Doors Closed Waterloo

[jwilliamson]

I found this site with histories of many prominent manufacturers from Waterloo Region.

https://doorsclosedwaterloo.wordpress.com/

[jeffster]

Very interesting. And upon reflection, I recall having a lot of that manufactured stuff in our home; Electrohome TV's, air conditioners, humidifiers and likely some fans. I also remember my parents getting Hush Puppies and Kodiaks. And by golly, those products would last forever. The one AC lasted right into the late 1990's and was still working when I sold it for $20.

Missing also is the Arrow Shirt Factory, which my mom would drag me out to for shirts for my Sunday best.

And in all honesty, I never really appreciated all this stuff that was made in Kitchener, with the exception of Dare Cookies and Schneiders. I remember with glee visiting someone in the US and finding the Red Hots down there with the "Made in Kitchener" on it. Proud moment.

Well, at least we still have Dare.

My childhood does recall proudly, Budd Canada. I have no idea why it is etched in my mind. I just remember that my teacher was getting frustrated trying to remember a large plant in Kitchener that built for the auto manufacturers. So this 8-year old blurts out "Budd's?" And she was like "Yeah! That's it! Budds makes all these frames for Chevy and BMW and Volkswagen!!!" Or something like that. I also recall Uniroyal.......and I'd purchase them, keep jobs in Kitchener, but I guess $100 cheap Chinese tires will always beat the $220 one from our town.

I am sad now....this conversation sucks.

[panamaniac]

Back in the day, it was pretty much a given that you would purchase locally, when that was an option (and it frequently was). You knew that you were supporting your neighbours' jobs. There was also a bit of chauvinism in the underlying assumption that anything locally made was the best (or at least the best for the price).

[Jacquie]

I was walking on Roy Street the other day, and noticed how close the back of the old Zion United Church's Sunday School Room is to the yard of the house on 41 Roy Street. A friend and I were researching the history, whether the house or the church extension came first. I suspect the house came first, based on my rudimentary knowledge of architectural periods. Anyway, as my friend and I endeavoured to research this question, she stumbled across this thesis in architecture on the internet, devoted to the old abandoned church buildings DTK. For this reason, I thought it suitable to post this to the "Doors Closed Waterloo" thread. I will also cross post in the "missed opportunities" thread in Urban Design because as of now, we know that at least one of the churches studied has been demolished in favour of a high rise condo building.

Here is the link: https://curve.carleton.ca/system/files/e...wntown.pdf

[ac3r]

I was walking on Roy Street the other day, and noticed how close the back of the old Zion United Church's Sunday School Room is to the yard of the house on 41 Roy Street. A friend and I were researching the history, whether the house or the church extension came first. I suspect the house came first, based on my rudimentary knowledge of architectural periods. Anyway, as my friend and I endeavoured to research this question, she stumbled across this thesis in architecture on the internet, devoted to the old abandoned church buildings DTK. For this reason, I thought it suitable to post this to the "Doors Closed Waterloo" thread. I will also cross post in the "missed opportunities" thread in Urban Design because as of now, we know that at least one of the churches studied has been demolished in favour of a high rise condo building.

Here is the link: https://curve.carleton.ca/system/files/e...wntown.pdf

Thank you SO much for posting this! I've been doing some research that involves abandoned (or just very old) churches for an architectural/art exhibition and wanted to put some focus on Waterloo Region specifically.