MADE IN HAMILTON
20TH CENTURY
INDUSTRIAL TRAIL

SITE 5
DEERING HARVESTER, 1902
CASE CANADA CORPORATION

In 1902, Deering Harvester started making agricultural implements and farm machinery here. This company merged with five oth-ers later that year to form the giant International Harvester Company, based in Chicago. A year later, the Hamilton site was expanded. The company now claimed to be the "largest agricultural implement works in the British Empire."

Much of the workforce came from ethnic groups new to Canada. The company itself imported Polish workers from its Chicago plants. Armenian immigrants found work in its Hamilton foundries. This plant was also one of the first to employ women in non-traditional jobs. In 1907, one newspaper reporter wrote about the 40 female coremakers in Harvester's foundry. Workers often lived within walking distance of the plant, some in housing built by the company.

In 1985, the company was bought by J.I. Case of Racine, Wisconsin. Workers at the scaled-back Hamilton plant made planter and seeding equip-ment. Case closed down its Hamilton operation in 1999. A commemorative exhibit erected by Case workers and retirees is on display outside the Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology.

Workers at this plant were organized as United Steelworkers of America Local 2868.