We used to make things in this country. #201: Lang Brothers Specialty Company, Toronto, Ontario

Above, a lovely old floor lamp I picked up in Oshawa a few months ago.

Lang Brothers Specialty Company Ltd. was founded in 1925 to make lamps and small electrical appliances that were in increasing demand after the end of World War I as electrification spread across the country. Eventually, two sons of the founders joined the firm and two new divisions were created: Samson- Dominion Limited (a subsidiary of the Minneapolis-based Dominion Electrical Manufacturing Company, named for the Dominion of Canada) manufacturing electrical appliances and Connecticut Chemical Limited, a custom filler of a wide range of consumer products.  The parent Dominion company was sold to Scovill Manufacturing in 1969, becoming part of the Hamilton-Beach Division.  Samson-Dominion continued as one of their manufacturers into the 1970's.)

Connecticut Chemical was more successful.  A large new plant was built in East York and the business grew to many times its original size, eventually going public in the early 1970s. In 1951, it became CCL Industries, a specialty packaging company that now has over 10,000 employees worldwide.