Industries in South-Eastern Ontario, 1910, 1937 and 1952

Ontario School Geography.  Toronto:  The Educational Book Company Ltd., 1910.

Ontario Public School Geography.  Toronto:  W.J. Gage & Co., Ltd., 1937.

Donald Putnam (Editor).  Canadian Regions.  A Geography of Canada.  J.M. Dent & Sons (Canada) Ltd., 1952.

Amazing the variety of things that used to be made in my area: agricultural implements, stoves, radiators, carriages, furniture, pianos, locomotives, leather goods, woolen mills, shipbuilding, marine engines, hardware, abrasives, machinery, tools, radios, paper boxes.  Today, pretty much all of these industries are gone. Below, examples of some, with the dates that they closed their doors:

Renfrew Electric & Refridgerator (Renfrew), 1952
Frost & Wood (Smiths Falls), farm equipment, 1955
James Smart (Brockville), tools, castings, equipment, 1967
Canadian Locomotive Works (Kingston), 1969
Canadian Dredge & Dock (Kingston), shipbuilding, 1973
Davis Tannery (Kingston), shoe leather, 1974
Babcock Mill (Odessa), wooden baskets, 1994
Black & Decker (Brockville), lawnmowers, tools, 1998
Nortel (Belleville), telephones, electronics, 2002
Beach Industries (Smiths Falls), tool boxes, 2008
Superior Electrics (Pembroke), electric appliances, 2009

The U.S. has been going through a similar process of industrial decline.  See America in Decline.  The legacy of the "multi-nationals."