We used to build things in this country. #76: Canadian Office & School Furniture Company, Preston, Ontario

I found this old school desk years ago at a barn sale:

Jacob Emil Klotz was Canadian Commissioner of Immigration from 1872 to 1880.  In 1885, he became a partner in William Stahlschmidt & Co., which later became the Canadian Office and School Furniture Company out of Preston, Ontario (now a part of Cambridge).  Under Klotz's presidency, the firm became one of the largest furniture manufacturers in the country.  In 1928, the company was purchased by the Preston Furniture Company (which had already acquired the Baird Furniture Company and Sawmill in Plattsville, and which later bought the Schmidt Furniture Co. of Preston.)   In 1961 the Preston factory was bought by the Daisy Manufacturing Company of Rogers, Arkansas, best known for its air guns.  (Daisy started in 1886 and is still in business!)  It shared the factory with James Heddon's Sons Ltd. of Dowagiac, Michigan, which made bamboo fishing rods and fishing lures (but which has now vanished from the marketplace).  In its later years, Preston Manufacturing Ltd. made toy boxes, spring horses, play balls, sports balls, garden planters, furniture and marine products. It was acquired in 1990 by the U.S. firm, Hedstrom Corporation.  Production at the Preston location ended in 1991, and the plant fell victim to a fire in 1996.  The empty site is now owned by the City of Cambridge.