We used to make things in this country. #104: Canada Sand Papers Ltd., Preston, Ontario

This firm was founded in 1931 in Plattsville, Ontario by Percy Richard Hilborn.  He was born in Berlin (Kitchener), Ontario in1886 and graduated from McGill University in 1909 with a degree in Mining and Metallurgy.  He worked for ten years for Clare Bros. Ltd., a Preston furnace manufacturer.  In 1914 he became a partner in Salyerds Manufacturing Company, which made hockey sticks and brushes, but sold out the following year to buy the Preston Furniture Company.  This company later acquired the Baird Furniture Factory and Sawmill in Plattsville, where Mr. Hilborne started the sandpaper company. Preston Furniture took over the Canadian Office and School Furniture Company in 1928, keeping the two companies operating separately.  Hilborn aquired the Canadian Brass Company in 1945, as well as a forty percent interest in the Hahn Brass Company of New Hamburg.  In 1953, the Schmidt Furniture Company was absorbed, becoming the Preston Seating Division of the Canadian Office and School Furniture Company.

As for Canada Sand Papers Limited, it was bought by Carborundum Abrasives in 1950, which was in turn bought by  the Norton Company in 1985.  Canada Sand Papers' "Diamond Grit" trademark, first registered in Canada in 1931, has expired.

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