Launching a ship at the Polson Iron Works shipyard.
The Polson Iron Works was an Ontario-based firm which built large steam engines, as well as ships, barges and dredges.[1]
Founded by William Polson (1834–1901) and son Franklin Bates Polson, the firm was incorporated in 1886 and it was one of the original shipyards operating in Toronto.
In 1888 favourable land grants prompted the company to move to Owen Sound, which was then an important port for Canadian Pacific's steamships. Owen Sound facility was at the then existing dry docks on the west side of the harbour near the south end of what is now the West Side Boat Launch on 14th Avenue West.[2]
The firm eventually returned to Toronto in 1897 when Owen Sound's town council did not renew the firm's exemption from property taxes. In Toronto the company's ship yard was located on the harbourfront at the foot of Sherbourne Street (south west at The Esplanade where David Crombie Park and hydro substation now occupies). In 1914 the company agreed to lease land from the Toronto Harbour Commission to build a new facility in the newly reclaimed Portlands industrial district, but the outbreak of World War I prevented the move.
Some of the vessels constructed by the Polson Iron Works remain in service today. They include SS Bigwin, PS Trillium and MV Kwasind.[3]
The engines and hull of Bonnington, a steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes from 1911 to 1931, were built at the Polson Iron Works, and shipped by rail to British Columbia.[4]
The company ceased operations around 1919,[5] but the name lives on in Polson Pier, where the company had intended to relocate the shipyard.
Ships built
Polson was a builder of motor yachts for the wealthy in Toronto during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Ships built before 1888 and after 1897 would have been built in Toronto with the rest at their Owen Sound shipyard.
In 1916 Polson Iron Works was involved in the production of the M.F.P Tractor Biplane for MFP Company owned by J.B. Miller, Walter L. Fairchild and Walter H. Phipps.[8] The plane was designed by Walter H. Phipps, owner of Steel Constructed Aeroplanes Co of New York. Fairchild was a monoplane pioneer from Hempstead Plains, New York.
References
^
Michael B. Moir. "Polson, Franklin Bates". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 22 March 2012. The steady advancement of the business led to its incorporation on 23 Oct. 1886 as the Polson Iron Works Company of Toronto Limited, with William as president and Franklin as secretary-treasurer.
^"Nautical History". Save Ontario Shipwrecks. 2003. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2011. The Iron Works only two existing ships in Toronto are the Trillium (built in 1913, which still ferry's passengers to Centre Island) and the RCYC passenger ferry Kwasind (1913).
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