Last
Saturday’s musings of the days of long ago, when Hamilton was but a village and
stoves were a luxury in homes, calls to memory that the first iron foundry in
this city was established late in the 30’s by Fisher and McQuesten, two down
east Yankees, who wandered in here about the close of the rebellion. The
foundry was built at the corner where
now stands the Hotel Royal, and continued there till it was burned down some
time in the latter part of 1855 or early in 1856. Fisher was a practical
foundryman by trade. Dr. McQuesten practiced medicine before coming to
Hamilton, and was the financial backer of the infant industry. Probably less than
half a dozen molders were employers in the shop for a number of years, as it
did not take many men to make all the stoves for the country surrounding
Hamilton. The Gartshores had a foundry in Dundas, and there was another at Long
Point, upon on the shores of Lake Erie, and it was considered somewhat of a
risky business to start one in Hamilton with such strong competition close at
hand. Early in 1843, a couple more Yankees invaded Hamilton, coming from Utica,
New York, prospecting to start a foundry. They were Charles and Edward Gurney.
Dr. McQuesten was very much pit out at the idea of a rival shop coming to town,
and said that his foundry was able make more stoves than could be sold in and
around the village, and he suggested to the Gurneys that they were taking big
risks opening here. But the young men were not to be turned from their purpose,
and they bought a lot on John street, in part of the block now owned by the
Gurney-Tilden company, and made arrangements for the building of a small frame
shop that would furnish floor room for half a dozen molders. The Gurneys were
practical men, having learned the iron trade in Utica, and they had heard of
the great possibilities of Hamilton, because it was the head of navigation, and
came here to spy out the land. Their entire capital, including patterns and
tools, was less than $2,000, but they were not afraid of hard work. They returned
to Utica and gathered up all that was necessary for an outfit in a small way.
In those days, the smaller Canadian foundry men used to make their patterns
from the stoves of the larger American foundries that had a good reputation,
without any cost for the privilege, and in this way were able to keep
up-to-date without paying for the experiment. In a few weeks, the Gurneys
returned from Utica and settled down to business. Money was scarce and
everything was sold on credit. This made it hard for them to make both ends
meet, but by doing as much of the work as possible themselves, they kept down
expenses, and the few men they employed were glad to get work and run the
chances for their pay. Alexander Carpenter, who later became a member of the
firm, had a tin shop on John street, near the corner of King William, where the
blacksmith shop is, and as he had some skill in the making of patterns, was a
desirable acquisition to the new firm, under the name of Gurneys and Carpenter.
Mr. Carpenter owned the house on John street, where Mrs. Peace’s second hand
store is, in which he lived and the adjoining Gothic stone building, the lots
running through to Catharine street. Next to the stone building was printing
office, and next to that was the new foundry building. Further north was a
church, originally built for Presbyterians, but afterwards used by the
Baptists, and probably the Wesley congregation used it for awhile, history is
not clear to that. Milton Davies, the owner of the stage line, lived on the
corner of John and Rebecca, and the house he occupied is now down on Catharine
street, the second one below Cannon. Robert Lucas, now retired, began to work
for Gurneys and Carpenter in 1847, and at that time they had not more than a
dozen men employed. It was no trouble to sell stoves on credit, but cash was a scarce
article. As the firm increased in strength, it annexed the land adjoining, till
finally it owned the entire block, fronting on four streets, and then bought
other lots across the street.
The firm prospered because the men at
the head of it were able to superintend every department. From the making of
stoves, other lines of iron work were added, till now the present company
manufactures a class of builder’s hardware that is not surpassed by anything
produced in this or foreign countries. John Tilden, the president of the
Gurney-Tilden company, began work for the old firm way back early in the 60’s
as a sorter of scrap iron, for which he was paid $1.50 a week. This early
education brought him touch with the iron business, and as he grew older, he
was promoted till now he is at the head of the great concern. Nearly sixty
years ago, the Gurneys, with a capital of less than $2,000, and with only three
molders besides themselves, started an enterprise that ended in an estate, when
they died a few years ago, of not less than half a million dollars to the
families of each of the brothers. Today the output of the Gurney-Tilden plant
gives employment to 325 men and boys, and its buildings cover an entire block,
with a large factory across the way on Rebecca street. Its large and diversified
line of manufactures is one of the best evidences of the benefits of a
protective tariff. Take the builders’ hardware alone; remove the duty from it,
and the company would have to come in ruinous competition with that line of
goods. As it is now, the Gurney-Tilden company is able to make first-class
goods and make a fair profit after paying the hands employed remunerative
mages. The 325 hans employed represent that number of families that are
dependent on the success of the company for steady work, for even the single
men and boys, in a majority of cases, have to contribute part of their earnings
to the support of fathers and mothers who are partially dependent upon them.
Before George Gurney, one of the
younger members of the original family, died, he made a will in which he
bequeathed $10,000 to Robert Lucas, the veteran molder, who began to work for
the firm in 1847. For fifty years, “Faithful Old Bob” gave his best efforts to
his employers, and it was a graceful act on the part of George Gurney to
provide an independence for the old man to round out his days in comfort.
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The weather clerks are doing good work
for Canada, especially this favoured spot, where winter does not intrude itself
till the closing year gets hoary with age. Just think that here we are in the
middle of November, and it is as bright and pleasant as in the early fall.
Kipling never visited Hamilton, else he would never have written that libelous
poem, Our Lady of Snows. History tells us that it was not always as mild in
November as it is now, for we have only to go back to the 4th of
November, 1871, when the bay was nearly frozen over and the young folks went
skating on the ice. On that day, thirty-ne years ago, the bay was covered with
boys and girls enjoy the first good skating of the season. Four boys, more
venturesome than the others, went skating up toward the Desjardins Canal, where
they struck upon thin ice and were drowned. At no time during the winter has it
ever been safe to skate too near the point where the waters of the canal and
bay unite.
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Say, aren’t those Yankees doing things
down at the foot of Sherman avenue? It is only a few weeks ago that the
thirty-five acres now owned by the International Harvester company was part of
a farm and was away out of the city limits. Today, the place where they raised
turnips and potatoes and corn and wheat, almost in the twinkling of an eye is
being covered with brick buildings, crowding on each other, and before the
close of the year, hundreds of skilled workmen will be employed in turning out
all kinds of farming machinery; and by the time the next grain crop is ready to
harvest in the great Northwest or over in Australia and New Zealand
Hamilton-made products will be available. Hamilton mowers and binders will be
there to do the work, and as a certificate of good behavior that the machine is
what it is represented, will be stamped on it, “Made in Hamilton, Canada.” When
the Deerings first talked of coming to Hamilton, the Sawyer-Massey company and
the other industries gave them hearty greeting. They were not like the old Dr.
McQuesten, when the Gurneys came to Hamilton in 1843 to start a foundry, who
objected to more shops in that line, as Fisher and McQuesten’s foundry was
equal to all the demand for stoves and iron work. The coming of the
International Harvester company to Hamilton is an evidence of what Providence
and Protection have done for this city and for Canada. No wonder that thousands
of men, women and children go down to the foot of Sherman avenue every Sunday
to see the great transformation that is taking place – farming land turned into
a great industry that will give employment to thousands of men. If the cry for
more land for new industries continues, Hamilton will have to annex the entire
township of Barton.
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