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  #1  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 2:39 AM
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Canada's Manufacturing Metropolis, 1913

By the turn of the 20th century, Hamilton, Ontario was home to nearly 200 factories, and by 1913 over 400 industries. Niagara Falls provided cheap power. Hamilton's excellent natural harbour and the Welland Canal made shipping on the Great Lakes easy. Rail connected the city to everywhere else. Proximity to the United States made Hamilton the preferred site for the branch plants of American companies. All this came together to make Hamilton Canada's industrial powerhouse. Although Hamilton came to be known as Steeltown, it has always had a diverse industrial base: oil refineries and chemical plants, food processing, clothing and textiles, various consumer goods, automobiles, tires, farm implements, glass, rail cars, distilleries, appliances, steel products and more.

This doesn't show all the old factories, but there are quite a few impressive ones. Sadly, but not surprisingly, few of these old factories survive today.

These photos come from this 1913 directory:
























































Although there were many large Hamilton based firms, Canada's status as a "branch plant" economy is evident.


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Last edited by flar; Mar 17, 2009 at 3:10 PM.
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  #2  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 2:51 AM
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Awesome stuff. Out of all those pictures, I could only recognize two buildings that still exist today (National Steel Car and Imperial Cotton). Pretty sad. At least NSC is still operating just like it was when that picture was taken.
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  #3  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 3:03 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by matt602 View Post
Awesome stuff. Out of all those pictures, I could only recognize two buildings that still exist today (National Steel Car and Imperial Cotton). Pretty sad. At least NSC is still operating just like it was when that picture was taken.
There are some others, often just part of the plant remains or sometimes they've been extensively modified. At least, I think I recognize some.

If I had arrived in Hamilton just a few years earlier, I would have been able to see few more of these.
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  #4  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 3:07 AM
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a lot of those could of been taken in winnipeg just yesterday
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  #5  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 3:13 AM
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Those factories are huge, I suppose there's nothing of them left?
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  #6  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 3:19 AM
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I think Westinghouse old property is now where the Siemens factory is now located.

No clue where International Harvester factory used to be, it looks huge. From the picture is looks near the waterfront so it must be where either Stelco or Dofasco is now located.
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  #7  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 3:19 AM
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What a great presentation.

It's good to see how things were when our economy actually worked.

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Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 3:26 AM
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wentwor...ilton,_Ontario)

That's a picture of International Harvester. Kinda creepy seeing that. Right now that land is all Stelco - Hamilton Works. You can actually see grass and trees.
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Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 3:28 AM
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Impressive showing, thanks flar
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  #10  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 3:30 AM
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wicked stuff, flar.
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  #11  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 3:33 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelTown

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wentwor...ilton,_Ontario)

That's a picture of International Harvester. Kinda creepy seeing that. Right now that land is all Stelco - Hamilton Works. You can actually see grass and trees.
it was expanded after that picture. I believe parts of the plant were just demolished a few years ago. I'm not sure, but I think some remnants can be seen at the very north end of Hillyard St.
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Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 3:34 AM
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Nice stuff
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  #13  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 3:34 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelTown View Post
No clue where International Harvester factory used to be, it looks huge. From the picture is looks near the waterfront so it must be where either Stelco or Dofasco is now located.
I think it was north of Burlington Street, between Hillyard Street and Wilcox Street
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Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 3:35 AM
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nice thread!
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  #15  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 3:55 AM
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thanks for the history lesson... truly the workhorse for expanding Canada.
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  #16  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 4:17 AM
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I think this is part of International Harvester


Here are a few other old factories:




































This is a later factory, built 1941 as a weapons factory, then became a Studebaker auto assemlby plant. The Studebaker plant closed in 1966 and the building has been used for various things since then.




If you look really closely at this pano, you can see a few really old factory buildings here and there.
CLICK TO ENLARGE
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  #17  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 4:43 AM
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International Harvester was at the foot of Hillyard Street. It stretched from roughly just West of the foot of Sherman to about Wentworth St. The larger warehouses were indeed demolished a few years ago. I explored a few of the warehouses while they were tearing them down, but I don't really remember anything about them aside from the fact that they were absolutely immense in size. The land is now mostly scrap yards, McKeil Marine or other marine related usage.
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  #18  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 4:45 AM
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Also a rather crappy shot showing a bit of the oldest NSC warehouse. It's at the bottom right.

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  #19  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 5:35 AM
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very interesting - thanks for posting.
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  #20  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 7:32 AM
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Cool thread. And it looks like Hamilton is ripe for Urban exploring!
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