A while back I got an email from a reader who wanted to know a little something about the Canadian Bridge Company, another part of Windsor Industrial Heritage.
From the collection of Chris Edwards
The first batch of photos comes from the collection of Chris Edwards. Chris put together an exhibition on the Windsor works of Albert Kahn at the Art Gallery of Windsor, at the same time as my Windsor Modern Exhibition.
The building shown above was built in 1907, and was located on Walker Road. Today the Government Office (Immigration?) occupies the site.
From the collection of Chris Edwards
It was a nice looking structure, it almost reminds me of a school.
From the collection of Chris Edwards
In 1913, the office was expanded and another floor was added to the top of the building.
From the collection of Chris Edwards
You can see on these plans see the Customs Clearance stamp. Oddly the plans are dated, Feb. 21, 1913. While the customs stamp reads Feb. 25, 1912. Don’t tell me they were using a stamp with the wrong year on it for the first two months of 1913!
🙂
From the collection of Chris Edwards
As you can see the level of detail on the plans are outstanding. I could look at old blueprints for hours… They give you a great sense of the building as it was.
Above is a view of the Canadian Bridge Company from 1913. The company later became a division of the Dominion Steel and Coal Corportation which was dissolved in 1962 by Hawker Siddeley.
If you drive down St. Luke Street today, there are still parts of the plant still remaining in unaltered states.
My favourite parts are the massive steel overhead cranes in the yard.
Impressive parts of our industrial past. Anyone know if they are still used for anything?
The plant today is occupied by Valco Manufacturing, a division of Valliant Machine.
In Googling the Canadian Bridge Company, I came across a few interesting things:
The company, built the superstructure for the High Level Bridge in Edmonton
The historic St. Louis Bridge in St. Louis, Saskatchewan
The 1.6 km long High Level Bridge in Lethbridge, Alberta.
The company even got it’s own page on Structurae.de a online bridge and structure database from Germany.
And finally the one I found most interesting, the biography of Cornelius Langston Henderson, who was a design engineer for the Canadian Bridge Company from 1911 until 1958. Mr. Henderson graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1911. He was only the second African American to earn a Civil Engineer. Mr. Henderson unable to find work anywhere in the USA, found employment in Walkerville. He was a key engineer on both the Ambassador Bridge and Detroit Windsor Tunnel projects.
Anyone out there have any relatives who worked there? Anyone know when it closed?
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My father worked at Dominion Bridge in Toronto in the 1970's/80's. It's sad to see that the Canadian company no longer exists. I wish I could have preserved more of my father's past.
Re Mark's comment on CBC making ammo boxes during the War, my aunt was a secretary at CBC for many years and I have (somewhere) an old company magazine in which a special section was devoted to letters received from former employees fighting overseas. One soldier mentioned the warm feeling he got whenever he happened upon an ammo box built by CBC in Walkerville—made him think of the friends he'd left behind. I'll see if I can find that and reply with the whole letter in future.
Ken Smith, I worked ate Hawker siddeley Canada at the time you worked there and im trying to remember you.
Ken Smith, are you still in contact with the guys who worked at Hawker Siddeley?
I would like to contact Ken Smith in regards to seeking information about the Canadian Bridge Company.
Please share his contact info and pass-on mines.
Thank you
I would like to contact Ken Smith in regards to seeking information about the Canadian Bridge Company.
Please share my contact info.
Thank you
David, I have been waiting for Ken to respond. I'm sorry I don't have his contact info.
My great-uncle William David Hammond worked there during the second world war as Assistant to the Chief Inspector. That's all I know and if anyone has more details, please reply.
Thanks
Stephen, did your uncle work there when it was Canadian Bridge?
Mike. I believe so. I got the information from his obit. I don't know what year(s) he would have been there, except that it was during the war. The exact quote is " During the Second World War has was assistant to the Chief Inspector at the Canadian Bridge Co. at Windsor."