MADE IN HAMILTON
20TH CENTURY
INDUSTRIAL TRAIL

SITE 31
STANDARD UNDERGROUND CABLE, 1911

The partially demolished remains of a two-storey industrial building are all that is left of the large factory complex of the Standard Underground Cable Company of Pittsburgh. This plant was built in 1911, on unoccupied land that had been part of the Hoepfner property next door. The building's architects, Prack and Perrine, who were also from Pittsburgh, had recently established a Hamilton office.

This company started out making lead-covered cables for the transmission of electricity. By the time the Hamilton plant opened, it had branched out into all types of electric cable manufacture. At its peak, this plant employed over 500 workers. However, production was short-lived. In 1927, Standard Underground Cable became part of the Canada Wire and Cable Company and soon moved to Toronto. During the Second World War, the Department of National Defense used the unoccupied buildings as a barracks for 750 soldiers.