Thornbury was originally a distinct village, in 1894 Thornbury became a
civil parish, being formed from the part of the parish of
Calverley with Farsley in the
County Borough of Bradford, on 25 March 1898 the parish was abolished and merged with Bradford. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Thornbury was the seat of various enterprises such as Crofts Engineering and John Sharp & Co textile manufacturing machine engineers and the
Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company. On Leeds Road there were some large former tramsheds and former bus depot dating from when Bradford had its own
tram,
trolleybus and
bus services. Bradford Corporation Trams had their own works in Thornbury where over 150 tram cars were built. The Kozey Picture Hall on Leeds Old Road was converted from a boxing stadium and
gymnasium starting operation as a cinema in 1912. The cinema closed in 1920 principally due to competition from the larger Lyceum Cinema that opened in 1919 in nearby
Laisterdyke, and became a weaving shed. == Economy ==