This ongoing series showcases historic photos in the Collingwood Museum collection, with research and writing by Melissa Shaw, the museum supervisor.
Historical accounts of local fires aboard ships, in schools, train stations, agricultural buildings, theatres, homes, and local businesses and industries fill scrapbooks, newspapers, and publications about Collingwood’s past.
In some cases, those affected by fire chose to relocate while others stayed the course and rebuilt for the future.
The Bryan Manufacturing Co. Limited would go on to serve their customers for more than 50 years after a devastating fire struck their operation along Huron Street in 1915 – the present-day location of Sobeys at 39 Huron Street.
The Bryan Manufacturing Company was started by Frank W. Bryan, a contractor and builder, in 1884. The 1906 Collingwood Bulletin Industrial Number records that the construction of the Central School (later known as Victoria Public School) at the north-west corner of Sixth and Maple Streets was one of Bryan’s first contracts.
Frank’s brother, William, joined the business two years later, and the brothers went on to construct many local buildings – Town Hall, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, the remodelling of All Saint’s Anglican Church, the Federal Building, and many private residences, including what is today the National Ski Academy at 200 Oak Street.
From their small factory on Park Street, the brothers adopted steam power to run their sash, door, and general materials plant until the fall of 1891 when they purchased property on the north side of Huron Street. The move gave them direct access to the shipping and rail facilities they desperately needed to grow their business.
A large factory, recorded to have been “the most up-to-date in this part of the country,” was constructed along Huron Street by 1894. Here they continued their contracting work, in addition to shipping sash, doors, finishing material and boxes to all parts of the country. Their new factory became the building block to which future additions were added as the company prospered and the brothers’ landholdings grew.
In 1905, the business was incorporated under Bryan Manufacturing Co., Limited, with an authorized capital of $150,000. At this time, the provision of contracting services was discontinued, and the focus shifted entirely to wholesale and retail manufacturing, and the supply of material to contractors and builders, both locally and throughout Canada. By 1911, the main building, dry kilns, storage sheds, and barns covered nearly a town block and the company employed between 50 and 75 staff.
In the early morning hours of April 4, 1915, government constables on the railway wharf reported a fire on the property of Bryan Manufacturing. The fire is recorded to have started on the third floor due to faulty wiring. By the time the firefighters arrived onsite, the entire building was involved. The main factory building was a complete loss. The estimated loss of property was valued at $80,000, the equivalent of $2,080,000 in 2023.
Little is documented of the company’s operation after the fire, other than that the company rebuilt and continued services until at least 1967. The company’s founder, Frank W. Bryan, died in 1938. Frank’s son, George, is listed as the president in a promotional brochure created by Collingwood’s Board of Trade in 1944.
A photograph of the railway grounds from 1962 by railway enthusiast Peter Coates captures what is believed to be the Bryan Manufacturing Company’s buildings in the background. As well, a commercial vehicle operating license for Ronald Plater of Elm Street, dated August 16, 1967, in the Collingwood Museum’s collection records “Class F driving privileges for the carriage of a) rough lumber for and on behalf of Bryan Manufacturing Company Limited to and from Wasaga Beach.” This is the most recent reference to the company’s operation in Collingwood.
Today, the history of Bryan Manufacturing Co. Limited is honoured as a historical feature along the Collingwood Trails. You can find an interpretive sign along the sidewalk in front of Sobey’s at 39 Huron Street.
If you have information to share about the Bryan Manufacturing Company, please contact Collingwood Museum staff.
