This building was built in 1876 by John Maclean Stevenson, a lawyer and reeve of Bradford from 1871-1877. It was sold to the Lukes Family in 1910, who owned and operated the Bradford Flouring Mill since 1878, which was one of the best equipped mills in the province. It is a copy of Queen Victoria's residence, Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, but built on a smaller scale. It was later occupied by Egerton Ryerson, a famous Methodist preacher, educator, writer and printer (Ryerson Press in Toronto). He died in 1882. In 1949 the building was called 'The Convent' because it became St. Mary's Convent of the Assumption, housing Ursuline Sisters. In 1969 it became an apartment building but was torn down in the late 1980's.
The two-storey, frame house located at 89 Holland St. East was the home of Tom and Mary (Harman) Saint for many years. The structure was moved across the river to this site from the Thompson Smith Saw Mill (at Amsterdam) after it closed. A crawl space under the back kitchen was replaced in 1936 by a cellar under the front part of the house. It was dug by Jim (Dummy) Peters, Donald Campbell, and Joe Saint using pick-shovels. They then poured an 8” concrete wall. An oil furnace was installed after the front cellar was completed. It replaced the wood-fueled cooking stove previously used as a heat source for the house. Tom owned the property from Holland St. through to John Street. There was a lane behind the house that led to a woodshed. At the bottom of the lot there was a shed for a wagon, buggy, implements, etc. Upstairs was a loft for hay and on the east side there was a horse stable. Tom was a stone mason, brick layer, plasterer, and cement layer. He used a horse to haul his materials. Six children (William, John, Sadie, Leonard, May and Jane) were raised in this house. Sadie married Walter Reeves, a lacrosse player and a one man/one dog police force. Sadie lived at home and Dorothy married Harvey Marks and stayed in the family till 1989. A front porch and a car port at the back were eventually added. The lot at the back was sold to William Smith. (1, 2)
Breakdown of expenditures and taxes used for unemployment relief during The Great Depression. Dated 1936.
Excerpt: "...In order that taxpayers and citizens of our municipalities may have a better appreciation of the expenditures being made with respect to unemployment relief, it is important the tax bills and demands to be issued for taxes levied by municipalities in 1916 show very clearly how much money is being provided by each municipality for its share of unemployment relief expenditures, and the mill rates levied for the purpose..."
Contains news clippings and articles on various disastrous events of Bradford West Gwillimbury; includes fires, Hurricane Hazel, drownings, explosion, train wrecks
The article accompanying this photograph gives a quick history of the Bradford Flour Mill owned by Samuel Lukes. Lukes owned the mill since 1878, and improved the equipment within a few years to make it one of the best equipped in Ontario at the time.
This portrait is of Samuel Lukes, businessman and mill owner of Bradford. At the time of this edition, he was a successful owner of the Bradford Flouring Mills and lived on Holland Street. Later, he would own the Algonquin Lodge (now known as the Convent).
The Bradford Witness decided to release a series of articles from local townspeople on the history of certain events in Bradford and West Gwillimbury's time. This week, the Holland River is the topic.
