Reliance Moulding (and Several Successors) - History

Just north of CN's Outer Station, there are two major industrial buildings north of the freight yard and just outside city limits. Frontenac Floor & Wall Tile is just beyond the yard off Cassidy Street, and Reliance Moulding (in its first iteration) abuts just to the north on Maple Street. So far, I've been able to identify the following owners of the latter buildings over the past 100+ years and I expect to find more (*short-lived or stillborn enterprise):

• Reliance Moulding
• Frontenac Moulding and Glass*
• Collies Ltd.
• Janney Aircraft and Boats*
• Dominion Webbing
• Miller Clothing*
• Monarch Battery Manufacturing
• Gould Storage Battery
• Presland Iron and Steel

In 1913, Reliance Moulding Co. was given a tax exemption by the city, to get the company to establish their operation here. The exemption was extended to a term of ten years in 1914. The Reliance by-law received second reading in May, 1913.

In 1914, water main was being laid to the plant, to Frontenac and the Outer Station. The excavation alone cost $121! In March of that year, Mr. F.R. Phillips of Reliance addressed the Board of Trade regarding the company's move from Toronto to Kingston. Their Toronto lease was expiring, and they hoped to employ 40 workers here. The siding was being extended to the plant in May, 1914 and a transfer to the Grand Trunk spur to the tile works in November; the construction contract to P. McCoy. Agreement had to be made with Kingston Township to cross Elliott's road [sic].

In January, 1915 there was controversy about the cost of the Canadian Pacific (CP) siding built into the Reliance Moulding premises. The cost was $700 more than the $3,400 estimate! Not only that, but the City Engineer had not officially accepted the siding. (Later, in December, 1916 a Grand Trunk locomotive negotiating it derailed, due to a bad switch frog, subsequently replaced!)

With operation beginning on January 11, on a contract for 10,000 frames was literally the first order of business. The factory also made poles for signal flags for the war effort. Mirrors, picture frames and other mouldings were already being turned out after one month of operation. Thirty-five of the workers had come from Toronto. Orders were received from as far away as England. F.R. Phillips was the plant's manager. Reliance was reorganized in 1915 and closed in 1921. 

The Frontenac Moulding and Glass Co. took over from Reliance, operated by W.C. and F.C. Phillips. The siding was rented to the new company; the plant unoccupied at the time but the city wanted the siding retained for future potential use. In February, 1920 a drafted agreement was being discussed by CP and the city re: building a railway siding to the Reliance Moulding plant at Kingston Junction.

In July, 1922 the Dufton Woolen Mill of Stratford burned. Mr. William Collie came to Kingston and bought the Reliance Moulding building, installing machinery and operating the plant as of January, 1923. The operation was now called 'Collies Ltd', a large woolen industry. Employment at the plant was 23 men at $30/week, 12 women at $15/week, with $200,000 spent on machinery and $35,000 spent on land and buildings. Employment was expected to grow three to four times. Collies began production in 1922 but soon closed in 1924. Its machinery was second-hand and a lack of capital hastened its demise. The buildings would sit vacant for the next five years. Fire insurance map image, 1924:

In July, 1929 Janney Aircraft and Boats Ltd. bought the plant and property, receiving the customary fixed assessment from the city. President (Capt.) E. Janney, a flyer in Canadian Overseas Forces during World War I, and manager Charles Collins expected to build several airplanes and 100 boats in the coming year, making Kingston the grandiose-sounding 'future Aircity of Canada'! In December, there were boats being built and an airplane soon to be started. The boat construction area measured 40x250 feet, and the aircraft area was 60x80 feet. Raw materials would be received on the spur north of the plant. Manufacturing began in the fall of 1929. Sadly, a year later the plant was closed and contents were being auctioned for $1,400. Also sadly, Capt. Janney was in court on a fraud charge, pertaining to  four boats on order and motors ordered from Johnson in Peterborough. Interestingly, Captain Janney had served prison time in 1920 in Lethridge, AB for fraud, trying to float an aircraft company there!

In January, 1931 Everlastik purchased the Collie building, identifying Dominion Webbing as its Canadian branch operation. Everlastik was headquartered in Chelsea, MA where the company operated seven plants. Their representatives toured the Kingston plant by lanternlight! The plant was bought with cash, encouraged by the Kingston Chamber of Commerce. A fixed assessment, establishment of watermains and lighted road access were part of the agreement. By March, several carloads of machinery arrived, with 15 more to come. Motors were being rewound, with operation expected within a month.  Workers were setting up machinery on the second floor, finishing and painting the offices. The company had no orders 'over here' and no orders nor connections in the city! Their first shipment was completed in May, 1931. 

Mr. R. Brown spoke at the Kiwanis Club in August, 1931 on behalf of Dominion. The plant was producing elastic, braids and webbing, with advances coming from the new process of rubber vulcanization. Dominion Webbing closed up shop in Depression October, 1933 hoping to reopen when business conditions improved. A change of management may have led to the closure.

In 1935, the hope on the horizon was the Miller Clothing Company of Montreal and Toronto, expecting to move into the Dominion buildings. The company planned to buy much of its cloth from Kingston's Hield Bros., entering into a $6,000 fixed assessment agreement with the city. They planned to employ 125 workers and pay wages of $125,000 per year to get its operations started. Union objections to closing its existing Montreal plant put the kibosh on the move, even though work at the Kingston plant had already begun.

Isaac Cohen, president of Monarch Battery Manufacturing Company, announced in September, 1937 that Monarch has purchased the former Dominion Webbing building, vacant since 1933. At the time, the building's owners were said to be the Hamilton Cotton Co. and the Granby Elastic Co., and Monarch had outgrown its building on Montreal Street (1938 artwork showing the new iteration, below):

Producing unique batteries for tanks and radios during World War II, Monarch was succeeded by Gould Storage Battery in October, 1946. Gould was the Dominion branch of the American company National Batteries, with Kenneth Dawkins its first general manager. Gould's unique signage points the way to the plant, with Frontenac Floor & Wall Tile's adjacent plant in the foreground:

Gould built a 'new battery plant, boiler plant and office' for $250,000, claiming to be the only self-sufficient battery plant in the British Empire! Batteries were exported to South Africa, China, Holland, Newfoundland, and the East and West Indies. The company hoped to have new road access to enable future production expansion. Here are sunny-day views of the plant in 1950 (Queen's University Archives, above and below) 

Gould-National's factory was bought by Globelite Batteries of Winnipeg, in 1959, and closed in 1963 when Globelite opened a new plant in Toronto.

Presland Iron & Steel operated from the site beginning in 1970, owned by president Jack Preston. Taking over Cleland Iron Works on Russell Street around 1965, Presland supplied railings and fabricated steel to many local building projects, including the revitalized Grand Theatre in 2008. Still in business on the site, Presland recently added their expertise to the repurposing of the Bailey Broom Factory!