Page 22 - Special Feature.indd
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PLACES


      BWXT a player on the                                                       mergers. In 1923, Goldie & McCulloch merged

                                                                                 with Babcock and Wilcox Co. of England and
      world stage                                                                the  United  States  to  form  Babcock-Wilcox
                                                                                 and Goldie-McCulloch Ltd.

                                                                                 This  union  lasted  for  some  time  until
                                                                                 the  1960s  when  the  Babcock  &  Wilcox
                                                                                 partnership  purchased  the  Goldie  &
                                                                                 McCulloch interests in 1963, resulting in the
                                                                                 company being renamed in 1967 as Babcock
                                                                                 & Wilcox Canada Ltd. to re lect the earlier
                                                                                 withdrawal  of  Goldie  and  McCulloch’s
                                                                                 interests in the operation.
                                                                                 The  company’s  ‘Southworks’  site  ceased
                                                                                 operation in the late 1970s due to increased
                                                                                 competition  and  environmental  factors
                                                                                 which  eventually  would  pave  the  way  in
                                                                                 the  early  1990s  for  the  creation  of  the
                                                                                 Southworks  Outlet  Mall,  which  initially
                                                                                 started out as South Works Mall containing
                                                                                 a  handful  businesses.  The  structures
                                                                                 underwent  extensive  restoration  work  in
                                                                                 1996  and  became  one  of  the  city’s  most
       BWXT as it looked in the 1960s. City of Cambridge                         valued  tourist  attractions  featuring  at
       Archives Photo
                                                                                 least  30  tenants,  including  Black  and
                                                                                 Decker,   Cambridge   Towel,   Florsheim
      In the field of nuclear power                                              Shoes  and  Kodiac.  Its  biggest  tenant  was
      generation, BWXT Canada Ltd. is                                            Southworks  Antiques  –  now  located  on
      a major player and has supplied       The Babcock-Wilcox and Goldie-McCulloch   Water  Street  -  which  offered  customers  a
                                                                                 vast shopping space and was home to 160
      more than 305 CANDU and               northworks at the Delta Park Intersection in
                                            1906. Cambridge: The Making of the Canadian   tenants.  However, that change in November
      pressurized water reactor steam       City Photo                           of  2016  when  HIP  Developments,  Grand
      generators worldwide.                 Goldie & McCulloch was renowned for its   Innovations  and  Conestoga  College  joined
      The  company’s  massive  Cambridge-   manufacturing of many items, including   the  City  of  Cambridge  in  announcing  a
      based  headquarters  on  Coronation   engines,  water  wheels,  millstones,   major redevelopment of the block bounded
      Boulevard has been a familiar sight for   woodworking  and  wool  processing   by  Cedar  Street,  Grand  Avenue  South,  and
      generations,  but  many  passing  by  the   machinery,  boilers,  and  safe  doors.  In   St.  Andrews  Street,  signaling  the  end  for
      facility may not be aware of the extensive   fact, one of its doors can still be found on   Southworks Outlet Mall.
      history  this  long-time  member  of  the   a safe in one of the blocks of Parliament   In the years that followed, BWXT’s Coronation
      Cambridge  Chamber  of  Commerce  has   Hill in Ottawa.                    Boulevard  site   lourished  and  in  2015  it
      had in the community.                 But  closer  to  home,  many  local   spun  off  its  power  generation  business  to
      The company took root on Grand Avenue   businesses  were  also  customers  as  a   allow  BWX  Technologies  Inc.  to  pursue  its
      South in the historic structures that form   seemingly  endless  wave  of  industrial   government  and  nuclear  operations  which
      the Gaslight District downtown when the   expansion  spread  throughout  Galt,   have  resulted  in  numerous  and  lucrative
      James  Crombie’s  Foundry  (also  known   Preston and Hespeler around the turn of   contracts.
      as the Dumfries Foundry in 1844) moved   the century. Among them was the Robert   The company – a key economic player in this
      to the site from its original location on   Forbes  Company  in  Hesepler  which   area - has nearly 1,300 employees working
      Ainslie Street in 1847.               purchased seven large industrial boilers   at  its  locations  including  Cambridge,
      It developed into the Goldie & McCulloch  from the ‘Northworks’ site to keep pace   Peterborough, Port Elgin, Pickering, Toronto,
      Company in 1859 when Crombie sold the  with its increasing need for power from   Arnprior and Oakville.
      business to two of his former employees,  1905 to 1915, before purchasing another
      John  Goldie,  and  Hugh  McCulloch.  This  much larger one.
      location became known as the company’s   The  wartime  economy  around  the  First
      ‘Southworks’ which led to the building of   World  War  resulted  in  a  great  deal  of
      the  company’s  ‘Northworks’  facility  on   industrial  expansion  in  the  community,
      Coronation Boulevard in 1905.         leading to many changes and corporate

       22       Spring 2024                                                                            www.cambridgechamber.com
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