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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGoderich Signal Star, 2017-02-01, Page 66 Signal Star • Wednesday, February 1, 2017 sionailtar The Goderich Organ Company, 1889-1951 VOL. 26 — ISSUE 10 ' PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 Signal Star Publishing 120 Huckins St. Goderich ON N7A 3X8 519-524-2614 www.goderichsignalstar.com POSTMEDIA JOHN BAUMAN Group Manager, Media Sales jbauman@postmedia.com ext. 232 JANET SHRIER Office Manager . jashrier@postmedia.com ext. 220 DARRYL COOTE Editor dcoote@postmedia.com ext. 211 SUSAN MCINTOSH Sales gss.ads@sunmedia.ca ext. 228 TARA CORRAN Sales goderich.ads@sunmedia.ca STACEY SCOTT Inside Sales focus.ads@sunmedia.ca ext. 229 RHONDA BUTT Accounting rhbutt@postmedi tom MARY JOHNSTONcoun is Receivable majohnston@postmedia.com CURTIS ARMSTRONG Group Director of Media Sales 519 376-2250 ext. 514301 or 510 364-2001 ext. 531024 Editorial Deadline - Friday 2 p.m. Advertising booking deadline - Friday 1:30 p.m. SUBSCRIPTION RATES ADVANCE: Regular $50.00 indudes GST (12 months) Seniors $50.00 includes GST (14 months) US $249.00 plus GST Foreign $416.40 plus GST Single Copy $1.50 includes GST Publications Mail Agreement No.40064683 RETURN UNDEUVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES: CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 120 Huckins St, Goderich ON N7A 3X8 • For any non -deliveries or delivery concems: 519-524-2614 Goderich Signal Star is a member of the National Newsmedla Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For more information or to file a complaint go to www.rtlediacouncil.ca or call toll free 1-844-877-1163. The Goderich Signal Star shall not be liable for failure to publish an ad for typographical errors in publication except to the extent of the cost of that portion of the ad in which the error occurred. The Goderich Signal -Star reserves the right to reject or edit any advertisement. The Goderich Signal -Star is a proud. member of the Canadian Community Newspapers Association (CCNA) and The Ontario Community Newspapers Association (OCNA). Member of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association and the Canadian Community Newspaper Association. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. uanaua 0 n August 6th, 1889, a town referendum nearly unani- mously endorsed a $5,000 loan that established the Goderich Organ Company. With 502 votes in favour and only one against, it - was the most one-sided vote yet seen in any Canadian municipal- ity. As the telegraph wires hummed with the election results to the rest of the country, the `Huron Signal' called it "a vote that has never been equalled." It was a resounding victory for the Goder- ich Organ and Furniture Company which became the town's `pioneer' manufactory. The idea for a Goderich Organ and Furniture Company originated in May 1889, according to William Barlow in "Links to the Past," when the Oke Organ Factory promised to move to Goderich if the town guar- anteed free water, land, exemption from taxes and a $5,000 interest free loan payable over twenty years. In return, Goderich would get a new industry which would hire 20-30 hands. In August, the Board of Directors chose the northwest corner of Cambria and East streets on the site of the old Seegmiller foundry. Close to the Grand Trunk Railway, the Goderich Organ Company fac- tory established the town's east edge as an industrial area for the next 120 years. By October 1889, the 'Signal' reported that the Goderich Organ Company was accepting orders. Barlow recounts that with four designs of organs, the company specialized in "a better class of organ and special line of high class furniture" manufactured in their substantial four storey 90x40 foot building. In 1891, the 'Signal' called the organ works "a fine and progres- sive manufacturing industry" which had "made a name" for the town far and wide. Governor-Gen- eral Lord Stanley was given a tour of the organ factory on his visit to Goderich in 1893 . Alex Saunders purchased the organ company in 1892 and became its directing manager. Saunders was born in Cainsville, Ont in 1854 and became the organ factory's driving force. His biogra- phy in 'A Souvenir of Goderich' (1897) claims that the Saunders family came to Goderich when he was three. A self made man, Saun- ders left school at age 12 and apprenticed as a tinsmith and plumber in his father's shop before buying the organ factory. Huron History David Yates Saunders aggressively marketed the organ company and its ni- ture line. In April 1893, the plan was expanded with a two storey addition. Salesmen were sent across Canada, Great Britain and the colonies to increase business. Organ company catalogues were available in several languages including Spanish and Japanese. By 