Historic Sites of Manitoba: Vulcan Iron Works (105 Maple Street North, Winnipeg)

Link to:
Presidents | General Managers | Photos & Maps | Sources

Established in 1874 by John McKechnie and W. W. McMillan as the Winnipeg Foundry and Machine Shop, the oldest buildings at this site at the junction of Sutherland Avenue and Maple Street in Winnipeg date to the early 1880s, when it became known popularly as the Vulcan Iron Works. In January 1884, the Vulcan Iron Company of Manitoba was formally incorporated with shares held primarily by Montreal shipping magnate Andrew Allan and his Winnipeg son-in-law Frederick H. Brydges, with Winnipeggers John McKechnie, Harvey Nicholson Williams, and William Rae Allan as minority shareholders.

At one time, Vulcan Iron Works was among the largest foundries in western Canada. It produced a wide range of products made from iron, steel, copper, or wood. Its products included structural members for the construction of buildings and bridges, stairs and fire escapes, fire hydrants, tanks and steel plates, engine parts, grain elevator and mill machinery, railroad equipment, bolts and rivets, iron and brass castings, and ornamental iron. It was the first facility in Manitoba to manufacture the high-pressure boilers used in steam-powered machinery. During the First and Second World Wars, it produced artillery shells for the Canadian military as well as metal parts for naval and merchant ships.

The assets of the original company were taken over by the Vulcan Iron Works Limited in December 1902, with John McKechnie and Edward G. Barrett as majority shareholders, and John D. McDonald, Leonard R. Barrett, and Horace E. Crawford each holding a small number of shares. Its stated purpose was to “carry on the business of iron-founders, mechanical engineers, and manufacturers of all kinds of machinery, tool makers, brass founders, metal workers, boiler makers, fitters, wire drawers, tube makers, galvanizers, mill-wrights, machinists, wood workers, platers, founders, metallurgists, electrical engineers, water supply engineers, gas makers, and to deal in machinery implements and hardware of all kinds and any goods, wares or merchandise in which iron, steel or wood is in any way used.”

In July 1918, acting on complaints about low wages and long hours, workers at the facility joined the Metal Trades Council, along with those of the Dominion Bridge Company and Manitoba Bridge and Iron Works. The Council demanded that the companies recognize it as a union representing the interests of metal workers or a general strike would be called. Vulcan Iron Works, under the management of bachelor brothers Leonard and Edward Barrett, rebuffed the demand, contributing ultimately to the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. Despite these tensions, the company remained a major employer in north Winnipeg, reaching a peak of some 600 workers during the Second World War.

In 1929, a 275 feet by 175 feet addition to the structure was built by the Sutherland Construction Company and a cost of about $160,000.

In the fall of 1947, the company’s assets were purchased by James A. Gairdner of Toronto and the firm became incorporated as Vulcan Iron & Engineering Limited, with Gairdner as Chairman of the Board and long-time management staff remaining in place. Its operations were organized into seven divisions: steel castings, iron castings, boilers, structural steel and ornamental blacksmithing and forging, machine shop, and warehousing. The facility occupied three and a half city blocks, some nine acres in area, with a total floor space of 190,000 square feet.

In 1955, the company became the Western Division of Bridge & Tank Company of Canada. Renamed Bridge & Tank Western Limited in 1958, the company moved its manufacturing plant to a 27-acre site on Vulcan Avenue in North Kildonan in October 1961. The main office at the original site was closed in the mid-1970s as operations were consolidated in North Kildonan. Some buildings at the Maple Street site appear to have been demolished around this time.

Presidents

Period	President
1874-1918	John McKechnie (1844-1918)
1918-1935	Edward Gordon Barrett (1865-1935)
1935-1950	John Duncan McDonald (c1879-1965)
1950-1957	James A. Gairdner
1958-1961	H. Owen Jones

General Managers

Period	President
?-1944	John Duncan McDonald (c1879-1965)
1945-1950	John McKechnie Isbister (1911-1975)
1951-1961	H. Owen Jones
1961-1973	A. Fraser MacDonald
1973-1977	Frederick Dring
1978	Hideo Yasumatsu
1979-1981	John Billings

Photos & Coordinates

Vulcan Iron Works (circa 1903) Source: An Illustrated Souvenir of Winnipeg Vulcan Iron Works (July 1920) by Lewis Foote Source: Archives of Manitoba, Foote Collection #1384, N2356. Vulcan Iron Works (1930s) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Vulcan Iron Works fonds. Former Vulcan Iron Works building (September 2015) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Aerial view of the former Vulcan Iron Works buildings (October 2015) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Aerial view of the former Vulcan Iron Works buildings (July 2019) Source: George Penner The former Vulcan Iron Works buildings (March 2023) Source: George Penner Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.90538, W97.13085 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Manitoba Business: Sutherland Construction Company

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Canadian Pacific Railway Water Tower (Winnipeg Beach)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Abandoned Manitoba

TimeLinks: Vulcan Iron Works

Sources:

Letters Patent of Incorporation, Vulcan Iron Company of Manitoba Limited, 7 January 1884, Companies Office Corporation Documents, Archives of Manitoba, GR6427.

Letters Patent of Incorporation, Vulcan Iron Works Limited, 24 December 1902, Companies Office Corporation Documents, Archives of Manitoba, GR6427.

“To the public,” Winnipeg Tribune, 9 August 1918, page 11.

“Construction work in progress in Winnipeg,” Manitoba Free Press, 20 April 1929, page 32.

Advertisement [Vulcan Iron Works], Winnipeg Tribune, 26 February 1930, page 86.

“E. G. Barrett, head of Vulcan foundry, dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 28 January 1935, page 13.

Announcement, Winnipeg Free Press, 3 January 1945, page 12.

“Gairdner to retain Vulcan Iron control,” Winnipeg Free Press, 30 October 1947, page 24.

“Gairdner Group will take over Vulcan on Nov. 1,” Winnipeg Tribune, 29 October 1947, page 20.

“Injured in fall, J. D. McDonald sent to hospital,” Winnipeg Free Press, 4 May 1954, page 3.

Advertisement [Bridge & Tank Western Ltd.], Winnipeg Free Press, 19 June 1958, page 43.

“N. Slater Company, Limited,” Winnipeg Free Press, 27 February 1961, page 25.

“Vulcan Iron Works being demolished,” Winnipeg Free Press, 15 July 1975, page 5.

“Roman legend named Vulcan Street” by Harry Shave, Winnipeg Tribune, undated. [Vulcan Iron Works fonds, Archives of Manitoba, MG11 C46]

Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.

We thank George Penner for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 26 December 2022

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