This home is located on the corner of Church and Queen St. It is an early Gothic style house with gingerbreading on the eves. It was made of a rare pink brick, possibly created in Newmarket. The house was built in 1850 by Mark Scanlon, a lawyer, and one of the original town fathers. He was born on the farm of his father, Mark, on the north half of lot 16, on the ninth concession, West Gwillimbury. He graduated with a B.A from Victoria College, Cobourg, which is now affiliated with Toronto University. He is the father of Mr. A.E. Scanlon, who was also a lawyer in Bradford. Professor Day also lived here as did the Misses Lane. It is now the home of Robert Evans, a lawyer.
This building was built around 1862. It was close to John Edmanson's Hotel which was a very important (and sometimes only) public building in town. Town Hall became the towns first community center and the town grew around these two buildings. Town Hall survived the Great Fire of 1871 but was damaged in the storm of 1875 and the bell tower was removed. The wooden front doors were replaced by glass. A World War I memorial used to be on the grounds (two crossed rifles). Up to the mid 1930's a weekly market day took place here.
John Edmanson's Tavern was built in 1831 and escaped the Great Fire of 1971 which destroyed about 130 businesses and houses in Bradford. Later this became the Bingham's Hotel and today it exists as two private attached residences.
The Bradford Witness was the local newspaper. It was first published on February 20, 1879 by Mr. E. Garrett. He was born in Hampshire, England, but settled in Bradford with his parents when he was only one year old in 1856. Before starting The Witness, he worked for Mr. Broughton who published the South Simcoe News, another Bradford newspaper. The fire of 1892 destroyed the offices of The Witness, and the two papers amalgamated, with E. Garrett as proprietor.
The United Church is located on Barrie Street. This church was built around 1865 and uses the Gothic style of architecture. It is the oldest surviving church in town. This building may have been designed by John Howard, a famous architect in Toronto who designed churches and public buildings resembling this one. The Sunday School room at the back of the present church was the first church built in 1836. Originally this was a Methodist Church.
