THE PROVISION of low-cost, dependable hydro power to industrial communities created the impetus needed for the growth and development of manufacturing in Ontario. Many businessmen recognized the great opportunities inherent in this upsurge of industrial life and hastened to take advantage of this unique situation.
It was in 1913, when the Town was incorporated, that Leaside changed from being a strictly agricultural area. The genesis of its subsequent remarkable industrial development was on the horizon. That same year, under the guiding genius of H. H. Horsfall, the Canada Wire and Cable Company recognized, from an industrial perspective, the undisputed advantages being offered by Leaside. This Canada Wire and Cable executive had sixty homes built in the town shortly after the war; these formed the nucleus of the present residential district. Once these steps were taken, Leaside was well on its way to municipal stability and prosperity.
The remarkable industrial growth of Leaside and its concomitant residential development can be ascribed to the general stability of the municipality, an inviting site for the economical manufacture and distribution of factory products. It is a safe assumption that the executives of Leaside’s varied industries satisfied themselves by comparing Leaside with other potential locations. It would seem that the superior advantages being offered by this town led them to select Leaside as the site of their respective plants.
CANADA WIRE AND CABLE (CWC)
At the turn of the century, the generating of electricity was very limited in scope, and Ontario’s coal supply, for generations, had been coming primarily from Pennsylvania.1 However, with three privately-owned hydro generating plants on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, it was believed that hydro power could be produced much less expensively than thermal power.
Canada Wire and Cable office building with plant behind. Date: 1922. Collection of the Bailey family.
By 1941–43, the homes intended for Canada Wire and Cable employees have sprung up on Randolph Road, Sutherland Drive and Airdrie Road. The industrial area is booming. Collection of the Bailey family.
In 1906, the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario was formed as a public utilities commission by the Province of Ontario, in response to the need for low-cost, dependable hydro power to be supplied to industrial communities. Correspondingly, a tremendous demand developed for both primary and secondary distribution cable needed to carry hydro.
Herbert Horsfall, a superintendent with Dominion Wire Manufacturing in Montreal, was approached by Roderick J. Parke of the Toronto firm, Parke and Leith. Together they met with Emil A. Wallberg, a well-known contractor, asking him for financial backing. In February 1911, the Canada Wire and Cable Company Limited was incorporated with offices at Yonge and Richmond streets. Wallberg became President, Parke the Managing Director and Horsfall was appointed Secretary/ Treasurer.2 Their first factory space, owned by the Farmers Feed Company, was located on the banks of the Don River near Richmond Street. The new company also leased a portion of a plant at 1170 Dundas Street West. It was the Canadian General Electric Company who, at that time, supplied Canada Wire with weatherproof wires and rubber covered wires.
Canada Wire and Cable on Laird Drive with water tower. Date: 1922. Collection of the Bailey family of Leaside
In November 1912, on behalf of Canada Wire and Cable, Emil Wallberg purchased sixteen acres in Leaside at the southeast corner of Wicksteed and Laird. He intended to erect a wire and cable factory, as well as build one hundred houses in 1914 to accommodate future employees. These semi-detached houses were to be located on Airdrie, Sutherland and Rumsey and were to be rented at a reasonable rate of approximately $12.00 per month. Some were also available for purchase for $2500.00. Sixty houses were to be built in 1914 and forty more in 1915. However, in 1914, the economic scene was becoming less favourable as international tension mounted. Although the walls of the factory buildings were up in Leaside, the Company suspended this operation and continued to work from the Dundas Street location.
World War I, however, created a new international need. The Directors at Canada Wire and Cable, led by their new President F. J. Bell, recognized an opportunity to utilize the empty Leaside buildings profitably. On June 28, 1916, they incorporated and became owners of the Leaside Munitions Company Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canada Wire and Cable Company Limited. Six-inch shells were produced rapidly and efficiently. The Munitions Board was so pleased by both the lower price (they had formerly paid $35.00 each) and delivery that further contracts were awarded. Near the end of the war, this Leaside plant was the largest producer of this type of ammunition in North America.3
In early 1919, while the premises on Laird were being vacated by the Leaside Munitions Company Limited, a fire occurred at the Dundas Street plant of Canada Wire and Cable, closing down that operation. A decision was made to move the wire and cable business to Leaside. Their newly occupied buildings fronted on Laird Drive, with the office buildings, which had been built in 1918, being the three-storey and one-storey buildings located along Wicksteed Avenue. The other buildings on the south side of the property near Commercial Street, which had also been used by the Munitions Company, were sold to Durant Motors of Canada Limited.
In 1918, a 117 ft. water tower was built by Canada Wire and Cable. Located in the centre of the property close to Laird Drive and just south of the Canada Wire buildings, the tank for the tower was 22 ft. in diameter and 19 ft. high, with a capacity of 75,000 gallons. For years the tower was a Leaside landmark, until its removal in 1956.
The Canada Wire and Cable Company adopted a somewhat paternalistic policy towards the struggling municipality. In November 1918, the company volunteered to pay for the construction of a water main that would run along Soudan Avenue (now Parkhurst) to the Company’s factory site. In return the company wanted to receive a fixed assessment rate. They were granted a fixed assessment of $1500.00 on their 28 acres of land for a period of ten years.
Men “taking a break” at Canada Wire and Cable in Leaside in 1920. The man, second from the left with a patchwork pad on his knee, is Kenneth Farrows. At the time, the salary was $18.00 a week. Courtesy the Farrows’ family.
When a depression hit the economy in 1921, Canada Wire and Cable, in a move to keep its expenditures to a minimum, cut staff salaries by ten percent. “In 1920 they earned about $18.00 per week.”4 Despite the difficult times, however, Canada Wire and Cable were exporting to Brazil, New Zealand and Australia during these depression years. In August of 1921, F. J. Bell resigned as President, having served since 1914. Wallberg was elected President for the second time. However, by 1926, business recovered to more promising levels. Sales for that year totalled approximately 2.5 million, bringing them close to the peak year recorded by the company six years earlier. In 1929, Wallberg divested himself of his interests in Canada Wire and Cable and sold his entire holdings to Nesbitt Thomson and Company Limited, a Toronto financial house. This happened just one month before his sudden death on March 30, 1929.
Aerial view showing Laird and McRae Drive in 1922. The airfield is to the left, with Canada Wire and Cable and Durant Motors in the middle. S. Walter Stewart Library, Elmore Gray Collection.
A new building was erected south of the other buildings in 1927 to house the new enamel wire operation. Up to this time, magnetic wires had mostly been insulated with wrappings of cotton or silk. A year later an agreement also was made with Noranda Mines Limited to supply copper for copper rod to Canada Wire and Cable. Sales recorded for 1930 were $7,567,000.00, a drop of approximately 10% from the previous year. Sales continued