Plaque was hung in the Library Café at 425 Holland Street West in February, 2017. It accompanies the old Bradford Railway Sign hanging in the Café.
Plaque reads: The railway station in Bradford has a long history serving the leisure travel, commuting and freight needs of our community. Bradford’s economy has always been strongly tied to railway access to Toronto; historically supporting booming livestock industry and facilitating other exports. Wagon loads of wheat were at times lined up back to Bond Head waiting to load their wheat onto rail cars. More recently it serves as a commuter link with Union Station.
The present station was built around 1900 by the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) in response to strong economic growth tied to industry.
The current station was acquired by GO Transit in December 1998, and over the next number of years undertook extensive renovations to help adapt it to its role as a vital commuter link along the Barrie to Union Station Line. The most significant renovations took place in 2006-2007 with the pouring of a new concrete foundation and the removal of parts of a previous renovation from the 1950s.
The annual Meeting of the Bradford West Gwillimbury Local History Association will be held in the Compton Room of the Bradford Public Library on Saturday, December 8th, 1:30 p.m. The BWG Local History Association was formed 17 years ago, in the spring of 1990, and has retrieved and documented many of the details of the history of this area, supported the Local History Room in the Library, and recently, published the 2-volume book, "Governor Simcoe Slept Here." The Association is now taking on new responsibility as the umbrella organization for other history-related groups in the community - The Gwillim Group, which has brought the statue of Elizabeth Gwillim Simcoe to Bradford; the Scotch Settlement Historical Association; and the WEGWHIST Group. The arrangement will provide an affiliation with the Ontario Historical Association that will open the door for sponsorship and fundraising in support of the Town's historical features. The Association has been involved in book writing, editing and sales for the past 4 years; now that Governor Simcoe Slept Here has been completed, the focus is returning to researching and recording local history, and there are opportunities for residents to get involved. Are you interested in history? Do you have time to research on line, index and file, or set up and explore your own special local history project? Come to the meeting to discuss the opportunities.
"Council highly praised the new library building when it was presented to them last week. the architect, Bill Lett, stood beaming along with the library committee as their $1.2 million proposal was unanimously approved..."
"A new library for Bradford came one tiny step closer to reality last week when Fox Jones and Associates presented its first public report. The facility feasibility study, still in draft form, was presented at a public meeting last week (Aug 27). ..."
"A first report has been made by the consultants hired to conduct a feasibility study for a new library. Roger Jones and George Schlukbier of Fox, Jones and Associates presented their first report to council, and the library board, along with some members of committees involved in planning for the new library. Librarian Adrienne Price said the report outlined possible interior design, and land use. Two parcels of town land on Holland Court have been chosen as the library site. The building will tentatively be built to the north of the west lot, with parking to the south. A final draft of the library feasibility study will be presented at a public meeting tentatively set for Wednesday, August 27."
"Two weeks ago these columns reported on procedures required to convert Bradford's Association Library into a Public Library, according to advice from Mr. Mowat, Director of Public LIbraries for Ontario, at a meeting held here. Upon request from a publicly called meeting a Council can change the status of a library without a vote, but, if Council does not see fit to do this, a petition requesting the transfer from association to public library status, signed by 30 municipal voters, demands that a vote be taken at an early date. ..."
