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  The Great Fire of 1904: Some companies affected
   


The fire devastated a large part of Toronto’s commercial and industrial centre. Over 125 businesses were burnt out, most of them manufacturers and importers of fabrics and clothing, paper goods, books, drugs, chemicals, hardware, and machinery. Many of the factories and warehouses that burned were less than twenty years old, and had been built as architectural showcases for their owners’ prosperity, modern commercial methods, and business acumen. Here are a few of the companies affected.

The Brown Brothers Ltd.
Wyld-Darling Co. Ltd.
W.R. Brock Company
Warwick Brothers & Rutter
M. McLaughlin & Co.
E.W. Gillett Co. Ltd.
Kilgour Brothers


The Brown Brothers, Limited
Wholesale stationers and bookbinders
51-53 Wellington Street West

Advertisement shows the Brown Brothers Ltd. building. The text reads: "The Brown Brothers, Limited. Importing and wholesale. Stationers, bookbinders. Manufacturers of account books, leather goods, diaries. Dealers in all kinds of paper cardboard etc. Office and typewriters' supplies. Printers' and bookbinders' material. 51-53 Wellington St. West, Toronto."
This notice by the Brown Brothers Limited, dated May 2, 1904, reads in part: "THE LATE DISASTROUS FIRE which has been such a fearful calamity to the GREAT CITY OF Toronto, and which destroyed our BEAUTIFUL AND COMPLETE PREMISES. After a successful career of over HALF A CENTURY in this city, we have not lost HEART OR ENERGY, and we beg to announce that we have made arrangements to continue business as usual and ask the patronage and patience of our esteemed friends and customers." The notice lists the company's temporary location, and thanks people for their "kind expressions of sympathy."

16
Advertisement for The Brown Brothers, Ltd.
1901
City of Toronto Archives
SC 271, Box 1, File 1

Notice by The Brown Brothers, Ltd.
May 2, 1904
City of Toronto Archives
Series 858, File 73

The Brown Brothers building at 51-53 Wellington Street West had been built only four years before the fire. It boasted up-to-date design and modern (and fully electrical) machinery; Bookseller and Stationer reported in March 1900, “The impression forced on one…is that of completeness, that nothing more could be added to make the business run more easily or economically…the building is in all respects most modern and complete.” In the arch over the front doors, terra cotta reliefs depicted bookbinders at work.

The arch and pillars at the entrance to the Brown Brothers building still stand after the fire. The street in front of the building is covered with bricks and other rubble.

17
The entrance of the Brown Brothers building after the fire,
looking south-west from Wellington Street
April 1904
City of Toronto Archives
Series 402, Item 7

Bookbinders and sellers of stationery supplies, The Brown Brothers had been in business in various locations in Toronto since 1846. They had moved to their new building on Wellington Street West only four years before the fire. They rebuilt quickly after the fire, and moved into a new (and larger) building on the same spot by the end of 1904.

Wyld-Darling Co. Ltd.
Dry goods wholesalers
63-65 Bay Street (at Wellington, south-east corner)

This four-storey building is built of cut stone on the first storey, and brick with stone details above. At street level, two stone arches, one on each wall at the corner of the building, lead to stairs to an outdoor vestibule, and then to the front door. Signs on top of each wall read "Wyld Grasett and Darling, dry goods, woollens."
 The long, wide room is punctuated by support pillars. Shelves along the walls and tables in rows filling the room are heaped with boxes and stacks of clothing and other goods.
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Wyld-Darling building
1891
Toronto, Old and New, page 161
City of Toronto Archives
Research Hall Library,
closed reference

