REMEMBER: Local veteran and businessman Sam Sylvester was kind enough to share with us some history of Bradford from the 1940s and 1950s, out together for some pretty good reasons, “For my own enjoyment and to get through the ‘great lockdown.’”

“Main Street was vibrant and bustling,” Sam said, “there were no empty storefronts.”

He counted the types of businesses in Bradford, many of which were on Main Street. We admit, we’re surprised by the sheer numbers!

For automobiles, there were 14 dealers, 26 for repairs and 26 for supplies. There were ten bakers, five banks, 23 barbers, 27 beauty shops, three billiard halls, 29 churches, two synagogues, six cigar & tobacco stores. For clothing, ten stores had men’s clothing, and 13 had women’s. There were 11 confectioners, two corsetieres, seven department stores, five dressmakers, six funeral homes, 11 furniture stores, and eight parking garages.

That seems like a lot. But wait, there’s more. There were 65 grocers in Bradford — nine super grocers and 56 Mom & Pops.

There were 23 professional and societal clubs, three private clubs and nine fraternal clubs.

Insurance dealers? We had 30! Jewelers? There were nine.

Milliners, two; music teachers, six; movie theaters, three; photographers, eight; radio and television services, eight; renderers, one; restaurants, 34; shoe retail — seven, repair — six, and shiners — two.

The largest number on the list was by far the number of oil producers. There were 124.

As Sam said, “This is not an all-inclusive list by any means, but a look into how things were and how they changed. Many were a victim of the times and the ever decreasing population.”

More from Sam in a future column.