Postcard Memories is a series of historic views, stories and photos of Bradford West Gwillimbury, a trip down memory lane on a Saturday morning.
The town of Bradford quickly rebuilt after the great blaze of 1871, largely in brick. Unfortunately, it was not the last major fire to hit the downtown core.
In 1886, eight buildings on the northeast side of Holland St. burned to the ground.
The blaze started in McFarlane’s Billiard Room, and spread to Sutherland’s Confectionery, Poyser’s Boot Store, and the adjacent frame buildings that housed Pete Matt’s Barber Shop and Dr. Clements’ Drug Store, before reaching the Stibbs building, and Wilson’s Drug Store.
Strong winds from the northwest pushed the flames and “out ran” the efforts of fire fighters.
A report in the Bradford Witness noted, “This ought to be a warning to our citizens to insist upon have better fire protection. Had another engine been on hand to play water on the fire from the rear, the fire would have been confined to the wooden buildings between Sutherland’s and Stibbs’ brick stores.”
The next major blaze downtown took place in February of 1959, a fire that destroyed nearly a block of businesses on the north side of Holland St. West, between Evans & Evans law offices and what was then the CIBC bank, at the corner of Barrie and Holland.
Both the law offices and the bank had firewalls, which prevented the flames from spreading, but according to the Witness, it took firefighters from five local fire departments nearly 20 hours to extinguish the blaze, which caused an estimated $500,000 in damages.
Details from the Archives at the BWG Public Library, and The Bradford’s Centennial Anniversary book.
