Dark smoke began to climb over the tranquil town. Fire! The Bradford High School on Queen Street was aflame. Hurriedly dressing, members of the volunteer fire brigade raced to the scene to fight the fire, women and children trailing behind to watch the unfolding drama.
Fire was an ever-present threat in any community in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when fire fighting equipment was basic, fire departments volunteered and largely untrained, and building standards were often wanting. Bradford was certainly no stranger to fire. In 1871, much of the town was wiped out by a raging inferno. Two decades later, in 1893, the original high school burned to the ground.
When it came to replacing the razed school, builders took the lessons of the 1871 fire to heart. In the wake of that conflagration, downtown Bradford was rebuilt in brick rather than wood. When constructing the high school, builders would do the same.
Bradford High School was an impressive school for its day, with two large classrooms on the ground floor, two more above, and a fifth ‘natural history’ classroom (what would basically be a science lab). There was also an office for the principal, indoor bathrooms, and a basement furnace room.
Bradford High School was the only high school in Simcoe County south of Barrie and, therefore, attracted students from as far afield as Alliston and Beeton. In 1904 there were 144 students. The student body was similar in 1921 when the hue and cry went out that the building was aflame.
As they raced to the scene of the blaze, the people of Bradford held their collective breaths. They were proud of their high school, an institution that gave Bradford some importance.
Worst fears were realized when it was found the flames had already engulfed the building. The responders set to work, hooking up their pump and setting the hose on fire. Some citizens grabbed buckets to add additional weight of water to the fight. In the end, their efforts – and that of the artisans who built the school of brick – were in vain. The building was lost.
When the ashes cooled, all that remained was a ghostly shell of fire-blackened walls.
Two years later, a new high school rose from these ashes like a phoenix.
