Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Jamie Lockwood, broker/owner of Sutton Group Muskoka Realty!
Anglo Canadian Leather Company, Huntsville, Ontario 1905-1960, looking north. Susan Street Bandstand in foreground. Photo: Huntsville With Spirit and Resolve, by Susan Pryke, Fox Meadow Creations, 2000.
The Anglo-Canadian Leather Company, established in Huntsville, Ontario in 1891, was a major employer in the early 20th century, owned by C.O. Shaw, and known for its sole leather production, including supplying boot leather for the British Armed Forces during World War One.
Here’s a more detailed look at the Anglo-Canadian Leather Company:
Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway: The railway, or Portage Railway, was part of a larger navigation company owned by George F. Marsh and later sold to C.O. Shaw, owner of the Anglo-Canadian Leather Company.
Establishment and Ownership: The company was founded in 1891 in Huntsville and was owned by the Shaw family, with C.O. Shaw as a key figure.
Production and Significance: The company was a major producer of sole leather, particularly known for supplying boot leather to the British Armed Forces during World War One.
Employment and Community Impact: At its peak, the company employed around 200 men, making it a significant employer in Huntsville during the early 20th century.
Leather Processing: The company used local soft water and hemlock tannins to dye the leather, which came from North and South America.
Closure and Demolition: The company closed in 1952, and the tannery burned down during its demolition in the 1960s.
Anglo-Canadian Leather Company Band: The company’s music-loving Italian workers formed a band, which became a world-renowned concert band, with C.O. Shaw himself participating as a coronet player.
Other Shaw Accomplishments: C.O. Shaw was also involved in other ventures, such as building a summer resort on Bigwin Island, establishing a fleet of steamboats, and founding the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Navigation Company.
Do you have interesting photos to share of days gone by? We’d love to see them! Email: [email protected]
See more Wayback Wednesday photos HERE.
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It looks so clean and well maintained. Nothing could be further from the truth. When Wiik and Hoeglund got the site in the 60’s the buildings had been razed and only 1 old buildings still remained. A machine shed out near the main track on the river side. We set it up a a mill room for producing fittings.
Anywhere you tried to do anything in the ground, any excavating, you were aware that you could run into buried tanks and drains. I came across the yard in our new Ford half-ton and had the yard just fall out from beneath me. But the frame hung up on the tank lip and the grill plowed into the old decking. I never went in. The Ministry came and poured marker dyes in drains we found, trying to find where they emptied. Generally the river but they never found them all.
My Gramps always said that the stench from rotting flesh and fat flensed off the hides drove a lot of the people away from the big houses along the Bay. Those beautiful big homes, but they couldn’t stand the smell. Anyone who has stood at the bar in the ‘Ceeps’ in London, Ontario when guys came in from the tannery there, will know what he meant. It was stomach knotting.
The big ‘U’ drains ran into drains to the river for years. Gramps said sometimes you would see clumps of congealed residue float under the bridge on its way to Fairy Lake. Where a lot of it went unseen. Until some time in the 40’s they put grates in the drains and shoveled the crud out before it got to the river. Then it was burnt. He said that wasn’t always pleasant either.
Then it was no longer a viable business and all shut down. I sat on my motorcycle one evening and watched it all burn.