Originally, the company was known as Wideman and Clemens. In 1894, the owners, Louis (later Major) Wideman (1851-1917) and Herbert A. Clemens, set up their business near the Eramosa Bridge and Trafalgar Square.

The Electric Planing Mill

Wideman and Clemens operated what they called the “Electric Planing Mill.” An 1890 ad describes them as “Agents for Brick, Tile, Metallic Roofing and Siding.” However, the ad also states that they manufacture “the Electric Base Ball Bat – one of the best bats manufactured.” However, it was probably their ability to provide quality lumber and other products that made the company an early success and led to its expansion.

Louis Conrad Wideman (1851-1917)

Wideman, born Conrad Ludwig Weidman, was a German immigrant who immigrated to Guelph. He was a carpenter who became a builder. He helped run the business with Clemens from 1894 until 1899 before he changed his career.

The 1901 census recorded Wideman’s occupation as  architect. According to the local industrial records, he was a “practical architect” with office and drafting space on MacDonnell Street. One of his major projects was the design and construction of the Traders Bank Building. Another work he was contracted for was Melville Church in Fergus. It was opened with great ceremony in 1900.

At the other end of the scale were simple and utilitarian constructions.  In 1902, Wideman was contracted to construct a livery stable for E Palmer on Carden Street. He hired his former partner Clemens for the carpentry work

Wideman became a captain of the 30^th Regiment. He is also touted as being the owner of the first automobile in Guelph. Although this is disputed, he did, at least, have one of the city’s earliest automobiles. It is said to have been a four-seater Conrad. A touring car, it had only one-cylinder.

Clemens made no such claim, nor was he able to. He was not a carpenter. Although what he produced helped in the construction of homes, he was not an architect. What he knew was lumber. As a lumber agent, he brought knowledge of the product and where to find the best, into the firm. He was to carry on the business as the HA Clemens Company after he split with Wideman.

H. A. Clemens Planing Company Ltd.

The company shifted direction and expanded when Clemens took over in 1899. It soon added a “moulder.” The moulder weighed approximately 2.5 tons and was to increase the company’s ability to produce “better class work.” In 1901, the firm built an addition to ensure it could provide its customers with all kinds of building material. The extension was 60′ by 25′. The machinery was boasted to be the “latest” and the equipment “modern.”

To further guarantee the lumber obtained was suitable and readily available, the company had a lumber yard located near North Bay, possibly close to Perry Sound. In 1901, he “contracted with mills in Georgian Bay for, over 1000,000 feet of dry white pine lumber and several thousand feet of hemlock.” This allowed the company to always have at hand a sufficient amount of material for manufacturing their products. That same year, he visited the lumber markets in Tonawanda, New York, to ensure he had access to quality lumber and also to make the type of connections intended to help grow and improve his business.

This approach was not an uncommon one in the lumber and planing business. Companies always tried to improve and ensure their sources of lumber. In Guelph, the Robert Stewart Mills had struck a deal with the Guelph Lumber Company around 1884.

From its conception, HA Clemens seems to have been successful. The staff, which numbered about 40 by 1908, was described as “skilled” while Clemens, himself, was touted in a 1903 Directory of Industries, as “a gentleman thoroughly alive to the wants of the trade, and [with] untiring energy and push with honest methods…” The company had come to be viewed as specializing in stair building and interior fittings.” However, the HA Clemons Company also produced one other item for which they had become known. This was washing machines.

The two washing machines the company manufactured were:

1. The King
2. The Improved Handy

The King Washing Machine received its own testimonial in a May 1902 edition of the Farmers Advocate, A Mrs. C. Anderson of Sprucedale, Ontario wrote 

 Dear Sirs,— The King Washer that 1 bought off your agent, T. Upton, has proved to be all that was recommended. The children, with a little direction, can now do easily what, used to be a very laborious tusk. 

The King Washing Machine remained a product of the company until its demise; the Improved Handy did not. Later ads for HA Clemens do not mention other products listed at that time  such as their “Patent Automatic Weather Strip” and “baby jumpers.” 

The company produced many other products and was involved in diverse projects in Guelph. In 1907, The Ontario Department of Education students in practical agricultural physics should look at “a set of pulleys made by Clemens” for the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC). One of their most unusual projects dates from 1909. The company had obtained the contract to construct a water pipe and lay it under the CPR tracks located at the foot of Eramosa Street. 

 Picnics 

The Clemens Planing company was never a large concern. It hired about 40 people, although this did not include those who worked outside the company. Perhaps, the limited number of employees was responsible for joining other local companies for Summer events such as picnics.  

In 1904, the employees of H. A. Clemens & Co., the Guelph Carriage Top Co. and Steele’s Wire Works held an outing to Idywyld. Here, as was typical of the time, the employees enjoyed a picnic meal but also partook in a variety of games. These pitched the different factory workers against each other. In the relay, HA Clemens employees won. However, when it came to the baseball game, even the combination of Clemens’s works with players from Steele’s Wire Works was unable to defeat the opposition. The Guelph Carriage Top Company won the game 7 to 4. 

Work Place Conditions and Accidents

Although a planing mill involved sharp-edged tools, particularly planers and saws of various types, Clemens factory had a fairly low accident count. This does not mean it was safer than say Robert Stewart’s Planing Mill. It may mean that fewer accidents were recorded or made the papers of the time. However, at least three workplace incidents did occur while Clemens was the sole owner.

In 1900, a Mr. Tindall had a close call when a knot flew out of a board he was working on. It just missed striking his head. Another, more serious one happened to F. Summers in September 1907 when a sander removed three of is fingers. Later that same year, in November, another worker. P. H. Freure, received serious damage when using a saw. Another accident occurred the following year. In this case, Muir Anderson had three fingers severely cut by a shaper.

A Surprise Assignment

In the early 1900s, HA Clemens appeared to be conducting a busy and profitable business. A local newspaper reporter had remarked on how successful the company had been since its inception. It noted the company had several orders on its book and had only recently hired a number of hands to help fulfill its commitments. However, this did not prove to be the case. On May 2, 1910, with what The Mercury referred to as a “great surprise by the citizens,” the company made an assignment. 

Creditors were considered on June 8, 1910. As for Clemens, himself, although his company was no longer in operation, he was still listing his services as a lumber merchant as late as 1917. In 1920, he was a lumber agent and, in 1922 a traveller. Through all this, he lived with his wife, Lillian at 44 Lyon Avenue. Their family numbered 4 girls and 2 boys. 

Clemens relocated in 1925 to Windsor, Ontario where he became manager for Midland Wood Products. He died in October 1930, not only as manager of Midlands but also as a newly elected director of the Southwestern Ontario Retail Lumber Association.  Clemens was only 54. He left behind his wife, Lillian, seven daughters and three sons.