1897, the factory manufactured thirty styles of piano and organ stools, and chairs and 'fine' organs. The factory also produced a unique line of musical furniture which became world famous. The organ company was the first of several manufacturing plants that created a thriving industrial base in town. Industries such as a knitting, furniture, bicycle, door factories, and, later, an engine works opened in Goderich . The 'Exeter Times' in November 1896 said that "nearly 175 persons now find work in the Goderich" facto- ries. "At about five minutes to seven the streets seem to be alive with" people scurrying to work before the late whistle. When Saunders' took over the organ company, in 1892, the fac- tory employed 18 hands, by 1897, the labour force had grown to 58 employees with plans to expand to 100 workers by 1899. Organ com- pany tradesmen worked from 7 am to 9 pm at peak production times but a fire in February 1900 caused $25,000 in damages to the factory. Another disastrous fire in October 1902 'totally destroyed' the organ factory and all of its stock. The lat- ter blaze cost the company an esti- mated S30,000 and forced almost 80 men out of work Saunders asked the town council for a $25,000 loan arguing that with 79 employees (55 of whom were young men with families), the town could not afford to let the organ factory fail. The town loaned the money and the organ company rebuilt. By 1906, the Goderich Organ Company claimed that it had become "a household name among the music -loving people of Canada." Despite its success, the company asked for and received tax exemptions and re -structured loan payments to keep production in Goderich. In September 1910, another dis- astrous fire occurred at the organ plant. The company's losses were estimated at between $50-75,000. Undaunted, Saunders kept pro- duction going by dispersing pro- duction to various locations around town until the factory was re -built. In June 1911, a new build- ing "with large shop windows with steel sashes" amongst other improvements resumed produc- tion of a full line of organs, musical furniture as well as a line of bath- room woodwork. Saunders was astute enough to specialize in bathroom woodwork. After plumbing moved indoors, the bathroom became the newest room in the household that needed adornment. In 1927, the Goderich Organ Company advertised that "every housewife who takes pride in her home will find that a G.O.0 hidden screw Toilet Seat will add" a fashionable bathroom touch. Eventhough the company pros- pered, in September 1913, Saun- ders asked the town to grant it a fixed assessment of $20,000 for ten years without interest. Saunders felt entitled to the demand by argu- ing that the town had already given the fixed assessment to other facto- ries, so why not the Goderich Organ Company? He asserted on the 'Signal's front page that "we feel we are treating the town gener- ously and expect generous treat- ment in return." In a 371 to 180 vote majority, the Goderich Organ Factory got its fixed assessment but debt repay- ment and taxation arrears were a constant source of friction with the town which led to several legal actions. In 1915, when the organ factory tried to avoid paying school taxes, a judge concluded that the company had no "reason to com- plain of the way in which it has been treated" by the town. As late as 1928, the Goderich Organ Fac- tory was still over $10,000 in tax arrears. In 1915, during the Great War, the company received an order for 10,000 wooden boxes for 60 pound shells. It was the first of several contracts the company received to supply the war effort. At war's end on November 11, 1918, it was the organ company's whistle that awoke the town to the news of the Armistice at 6:30 am. And yet, despite the company's wartime prosperity, it only grudg- ingly honoured its financial liabil- ity to the town. The council con- stantly was forced to `take action to get the organ factory to pay its tax bills (the Goderich Organ Com- pany was not the only one, Goder- ich factories went to great lengths to avoid paying taxes). Although Saunders told the Goderich Board of Trade that "business never looked better" in February 1919, the war's end did not help business. In May 1919, the organ factory adopted a shorter working day. In 1928, Alex Saun- ders died leaving his sons, Frank and Charles, to run the business. According to Barlow, the com- pany ceased making organs in 1930 and switched production to bathroom fixtures. A slight upturn in business during the Second World War lifted the organ factory out of the Depression but after death of his brother, Charles, in 1950, Frank Saunders closed the business in December 1951 putting 25 men out of work The buildings were demolished in 1963. Nothing remains of the Goderich Organ Company's two acre industrial complex.