Guelph is said to be home to several firsts. Among them is the first wire coat hanger – purportedly invented by Victor Canham and the jock strap the creative product…
When the 1908 Industrial Edition of the Guelph Mercury came out, it remarked that Guelph Spring and Axle was “one of the oldest and most important industries of Guelph.” While…
In the early 1900s, Guelph had a sewage problem. Complaints about polluted rivers were common. Letters regarding the condition appeared in the Guelph Mercury. One stated that the water between…
The Guelph Enterprise Manufacturing Co. – formerly known as the Guelph Sewing Machine (Keables, Osborn and Company then Wilkie and Osborne), was a small foundry purchased by Wallace Russell in…
Although Aberfoyle is not far from Guelph, it had nothing to do with the origins or even the name of one Guelph business. This was the Aberfoyle Manufacturing Company. This…
“As good as the rose is beautiful.” This was the slogan for the Rose Brand products made by Matthews-Wells in their plants. They opened the Guelph plant on Victoria Road…
In 1894 William S. Patterson took his plans for a rolling mill to the Guelph Board of Trade. The following year, several of Guelph’s astute business entrepreneurs got together to…
The Guelph Carriage Top company was formed in 1879 when Christian Kloepfer and Charles Walker – a former employee of Charles Raymond, went into business together. The company planned…
During the recent pandemic, bicycles became increasingly popular. The demand was higher than the supply and a bicycle shortage emerged. This was not the first time this mode of transportation…
In 1889, an American, Randolph Hersey (1829-1918) founded Page & Hersey Company in Montreal in partnership with E. N. and G. H. Page. It operated out of a then idle…