From the outside, there is no indication that the plant is abandoned. No window is doomed and there is no "for sale" sign. Even the structure of the building is still in very good condition. I myself had doubts when I heard about it for the first...
It was October 3, 2014 when it has been heard for the last time the siren for the end of the work shift. The last 180 employees picked up their belongings and closed the door behind them, thus ending an industrial history of over 125 years.
Family and friends were gathered outside the factory at the end of the day for a last look at the board mill which provide work to the citizen of this little town. If some have been relocated to the pulp and paper mill on the other side of the river, that was once part of the same complex (now sold to a competitor), other employees have taken the path of the forced retirement, and unemployment offices.
1910 - View of the factory and the old covered bridge now replaced by a concrete bridge
The industrial history of the site did not start yesterday. This is also in 1881 that are built first saw mill and a paper mill on the banks of this Eastern Townships river. Established in the middle of the forest and a rural area, the company will see its first inhabitants to settle in homes around the plant, rented by the owner. Within a decade, they will be more than 600 people this new mono-industrial town named in honor of this rich Scottish industrialist. Half of them are working at the plant.
The site will be gradually expanded over the years as evidenced by the railway track (now convicted), a second plant built on the other side of the river and the many extensions.
Shortly after its closure, the site was sold to a american competitor. While the latter must take possession of the buildings in the coming months, the latest machinery (salable) are on sale and a guardian is responsible for monitoring the premises at all times via the many cameras scattered on the site. Some buyers from everywhere around the world are also coming here to shop in this vast complex where intermingle machines at the cutting edge of technology and their ancestors who are no longer wanted by scrap dealers.
From the outside, there is no indication that the plant is abandoned. No window is doomed and there is no "for sale" sign. Even the structure of the building is still in very good condition. I myself had doubts when I heard about it for the first...
Located in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighborhood, the silo # 3 was built in 1923. The architect was John S. Metcalfe who were responsible for the construction of most silos in the Port of Montreal (1, 2, 3, 5). It is thanks to its innovations...
The history of the Babcock & Wilcox in the Galindo valley began during the First World War when the difficulties of the Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España will result in the sale of the plant to the Babcock & Wilcox...
A true emblem of the Old Port of Montreal, it is difficult to miss the Silo # 5, a gigantic concrete structure south of McGill Street. The complex consists of 206 silos and an amalgam of buildings built over a period of more than fifty years,...