Interior of Wyld-Darling building
1891
Toronto, Old and New, page 161
City of Toronto Archives
Research Hall Library, closed reference
Pedestrians walk by the ruins of the Wyld-Darling building. The ground-floor exterior walls and heavy entranceway arches made of cut stone survived the fire.
 Looking south-east down Bay Street from the top floor of a building, showing the ruins of the Wyld-Darling and other buildings.
19
Wyld-Darling building after the fire, looking south-east from the corner of Bay and Wellington streets
April 1904
City of Toronto Archives
Series 402, Item 3
20
Looking south-east on Bay Street after the fire; the Wyld-Darling building is centre left
April 1904
City of Toronto Archives
Fonds 1408, Item 15
A four-storey section of a wall above the Bay Street entrance to the Wyld-Darling building remains after the fire. The rest of the upper-storey walls are gone.
The remaining four-storey wall section is demolished by dynamite.
21
Wyld-Darling building after the fire, looking south-east from the corner of Bay and Wellington streets
April 1904
City of Toronto Archives
Fonds 408, Item 10

22
Dynamiting of Wyld-Darling building ruins, looking south-west from Wellington Street
April 22, 1904
City of Toronto Archives
Fonds 1274, Item 6

The premises of dry goods wholesalers Wyld-Darling Co. Ltd., at the south-east corner of Bay and Wellington, are one of the most identifiable ruins seen in photographs of the fire damage. The standing ruins, like those of other buildings, were dynamited by the City Engineer’s Department because of fears they would fall without warning and injure workers clearing the site. The company set up temporary quarters soon after the fire, but closed entirely before the end of the year.

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W.R. Brock Company
Dry goods wholesalers
64-68 Bay Street (at Wellington, south-west corner)

Firefighters use a water tower to spray the ruins of the Brock Building with water. The Bay Street façade of the building is intact, but smoke and rubble can be seen through the upper window openings.
Ad shows warehouses and factories of the W.R. Brock Company Limited in several cities across Canada. The central image shows the company's Toronto headquarters as the were rebuilt after the fire.
23
Brock building after the fire, looking south on Bay Street
from north of Wellington Street
April 1904
City of Toronto Archives
Fonds 1408, Item 14

Brock building rebuilt
[ca. 1912]
City of Toronto Archives
Series 470, Subseries 5, File 2

The W.R. Brock Company was an established dry goods wholesale firm. Its building had been built in the 1870s, and added onto several times after that. One of the earliest to catch fire, the building might have survived a less fierce fire. It was equipped with sprinklers both inside and outside, which, although they could not extinguish the fire completely, contained it and prevented it from spreading to other buildings to the west. Unfortunately, after several hours of the blaze, the city’s water pressure dropped because of the demand on the water mains, and the building’s own water tank ran dry. The Brock building finally lost the fight.

The company soon built a much larger warehouse, using both its own lot and the lot directly to the west, the former premises of Rolph Smith & Co., also victims of the fire.

 

Warwick Brothers & Rutter
Printers, bookbinders and wholesale stationers
68-70 Front Street West

A narrow, four-storey brick building with display windows at the front.
Ad shows a photograph of men and women working in a book bindery. The text reads, "Office supplies. Our stock of Office Stationery, Account Books and Supplies is full and complete. We have a large assortment of Writing Papers, Tablets, Envelopes, Memorandum Books, Inks and every office necessity; also a full stock of Day Books, Cash Books, Ledgers, Bill Books etc. SPECIAL BOOKS MADE TO ORDER. We are patentees and sole users in Canada of the celebrated "JOHNSON PROCESS' of padding; the "JOHNSON FLAT-OPENING METHOD" for Blank-Books; DETACHABLE BINDINGS for Blank-Books, and other improvements and specialities. Estimates furnished for Printing, Book Binding and Blank-Books. Telephones 986, 2369. Warwick Bro's and Rutter. 68 and 70 Front Street West, Toronto.

