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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1975-07-24, Page 42.„ •,,,••• • • • , ,• • • • • 60. PAGE 18.,,CUNTON NEWS-ItgtOpi, Tht,IRSDAY, 311LY 24,. 1975 • U. ThebleObitinded bY MAL MarSOlialaC WaltiZtOP Street* - The FiliPtITY COPPrig0175, • • byGer4dVienilin Ir 1861 gia4g9w Macpherson and Company of Fingal opened a branch -OW in Mb* primarily for the manufacture of threshing - Mathines. The plaint included a foundry and offered a • repair service for implements.. The threshing Machines were designed to be operated by horsepower, but the company 'could also supply.steam engines. Lt - is believed that the ..steam engines were, supplied by the parent. company or were at best assembled in Clinton. They were not Wholly manufactured here. The layout of theplant is known for 1890 .and probably differed little at , that time from the original Layout. • The main building of. the c-omplex, was L- shaped. wth, the leg , of the L along King Street about where the Post Office isnow, but set in a little more from the street. The foot of the L. a one -storey,. peaked -roof frame building housing the blacksmith shop and boilerroom, extended into the interior of the town:block. ? — •The structure along King Street was the machine and carpentry shop '-• a two-storey frame building on •the" peaked roof- of which wits a small ,beltry-housing an iron bell that sounded the working.hours. This building was 75. x 45 feet. Its north end abutted un Wellington Street. but this street al the time did -not have the bend- to the north that it now has.,. In alignment with the boiler room and blacksmith shop. but with a n o ...... .' . . ..... , gap between, and aPprOaching to about. ?eli feet 'from, Isaac Stree was the .moulding shop w dimensions of 4Oby. 50 feet - „,Street -04:Wellington Sy 'lined with storage $ the east end of .los aac were while Street had atteringof coa .and oil sheds. nth of the interior of the block was empty* being IOW for out- door storage of lumber amtscrap as well as for a testing ground. This plant svms to have had an excellent market for its threshir—ir .machilie3,„ first in Ontario, and as the prairie opened up, iti the western Provinces. There were some overseas sales. Following Mr. Glasgow's death in ' 1882. The Clinton plant was bought by W.W. FaWan, D.F. Macpherson, and C.E. Hovey. With Mr. Mac- _pherson's death ' in 1904 the en- terprise. thereafter known is The Clinton Thresher Company, became a, joint stock company, the directors being W.W. Farran, C.E. 'Hovey. D.A. Forrester, and Dr Gunn. The new company proposed continuing th4 manufacture of threshing machines primarily for the western market, and to begin the manufacture of steam engines. The plan involved the rebuilding o‘f. the , plant and refinancing. The financing arrangement is not at all clear 11-nrn the material consulted, but it involved - the Sovereign_ Bank whnsrrinnager in Clinton was T. Ranee, son-in-law of W.W. Farran. The town was also in- volved in the financing arrangement. In November 1905.1. Hiram Hill received -a contract for building a ' grouilof concrete buildings W h ich replaced the structures along. King Street and added buildings anu aetured.:oars at the south end of the blacken King StreSt. Most • of these buildings exist to -day as Epps sports stem, and the buildings between the sports store and the post office. The block of new buildings included the present pest office site. The sheds along Isaac and Joseph Streets belonging to the old plant seem -to have been ritained. By 1906 production was resumed, and first steam engine, with the trade name Leader, and the first threshing machine, trade name Pioneer., were turned out by the reorganized company: Recoil- xtruction apparently was not complete at the time, since Hirom Hill did not complete his contract until October 1907. By. May of 1907 there were 50 employees at the plant. but on the 13th of that month, a fire broke our on the roof of one of the buildings started by sparks from an engine that was being tested. It is thought that the fire was an the roof of the old building desdribed in the foregoing as being about where the PostOffice is now. in which case the building was cleared by fire rather than Hiram Hill's demolition, but the bui !ding was stated for demolition in any case. Fanned by a southwest wind the fire jumped High Street, burned down some houses and barns there, started a fire on The roof of the WeOey Willis Church, ignited Eillott*s• livery barn, completely destroyed the Rattenbury Hotel and nearly destroyed the Rat- ▪ tenbury barn. Twenty-two buildings are reported to have been on fire at once. started from burning shingles and sparks flying through the air. Assistance was given by the Stratford and Blyth fire engines, brought in -an trains. Although this is usually thought of as Clinton's worst fire it was probably no worse than some et the'earlier fires, but it is of more recent memory. It IS unclear how severely . the Thresher ' company was damaged. All the buildings pot up in the reqoustructiew seem to have survived, but the -frame shed along Isaac Street were Aurned. and probably those along' Wellington. Production, was apparently resumed after the fire but by October 1907 it can be interpreted that the company's financing arrangements were beginning to fail, and the failure of Om - Sovereign Bank in January 1908 seems to have been a con- tributing factor. The upshot was a court order in March 1908 closing the company downand in the lawsuit that followed, the directortegi were required to pay out $11,000. In the hands of a liquidator some of the machinery was sold. and it appears that the . (continued on page .19) Ivietubling a Clinton Car Here it the Stratord flrC englne pumpngwateZ'ftom Eales cond &the fiributnitsgdioWntown nn IS 'May 190. the boar 4 fence In the baekgroun4 triarits the botatilary of the present' Ceiri murtity ParkArhe satithWest wind that Mews the smoke waS,the same that • fannedibethunes: • BUILDINGS OF THE CLINTON THRESHER COMPANY. •rtist''t sketch of the new buildings of the Clinton Thresher Company built between 1916 and .1417. 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