion Edney, Barbara Dunn, Evelyn Ward, Eleanor Collings, Mildred Faris, Ruth Cerswell, and Phyllis Mitchell, teacher. Bottom row (Left to right) Donna Archer, Jessie Lowry, Margery Seim, Helen Leeson, Marion Cullingham, and Evelyn Leeson. The Witness welcomes photos of interest."

Bradford High School Students, 1931, Form 4 and 5.
Jim Worfolk, Marion Cullingham, Kathleen Wilson, Ann M. Watt, Ronald Sutherland, Unknown, Jessie McLowry, Unknown, Ruth Cerswell, Keith Kilkenny, Billie Day, Unknown, Louis Neilly, John Clubine, Evelyn Leeson, Beverley Hartman, Unknown, Arthur Taylor, Errol Gray, Dot Stone, Doland Adair, Allan Gould, Herbie Taylor, Helen Clark, Janet Pringle, Marjorie Wilson, Muriel Forth, Addison Black, Fred Reynolds, Unknown, Jessie Melbourne.

Bradford High School 1939-40. Principal Mr. G. K. Brunt.
Back Row (l-r): James Shaw, Bill Martin, John Worfolk, Vincent O'Donnell, Donald Rutherford, Bob Faris, Calvin Lapp, Bill Rowe, Howard McKay, Gordon Cillingham, Bill Moriarty, Selby Kneeshaw, Campbell Prince, Gordon Bateman, Andrew Bell, Milton McMillan, Eveleen McDonnell, Muriel Gibney, Betty Camplin, Mary Scott, Lylia Bell.
Third Row (l-r): Marie Valenteyn, Helen Porritt, Doreen Simpkin, Marion Worfolk, Margaret Hill, Joyce Steers, Vera Huck, Lorna Dixon, Irene Mestdagh, Beatrice Zlotkin, Catherine Lukes, Betty Seim, Marie Moriarty, Helen Snor, Audrey Mapes, Dorothy Seim, Ruth Stewart, Jean Wilson, Jean Bell, Ruth Noble, Helen Cave, Freda Doane, Helen Brown, Isabel Blackwell, Gladys Bell, Doris Fennell, Marjorie Creighton.
Second Row (l-r): Helen Noble, Mary Meher, Etta Noble, Ruth O'Neil, Jean Campbell, Reta O'Neil, Phyllis Edney, Elsie McKnight, Isobel Kneeshaw, Marie O'Donnell, Marie Caesar, Evelyn Doane, Eileen Iceton, Velma Valedon, Ruth Stewart, Margaret Graham, Constance Nolan, G. K. Brunt, W. K. Gray, Helen Saint, Phylis Robson, Marjorie Horsley, Lorraine Lapp, Isobel Lennox, Marjorie Botham, Betty Spence, Joyce Gibney, Shirley Armstrong, Helen McDonald, Margaret Coates, Jean Bannerman, Josephine Orr.
Front Row (l-r): Ivan Wilson, Irwin Collings, Murray Quinn, Ross Melbourne, Frank Carter, Alan Atkinson, Joe Wood, Alex Geddes, Maurice Roberts, Donald Gardner, Bert McArthur, Earl Jessop, Jack Glover, Wallace Fuller, James Lennox, Willard Budd, George Allan, Keith Bowles, Keith Langford, Arthur Turner, Murray Wilson, Arnold Fraser, Jack Gardner, Charles Doane, John Fennell.

Photograph of the old Bradford Public School on Queen and Rebecca Streets

This engraving of the Bradford Model School was featured alongside its Board Members in 1906. It was located on Queen Street and was built after the old structure burned down in 1877. The Board Members included A.N. Scarrow, Rev. F. Smith, E.P. Snow, R. Neilly, James Bemrose, John Elliott (chairman), and Samuel Martin. Scarrow was the principal of the Public and Model Schools from 1902, and was President of the Bradford Library Board.