Manufacturer GENERAL STEEL WARES

General Steel Wares Bread Box

Dimensions18.4 x 33 x 24.1 cm (7 1/4 x 13 x 9 1/2 in.)

Credit LineGift of Judith and Wilson Rodger, London, Ontario, 2015.

Object number2015.051.019

Label TextThe creation of GSW was an early effort to rationalize what would soon be called the Canadian appliance industry. The McClary name continued to appear on stoves and they continued to be manufactured in the Adelaide Street plant. In 1960, Ralph Barford bought a controlling interest in GSW and amalgamated it with Beatty Bros., a company that had had a plant for many years in London. One of Beatty's major products was washing machines, a line which transferred to London after the takeover. A more recent change in the ownership of Canada's appliance makers occurred in 1977 when General Electric and Westinghouse amalgamated their Canadian appliance operations with GSW's. The new company became known as CAMCO, the Canadian Appliance Manufacturing Company. This move resulted ten years later in the closing of the London factory. Range production stopped in the late 1970s and only refrigerators were being built in 1987 when the Adelaide Street plant closed. The last 250 refrigerators were built on December 15, 1987.

NameBox, Bread