Postcard Memories is a series of historic views, stories and photos of Bradford West Gwillimbury, a trip down memory lane on a Saturday morning.
In 1871, the town of Bradford was devastated by a catastrophic fire.
According to a newspaper report of the day, workers at Edmonson’s Bakery on Holland St. stoked up the furnace at 7 a.m. on May 23, preparing for the day’s work, and went off to breakfast. About half an hour later, smoke and flames were seen issuing from the building. The alarm sounded immediately, “but owing to the scarcity of water, and a strong north-west wind, little could be done toward quenching the blaze.”
By 8 a.m., the fire had extended eastward – burning Geo. Morgan’s Drugstore, the Montreal Telegraph Co. office, the dry goods establishments of William Stevenson and J.K. Falconbridge, Hill’s Butcher Shop and Innis’ Hotel, before crossing to the south side of the street, “consuming everything with surprising rapidity.”
The fire destroyed stores, offices, hotels, and over 60 private residences – 130 structures in all, and not just on Holland Street. “The south side of John Street is completely levelled, with the exception of two buildings… Centre Street, which runs parallel with John and Holland streets, was cleared of everything, as were also Barrie and Simcoe streets, with the exception of two houses.”
And Holland street - “both sides” - burned from the Town Hall to Church Street, with only a few buildings left standing. By 11 a.m., fire was extinguished, with help from the Newmarket fire brigade.
“It is computed that there are at least 20 acres of smoking and blackened ruins,” a newspaper article stated. Total losses were estimated at more than half a million dollars at the time, with up to 400 people left homeless.
“The impression universally prevails that Bradford would not have been the abomination of desolation which it now is had there been anything like a supply of water – a story often told, but apparently very little regarded, by the small towns and villages of Ontario.”
Details from the Archives at the BWG Public Library, and Bradford’s Centennial Anniversary book.
