Millard & Lumb - History

Both men for whom Millard & Lumb (M&L) was named were foremen at the Canadian Locomotive Company. Opened on December 15, 1924 and betting on the new-found process of welding, replacing riveting, the firm served the local marine industry for decades. The day they left CLC, their boss was so skeptical about the future of welding that he gave their new venture six months' future! 

In 1930, M&L welded 7.5 miles of contiguous pipe into the cooling system of the Kingston Curling Club with 2,000+ welds! This 1934 Archives of Ontario image shows M&L through the main entrance of Fort Frontenac:

A major part of M&L's work was commercial boiler repairs. During the Depression, the firm built asphalt plants for a Cleveland firm, thought to have required a railway spur to the plant to load the completed equipment. From the thirties to the fifties, employment was as high as 50. Laid-up ships made winter work for the firm. The Seaway and marine modernization doomed that line of work. 

Two Queen's University Archives photos - undated (above) and 1949 aerial (below):

The nature of its work had changed to steel fabrication for local large customers like Alcan, CFB Kingston, Celanese and Queen's University. Instead of fabrication from the ground up, importing, servicing and providing parts for established product lines like Braun high-capacity washing machines was a major part of M&L's work.

In 1974, a Whig want ad promised potential employees an hourly rate for qualified welders of $4.50 plus benefits. In 1985, the firm employed 25. It was faced with a number of challenges, including installing air purification equipment to improve the work environment for welders and fabricators, and a developer who exerted pressure on the firm to move for Frontenac Village condo construction. Twelve employees, four of whom were office workers and eight of whom were long-term workers in their fifties and sixties, were to end work on November 30, 1988, staying till December 23 to finish contracted work. Then the doors closed. It was the last industrial property to leave the downtown waterfront, in an otherwise commercial-zoned area. The triangular-shaped three-quarters of an acre of land was valued at $750,000.

As of May 1, 1944 Fred, Joseph and Melville Lumb acquired the late William J. Millard's interest in the company. Melville, President, died in 1984 at the age of 76. He was one of the original members of the Kingston Marine Fraternity, a group of local companies that promoted Kingston as a marine centre before the Seaway was completed. Then, J. Gordon Lumb (?Joseph), Frederick's son and Melville's brother, died in 1986 while President. Melville's son Richard was president when the firm closed.

The M&L building still stands at the corner of King Street and Place d'Armes, its prime three-quarter-acre site having sold in 1988 for $750,000, now looking considerably less-industrial. It's surrounded by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan building, arena, Frontenac Village and Fort Frontenac. The 7,800-square foot building  was purchased and developed by Photis Liappas in February, 1989 and redesigned with a second storey.

Classic lettering greeted motorists entering Kingston along Highway 2 via the Causeway in 1967 (top photo).