Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US) · CC BY-SA 3.06 heritage places lie within 25 km of Bradford
Its housing is mostly newer: 6.5% predates 1961, where the typical town has 18%. Heritage of the first rank begins 12 km away, in East Gwillimbury. Of the 5 people born in Bradford before 1914, Britton Bath Osler came first. The municipality’s date on Wikidata is 1991: a founding, an incorporation or an amalgamation, the record doesn’t say which.
Bradford in old pictures
A single old picture: one old photograph of the town. A tap opens it at full size, with its credit.
c. 1868Public domain or CC0, made before 1950, from Wikimedia Commons; old views of places can be drawings, prints or maps of their time. Each credit opens the image’s page.
Bradford’s area holds 2 top-tier places within 25 km
They are 2 National Historic Sites, 2 heritage railway stations and 2 provincial or municipal listings. Within 25 km there are 6 in all. Nearest comes Sharon Temple, 11 km off, in East Gwillimbury.
The 6 nearest, within 25 km
| Sharon TempleNational Historic Site · 1825–1832 · 11 km away, in East Gwillimbury |
| Former Canadian National Railway Station, Newmarket, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1900–1901 · 11 km away, in Newmarket |
| Old Newmarket Town Hall and CourthouseDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1883 · 12 km away, in Newmarket |
| Hillary HouseNational Historic Site · 1861–1863 · 15 km away, in Aurora |
| Canadian National Railway Station, Aurora, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1900–1901 · 15 km away, in Aurora |
| Aurora Radial Railway Bridge AbutmentDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1899 · 17 km away, in Aurora |
Within 25 km of Bradford, the oldest record dates from 1825
The area here stretches to 25 km around Bradford: each historic place by the first construction date it records.
The earliest is Sharon Temple in East Gwillimbury, begun in 1825. The chart rests on 6 dated places within 25 km. 2 go back before 1867.
15% of Bradford’s homes are from 2016 to 2021 (4.1% is typical)
More than half of Bradford’s housing predates 2001. Homes built from 2001 to 2015 make up 34% of Bradford’s, against 15% in the typical town. Only 18% of Bradford’s homes were built from 1961 to 1980, less than the typical town’s 27%.
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
1839 to 1910: the people Bradford gave its past
The record holds 5 people born here before 1914. Of them all, William Mulock lived longest: 101 years, until 1944. Fame, by Wikipedia: William Mulock first, in 9 languages. 3 of the 5 were born in the years before Confederation.
Everyone born in Bradford → Born before 1914 (the page’s periods: Confederation to the First World War). Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s Wikipedia article.
Bradford and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bradford | 51,346 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Newmarket | 95,763 | 2 | 0 | 1883 |
| East Gwillimbury | 42,989 | 1 | 1 | 1825 |
| Aurora | 67,385 | 3 | 1 | 1861 |
| Alliston | 50,739 | 0 | 0 | — |
| King | 29,077 | 0 | 0 | — |
Bradford in brief
Its people of the past include William Mulock (1843), Britton Bath Osler (1839) and Harris George Rogers (1891). Few of its homes are old, 6.5% before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. Beyond that, it has no historic place, where the middle town its size has 2.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The grade. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
- People and events. Parks Canada’s open file gives its national historic persons no place. A town’s page names one only when the person was born there (matched by name and both life years) or one of its own historic places carries the name and its record speaks of them; national historic events stay off.
- Provincial and municipal lists. The local and provincial lists outside Québec aren’t published openly, so this page counts what Wikidata records and pages only the places an encyclopedia describes.
- The tiers. Three tiers: the top for National Historic Sites, classified federal buildings and Québec’s classements, a second for the other federal designations, a third for provincial and municipal listings.
- The federal register. Every federal designation is in Parks Canada’s directory, and the Canadian Register of Historic Places gives most of them a bilingual statement of significance.
- Protection. Federal recognition isn’t a planning control: buildings the federal government owns follow its heritage policy, while others are protected only by a provincial or municipal designation.
Questions about Bradford’s history
How many historic places does Bradford have on the registers?
None inside Bradford yet. The nearest, Sharon Temple, carries the highest designation, 11 km away in East Gwillimbury.
When did Bradford become a municipality?
The date Wikidata holds for Bradford is 1991, whether founding, incorporation or merger.
How old are the homes in Bradford?
6.5% predate 1961, where the typical town has 18%.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).