MADE IN HAMILTON
19TH CENTURY
INDUSTRIAL TRAIL

SITE 19
GARTSHORE & COWIE IRON WORKS, 1870

This one-storey late Victorian brick building was erected around 1905 as the offices for the Gartshore-Thomson Pipe and Foundry Company. It was originally located at the south-west corner of Stuart and Caroline Streets, but was moved here in 1992. It now serves as a multi-purpose waterfront park facility.

The Gartshore family had a long association with the local foundry industry. In 1838, John Gartshore opened a small foundry on Hatt Street in Dundas. His son Alexander became a partner in the company in 1865. It was one of the province's most important foundries, employing over 150 men at its height. Sagging demand forced the Gartshores to sell this foundry in 1869.

Alexander then teamed with Thomas Cowie, who had been foreman at the Dundas factory for the previous ten years, to open up a new foundry in Hamilton. Both men were trained in the practical side of foundry work. They turned out heavy castings for railway carriages from their new shop on Stuart Street between Caroline and Hess Streets.

Gartshore reorganized production after assuming control of the company in 1875. Then called the Canada Pipe Foundry, it became the first Ontario firm to cast iron for water, gas and sewer pipes. They did a booming business across the country. The company became Gartshore-Thomson in 1904.

John Gartshore's Dundas foundry built the engines and machinery for the 1859 Hamilton Waterworks. The engines, machinery and buildings are now preserved as the Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology.