MADE IN HAMILTON
19TH CENTURY
INDUSTRIAL TRAIL

SITE 24
F. G. BECKETT ENGINE AND BOILER
WORKS, c. 1855

The Beckett Engine and Boiler Works once covered almost this entire block. Its 109-foot tall chimney was a local landmark. One city newspaper was proudly reported in 1863 that Beckett steam engines provided the power for 21 local factories. They also built boilers and engines for agricultural, forest and marine use.

Attracted by the railway boom, Henry Beckett Sr. brought his sons Henry Jr. and Frederick to Hamilton in the mid-1850s. Previously, they had years of practical experience building engines and boilers in England.

Frederick set out on an ambitious expansion programme after becoming the firm's senior partner a few years later. The foundry's workforce grew to 120 workers between 1863 and 1871. Like many factory bosses of the 19th century, the Becketts did not don white collars once success was achieved. One reporter happily noted that the Becketts, themselves "mechanics of the first order," were a common site on the shop floor, "Mingling in the busy throng with upturned sleeves and exercising a personal supervision of the business."

Hamilton's reputation as a major Canadian textile centre began in 1882 when the Ontario Cotton Company began production in the renovated remains of the Beckett Foundry. Under the name Canadian Cottons, this company tore down the old foundry in 1920 and erected a large new plant a block to the north. This mill operated until 1959.