Orange Meat!

H. Mooers established a grain elevator at the foot of Gore Street in 1899. Seemingly the least-photographed and western-most of the three major waterfront elevators, it had a 500,000-bushel capacity. The Frontenac Cereal Co. combined the operations of Kingston Elevator & Transit Co. and the Frontenac Milling Co. in 1903. In 1908, Forwarders Ltd. was using the site to trans-ship grain from lake vessels to barges destined to the seaboard. 

A 1913 Whig ad for the Forwarders elevator:

Interestingly, the unused cereal works were converted to barracks to house the half of the assembling Princess of Wales’ Own Regiment not housed at Artillery Park in late-1914. This March 10, 1915 Whig-Standard article describes their formation and preparations for the war front:

The elevator portion was demolished circa 1919. The Orange Meat product was launched locally in 1903. A 1906 ad:

In the year 1919 there were briefly three grain elevators on Kingston’s waterfront, from west to east: the Forwarders’ at the foot of Gore Street, now the location of the Admiralty Place building; Richardson’s at the foot of Princess, the site of the Holiday Inn since 1967; and the Montreal Transportation Co. (MTC) at the foot of Barrack, now the Wolfe Island Ferry dock.This early photo of the rail-served Frontenac Milling, captioned 1900, includes the name of the builders, Nordyke & Marmon. Another source shows that the spur to the elevator was built in 1916, when another company was ready to take over operation of the Forwarders Ltd. to manufactural cereals IF a spur were built to connect the industrial plants between William and West Streets to connect the three railway lines serving Kingston.

A July, 1902 Whig article described the mill's location:

And a February 18, 1899 Whig article discusses the construction of Frontenac Milling in detail (as always, click for a larger, readable version): 

So it's rare, but not an impossible feat to find a photo of the elevator section that jutted into the lake. Captioned 1900:

1920 other side, aerial view:

Factory and cereal warehouse 1909, foot of Gore Street: 

A 1911 view of the of the elevator taken from the Kingston Shipyards: 

This 1921 view (photos above and below - Kingston Shipyards Papers, Queen's University Archives) of the Canadian Coaster under construction at Kingston Shipyards shows the water-end of the brick structures with the elevator dismantled:

During World War II, the cereals building at the foot of Gore Street was bought by the Department of National Defence(DND) for $15,000 for as an ordnance depot. The building had been turned over to DND at the start of the war, with an elevator and heating added. The railsiding and location next to a dock made bringing in of supplies convenient.

Another life: Frost the Mover warehouse 1986:

Nobody gets the name Orange Meat, perhaps not even when it was being produced! A Prof. John Waddell of Queen’s University was enlisted to do a series of tests. The outcome? “Orange Meat contains over 45% of wheat sugars. These build up muscles and feed nerves and make people strong and cheerful. The mysterious ‘meat’ was in fact a breakfast cereal. According to the marketing folks at Frontenac, Orange Meat’s combination of ‘crisp flakes’ + ‘spicy malt’ + sugar = ‘fascinating tastiness’.

Michael Peters has done some amazing research on the Orange Meat story. He shared this image from Canadian Grocer magazine:

The Frontenac Cereal Company seems ultimately to have said ‘uncle’ around 1911 and pulled the plug on the product with the very strange name! 

These ladies are enjoying a cruise along the waterfront, captioned 1902. That's the Forwarders' elevator in the background: 

Lots o' links:

• Village-Design post by Michael Peters
• Michael continues blogging about Orange Meat. Watch for more posts!