The two-storey house located at 205 Simcoe Road was bought and renovated by Mr. Bruce around 1928. Len Saint did the cement work and the plastering. William Ward and his family lived here later. He raised dogs and had a greenhouse and a garden at the back. He moved to James St. after he retired. (1, 2)

This two-storey, frame and cement-clad house is located south of the “Y” at 223 Simcoe Road. Mr. Bruce bought this house and the land (which extended south to the town limits and over the canal) many years ago. A marsh laneway ran east and there was a bridge across the canal for the road to the marsh. The lane circled the house and came out on Simcoe Road. There was a large barn east of the entrance to the property. It had a basement for animals and chickens. Albert Readman and his family (Mildred, Albert Jr., Olive, and Tom) lived in this house for a number of years. Mike Kasik (a market gardener) eventually bought the property. Len Saint built a cement garage and a storage building south of the house on the end of the bank and the lane. (1, 2)

The Wilkinson House is a mid-block building located at 31 Simcoe Road. It was built by Art Saint and/or George Stoddart around 1923 in the Arts and Crafts style. The house was sold to Chris Long, his daughter, and her husband Fred Wilkinson (a printer for the Bradford Witness) and daughter Marjorie. When they moved to Toronto to work at the DeHavill and Aircraft Company during WWII, the house was sold to a market gardener whose family lived here for many years.
The 1½-storey, two-bay ‘bungalow’ has a simple form with an asymmetrical façade and a rectilinear plan. A broad, steeply-pitched, gable roof extends down to reduce the scale of the building from the street. It covers the open front porch and is supported on wood half columns on brick piers. There is an off-centre hall entrance from the porch. The porch (entered from the front) is raised and has a simple, wood handrail and baluster. There are wide window openings with low floor to ceiling heights. A wide band of windows across the front of the dormer emphasizes the horizontal lines and massing of this house. The wide windows are set into rectangular openings. Smaller, second-storey windows in the front dormer are offset from the ground-floor windows and have plain, wood sills and trim. The windows and the second entrance door are not original. A mix of exterior cladding materials is common to this style. The house has returned eaves at the dormer roof. Wood frame construction has brick, masonry cladding and vinyl siding on the dormer. The original cladding would have been wood. There is a painted, concrete foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, the house is in good condition with many original features that have been maintained well. (1, 2, 3)

The building located at 46 Simcoe Road (on the corner of Thomas St. and Simcoe Road) was built pre-1900 in the Ontario Vernacular Cottage style. James Church, and then Jimmie Jackson, his wife, and son once lived in this house. Jimmie worked for the town, was a noted drain expert, and did road work. Mrs. Jackson remained in the house for many years after her husband died. It was also once the home of Lorne Faris (a jeweller) and his wife (Ona). Lorne converted the shed that was on the property into a garage. John Kanyo Jr. lived here when he was first married. After the Kanyo family, it became the home of Budd Robson. Years later, Mr. and Mrs. Emerson Madill (retired farmers from the south side of the 10th Concession near Highway 400) resided here.

The one-storey, three-bay ‘cottage’ has a simple form with a symmetrical façade, a rectilinear plan, and a shallow-pitched, gable roof. It has a centre hall entrance from a covered, open, front-entrance porch which is accessed from the side. Originally, the porch stairs were in the centre and aligned with the front door. The hip roof on the porch is supported on turned posts. Decorative, wood fascia is found at the porch roof. There is a plain, wood handrail and balusters and the porch foundation is enclosed with wood lattice. The building has narrow window openings with low floor to ceiling heights. Windows are set into rectangular openings with plain, wood trim and sills. The house has wood frame construction with brick cladding and a parged, concrete foundation. Originally, the cladding was stucco. According to the 2000 inventory, the house is in good condition with some original features that have been maintained well. (1, 2, 3)

The mid-block building located at 47/49 Simcoe Road was built around 1830-1860 in the Neoclassical Duplex style. Originally, there was a long, one-storey, frame house located at this site. It had a verandah on the northwest side, a picket fence along the street, a large barn on the south side of the house, a garden at the back and it was the home of Lew McConkey Sr. (a grain and seed merchant), his wife, and son. Lew had an office on the north side of Holland Street. New owner Paul Sadlon had Len Saint build a garage and a storage building at the back. Paul and his wife were market gardeners. Their son owned Bruce Sadlon Motors. The house was later converted into two apartments. Jack Gibney and his wife (Sadie Copeland) and their three daughters (Doris, Joyce and Muriel) lived here at one time. He was a horse trainer and worked for Dick Crake for many years. Jack replaced Alfred Payne (a bachelor who lived at the Queen’s Hotel). The current duplex was built on the same property after the house was demolished. Harold Gwyn, owner of a plumbing and heating business, was the owner of this newer building at the time this photo was taken in 1996.
The two-storey, four-bay, semi-detached house has a rectangular plan, a formal, symmetrical façade, and a medium-pitched, gable roof that has a central chimney (not original). Slightly-raised, separated, side-hall entrances are located at either end of the façade. This gives greater privacy than paired entrances, but it places habitable rooms along the party wall. The doors are set into plain, rectangular openings and are not original. There are large window openings with low floor to ceiling heights. Equal-sized, ground-floor and second-floor windows (not original) with high sills are set into plain, rectangular openings. The openings have plain, wood frames and sills. Similar window openings above the entrance doors may have once existed and then been covered. The building has wood frame construction with vinyl siding (not original), a cut- stone foundation, and a basement. According to the 2000 inventory, few original details remain other than the building’s form. It also notes that the slightly-sagging roof suggests insufficient structural supports in the centre of each house. (1, 2, 3)

Article on the fire which destroyed the old Market building on Simcoe Road, just south of the Bradford Community Centre.

The Canal Bank Lunch and Garage on the south west corner of the north canal bank and Simcoe road, owned by the Hrynyk’s

The Peterman Dairy Farm on Simcoe Street.

This dairy farm ran for years by George and Sarah (Leopard) Peterman. George Walker Peterman was born on March 19th, 1870 to George and Charlotte of Tecumseth, and he decided to come to Bradford to clear land on Simcoe Road to build his dairy farm. With his wife Sarah Jane Leopard (born January 31st, 1869) of North York, and ten children, the Peterman Dairy farm came into being at 319 Simcoe Road. All the boys worked on the farm until they moved out to start families of their own. Out of the four girls, Vera Peterman (later Williams) was the first to drive the horse-drawn dairy wagon through town. She did it for seven of the 35 years the family farm ran. As the dairy farm died out, most of the Peterman family stayed in the Bradford area (Monty and Norma left for Detroit). George Peterman died on September 17th, 1950, and Sarah died soon after on April 15th, 1955, both in their 80s. Most of their children are buried with them in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Bradford.

Canal Bank Service Centre looking west. This was located on the corner of North Canal Road and Simcoe Rd, owned by the Hrynyk’s.

Photograph of George Walter Peterman and Sarah Jane Peterman (nee Leopard) in Riverside Park, Guelph. They ran the Peterman Dairy Farm in Bradford.