24
Warwick Brothers & Rutter
1898
Toronto, Canada; The Book of its Board of Trade, 1897-98, page 157
City of Toronto Archives
Reserch Hall Library, closed reference


Advertisement for Warwick Brothers & Rutter
1901
City of Toronto Archives
SC 271, Box 1, File 2
Front Street is lined with ruins, and the street is clogged with rubble and fallen hydro telegraph wires. Many people are viewing the ruins.
Ad reads in part, "RISEN FROM THE ASHES. Our entire wholesale and factory premises were destroyed in the big fire of April 19th, 1904. Ours was one of the largest bookbinding and the only printing plant destroyed in that fire. We had a splendid equipment before the fire, and as bookmaking machinery is soon out of date, we are installing the most modern plant the market can supply." The ad then details the superiority of the company's equipment and new plant at King Street and Spadina Avenue, Toronto.

25
Front Street, north side, looking west from Bay
April 1904
City of Toronto Archives
Fonds 1408, Item 4

The Warwick Brothers & Rutter building stood just past the long finger of brick sticking up in the left half of the photograph. The building just past it (with the cupola) is the Queen's Hotel. The hotel escaped the fire because of a small park standing between it and the Warwick Brothers & Rutter building.

Warwick Brothers & Rutter ad mentioning the fire
1905
City of Toronto Archives
SC 271, Box 1, File 5

Warwick Brothers & Rutter was one of many companies in the stationery and printing industries affected by the fire. The firm was the Ontario Government printer, and copies of many older government documents were lost in the fire. After the fire, the company built a new facility at King Street and Spadina Avenue, just west of what is now the Spadina Hotel.

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M. McLaughlin & Co.
Flour mill
2 Bay Street


The stone shell of the mill and of other brick buildings line the foot of Bay Street. A white horse is pulling a carriage past the mill. Many people and horses are gathered farther up the street.

26
M. McLaughlin & Co. mill buildings (right),
looking north on Bay Street from the Esplanade
April 1904
City of Toronto Archives
Fonds 1408, Item 12

By the time of the fire, the stone building of the M. McLaughlin & Co. flour mill had been used as a flour mill (under various owners and names) for decades. According to The Globe newspaper of the time, the building had originally served as a jail. After the fire, the company does not seem to have reestablished itself in Toronto.

 

E.W. Gillett Co. Ltd.
Manufacturers of grocery items
32-34 Front Street West

Written across the top of the façade of this four-storey building is "F.W. GILLETT." On the front of the building is written "ROYAL YEAST FACTORY." Lettering on the front display windows says "IMPERIAL BAKING POWDER" AND "ROYAL YEAST CAKES."

27
E.W. Gillett Co. Ltd. building
1898
Toronto, Canada: The Book of its Board of Trade, 1897-98, page 133
City of Toronto Archives
Reserch Hall Library, closed reference

Ruins of the building can be seen at the right in the photograph of the Kilgour brothers factory, below

The Gillett Company's ad in The Globe on April 21, 1904, read, "Our entire plant (building and machinery) was totally consumed by the awful conflagration which swept part of Toronto on Tuesday night, April 19th, and we must therefore ask your indulgence for a few weeks. Fortunately we have a duplicate set of machinery stored safely in another building, and this will enable us to turn out goods within a reasonable time. Every Wholesale Grocer in the Dominon has a stock of ROYAL YEAST, GILLETT'S LYE, MAGIC BAKING POWDER, Etc., so we are hoping, by the careful use of goods now in their hands, that no one will be inconvenienced. 'Gillett's Goods Are the Best,' and will be more popular than ever."

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Kilgour Brothers
Bag and paper box manufacturers
21-23 Wellington Street West

Two water tanks sit on top of a five-storey building that is damaged but still standing. The foreground is covered in rubble and the stubs of walls.
28
Kilgour Brothers factory (with water tanks)
seen from ruins of Front Street buildings, looking north-east
April 1904
City of Toronto Archives
Fonds 1408, Item 3

The Kilgour Brothers were wise enough to install water tanks on the roof of their paper box and bag factory. These tanks helped stop the fire from moving farther east, where it might have devastated Yonge Street as well. The Kilgour building was damaged by the fire (and flooded by the water) but not destroyed, and the company was able to start production again within a few days.

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