Foundry & Machine Shop
97 – 105 Main Street South, Seaforth, Ontario
( Year built: Machine Shop circa 1870 )
As early as 1863, Robert Watson and Peter Brohak-awan started a foundry on this Main Street lot, Lot 42. By 1866, August Zapfe and John McCallum were making agricultural implements here in addition to the ordinary work of the foundry. Zapfe & Carter were in business from 1870-71. Zapfe, with his partners, owned the property and foundry which was a large 2-storey brick building. A 15-horsepower engine was used to propel the machinery and 10 men were employed. On May 13, 1870 The Huron Expositor reported: “Mr. Thomas Dickson, working in Zapfe & Carter’s Foundry, came near having his head blown off last week, by the explosion of molten metal, while being poured into a damp mould. He was injured about the face, one eye, particularly being seriously burned.”
The foundry was sold to Thomas Foster in 1873. Kerr & Worth ran the foundry in 1873, but were soon replaced by John Nopper who worked here into 1882. Thomas Foster & Son also managed the foundry as did T.T. Coleman and his sons in the late 1880s and the 1890s. The front part of the property was used, from 1898 on, as a creamery operated by J.W. Creadey until 1900.
Coleman sold the property in 1902 to Thomas D. Levy. Levy had a livery stable here which he ran until 1904 when Stephen Lamb took over. Thomas Simpson replaced Lamb in 1905, Timothy Corbet had it the next year, and then George Turnbull and Robert McIntosh were in the livery business here until 1918.
Turnbull and McIntosh, realizing that the livery business would soon give way to the motor car, sold to Fred Mitchell who opened a garage. John and Charles Brougton took over the business in 1920 and were here until 1921. John Regier purchased the business in 1923. He went into the transport or cartage business in 1934 and carried on a successful business into the late 1960s.
By 1979, the old foundry building was gone. This lot and the three lots to the south, were sold and a large, modern grocery store was built.
South of the foundry, in 1869, Alex J. McIntosh and Matthew C. Morrison made carriages and other vehicles in their Huron Carriage Factory. On May 20, 1870 The Huron Expositor reported: “McIntosh & Morrison’s Carriage shop had a narrow escape from destruction by fire Tuesday night. Some passersby noticed a fire under the blacksmithing part, which was extinguished before any damage was done.”
Oliver C. Wilson bought the property in 1874 and moved his business here. He dealt in agricultural implements, sewing machines, and musical instruments. In a store next door, Alex Campbell also sold implements in 1867. Five years later, Huron Carriage Works took it over, in 1874, Wilson owned it.
The store on the south part of the lot was occupied by Scott Bros., Music Dealers, from 1878 to 1881. Scott & Crich, Seedsmen, had the north store from 1888 to 1896. O.C. and Andrew Wilson had the south and middle of the three stores throughout the 1890s and early 1900s. E.J. Hamilton and William Kerslake took over the Scott & Crich seed business in 1897. Kerslake own-ed the property by 1905 and was still in business here in 1922 when all three stores were destroyed by fire.
Above Photo: This building housed McIntosh & Morrison’s Carriage Shop in the 1870s and then O.C. Wilson’s agricultural implements business. Advertisements Below Left: shown in The Huron Expositor, February 20, 1891; Below Right: appeared in the April 11, 1884 issue.
The land was vacant until Kerslake sold the north part to John Regier in 1925. Regier built a garage and gas station here. Milton Hoff ran the station throughout most of the 1930s to 1950s. By 1960, John Bach owned the garage and used it for his farm machinery sales business.
Alex Campbell sold the vacant part of his Lot 44 in July 1874 to Dr. James B. Smith of London. Smith had plans to build a large confectionery store and bakery, but his plans never reached fruition. In 1904, the land was sold to James Dick. For a time, Dick had a small ice house on the property. Earlier, Walter W. Andrew had a shooting gallery here, and when circuses came to town the merry-go-round was set up here.
On the next lot, in 1871, Alexander Stewart built a brick blacksmith and wagon shop. In 1891, his son, John A. Stewart, took over the business and was here until 1944. By 1949, Emerson Durst owned the property. He operated the Seaforth Machine and Electric Welding Shop, or Durst’s Machine Shop, into the late 1970s.
Photo Above Left: Durst’s Machine Shop is the building in the right foreground. The Advertisement Above Right: is from The Huron Expositor, January 10, 1930.
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