Firestone - Plant
Firestone’s mammoth warehouse complex in Hamilton is one of the largest facilities in Canada we have been in. Most of the plant is currently used by the city of Hamilton for garbage sorting/recycling. A couple of buildings totaling more than 500,000 sf feet close to part of the Hamilton harbor and are abandoned. Many people dismiss the location as boring because there is no machinery present . It was removed long ago. The site does offer the best view in Hamilton to peer into the still active Hamilton heavy industry next door, National Steel Car and Dofasco’s steel plant further along the harbor. Firestone was next door neighbors with the great Stelco Rod Mill but that has since been torn down. It is one of the few places you can wander around in for hours and always find something new to look at in a relaxed atmosphere.
The Firestone plant in 1924.
Firestone’s history goes back to 1919 when Harvey S. Firestone was drawn to establish his first international manufacturing facility in what was then the township of Barton to manufacture tires for the Canadian marketplace. Hamilton actually annexed this particular area from the township of Barton. Harvey also created an industrial neighborhood called “Firestone Park” around his manufacturing facility bordered by Burlington Street, Beach Road, Kenilworth Avenue, and Belfair Avenue. The first tire rolled off the line in 1922 and the materials were mostly supplied from Drummondville, Quebec. In 1928 the plant further expanded and had 1,100 employees.
Firestone mostly manufactured tires for cars and farming vehicles until WWII when they won a contract to manufacture tires for military vehicles. By the end of the war, Firestone had 1,400 workers. Firestone had two 17 week long strikes where workers gained the right to a 40 hour work week and the first non-contributory pension in Canada. The company further expanded in 1953 and they expanded to make all types of products. Further expansion in the 1960’s greatly increased the size of the plant. Firestone’s 1,800 workers now made over 1, 000 different types of tires. In 1973 Firestone recognized it would have to start switching over production to radial tires and in 1974 opened a dedicated plant in 1974 in Whitby, Ontario. A lengthy 8 month strike followed in 1974 however Firestone enjoyed good fortunes into the 1980’s when they had 11 plants in Canada.
In 1982 Firestone received a grant to modernize the plant for $15 million however this could not prevent the plant from closing as demand for bias-ply tires happened very quickly. Firestone went through some restructuring in 1987 and three US plants were closed and the large Hamilton plant closed along with the nearby Stoney Creek warehouse. Firestone was taken over by the Japanese firm Bridgestone in 1988, and the head offices moved from Hamilton to Mississauga, located about 30km nearby. The plant was used as storage for a few years, but was later purchased by the city of Hamilton and partially turned into a garbage facility.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 3:31 pm and is filed under Heavy Industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.