The extensive property located at 31 Firestone Boulevard in London, Ontario started as the London and Petrolia Barrel Company where they produced various barrels and kegs. It was later purchased by Firestone Steel for a tire rim production plant.

_{Firestone (1970) Photo by London Free Press}


Accuride purchased the 26-hectare property from Firestone in 1986 for the purposes of manufacturing steel and aluminum wheels for trucks and commercial vehicles. At its manufacturing peak, as many as 800 people worked the floor here, according to Unifor Local 27 President Brian Chapman. The plant operated 24/7 shifts on weekends. GM was always the anchor customer — at various points buying 75 per cent of the plant’s steel wheel output, with the relationship dating back decades.

The 2013 Near-Death

This wasn’t the plant’s first brush with closure. By November 2013, Accuride Canada had been through a round of layoffs that left it down to about 100 hourly employees, a fraction of its earlier headcount. The plant kept running through 2018 specifically because of a deal locking in GM as the sole customer sourcing light-duty truck wheels from the Canadian plant — a contractual lifeline, not organic demand. That 2018 deadline became something of a running joke internally: Chapman later recalled that 2018 was “really supposed to be” the closure date, and the fact the plant got another six years past that was treated as a small miracle by the people working there.

That near-miss connects to a bigger 2013 story: Accuride’s U.S. parent has a long history of financial distress. The company first filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the wake of the 2008–09 financial crisis, and the 2024 filing came almost exactly 15 years to the day after that first one. In between, Accuride was acquired by Crestview Partners, a New York private equity firm, in late 2016 — the ownership structure that was still in place when the London plant finally went down.

Cracks in the foundation

The decline wasn’t sudden, and by 2024 the pressures were stacking on top of each other. Rising costs in both Canada and the U.S. squeezed margins, the auto parts market grew more competitive, and the industry’s shift toward EVs demanded investment the plant wasn’t getting. Toronto-based analyst Tom Venetis put it in a wider context: “With the continuing inflation that we see both in Canada and the U.S., companies are beginning to try to find ways to reduce their costs so they may be looking at trying to wind down some operations, consolidate some other operations in order to save money going forward.” He also flagged the political backdrop — uncertainty around the incoming Trump administration’s approach to the auto pact and potential tariffs on vehicles manufactured in Canada was adding to the volatility across the whole sector, not just London.

A statement provided by Accuride stated, “The London plant has failed to operate at a profit for over a decade.”

There was a corporate-level story behind this too. Accuride’s leadership pointed to supply chain distortions and a steep rise in input costs that had stretched the company’s finances even as it grew, plus a costly 2018 acquisition of German firm Mefro that took longer than expected to integrate, and an Ontario wheel-end plant the company said it couldn’t nurse to profitability. A freight recession cut further into demand from truck manufacturers. By spring 2024, Accuride was stretching supplier payment terms to stay afloat — which backfired: a Baltimore aluminum supplier, Hydro Aluminum Metals USA, sued for over $4 million in unpaid orders and won summary judgment just before Labor Day 2024.

Bankruptcy

In October 2024, it came to a head. Court filings showed Accuride’s U.S. operations had total debts between $500 million and $1 billion, with more than $73 million maturing that same month, against only about $6 million in available cash. The U.S. parent filed Chapter 11 on October 10; Accuride Canada followed with CCAA protection a day later. The company received about $30 million in debtor-in-possession financing to keep operating through the reorganization, with leadership initially targeting a quick emergence by late January 2025.

Before the bankruptcy filing, Accuride’s investment bankers had shopped the business for months — 31 companies signed non-disclosure agreements to look at the books, and seven signaled real interest, but none of it turned into an actual offer Crestview was willing to accept. The Canadian operation, which wasn’t part of the U.S. Chapter 11 process but depended on capital from the broader company, needed its own buyer search. Spokesperson Grant Hatton said a timeline for the London closing hadn’t been set “and will depend, in part, on discussions with customers around final product requirements.” No buyer ever materialized for London.

The closure

When the wind-down was first announced, more than 200 workers faced losing their jobs, with Unifor representing 187 staff at the time. Local director Luis Domingues was blunt about what that meant: “This is their livelihood. It’s a very difficult situation for them and their families,” he said, adding the union would “fight like hell for them” while negotiating a closing agreement. Workers earned between $24 and more than $40 an hour, depending on seniority.

By the time the doors actually shut on January 31, 2025, the final headcount on shift was 150, with the last 20 workers leaving by mid-February. The gap between that and the roughly 200 cited at announcement reflects gradual layoffs as production wound down through the fall and winter. Chapman, reflecting on what the building meant to the city, described it as bittersweet: “That’s the end of it, which is unfortunate. That’s a pretty historic, I don’t know. It’s a landmark to London in a way, I think, right.” Unifor also pushed the province to fund an employment action centre for displaced workers, since a lot of them hadn’t job-hunted in years and wouldn’t have a current resume.

The pension fight

Former Accuride workers represented by Unifor Local 27 won a major court victory that returned pension surplus funds to members after the bankruptcy. The legal fight began after Accuride’s bankruptcy and closure left workers without access to surplus pension funds initially estimated between $2.7 million and $2.9 million; the final surplus amount reached approximately $4.7 million, with an expected payout of around $4 million after administrative and disbursement costs. The court decision awarded all surplus funds in the company’s defined-benefit pension plan to members, rejecting Accuride’s claim that the money belonged to the corporation.

National President Lana Payne framed it as a statement of principle: “These workers earned these pensions through years of hard work. When Accuride walked away, Unifor and Local 27 stood up and fought to make sure members got what they were owed. This is about dignity, fairness, and making sure corporations can’t raid pension funds that belong to workers.”

The money’s has since been allocated: $600,000 went to legal fees, leaving $4.1 million for workers after the lawsuit settled in April 2026. Individual payouts aren’t set yet — a court-appointed actuary is calculating amounts, with more seniority meaning a larger settlement, and an estimated 300 to 400 people are eligible, including retirees and the surviving spouses of workers who have since died. Domingues isn’t calling the fight over, either – there are still unpaid wages and entitlements owed, possibly exceeding $500,000. “There’s more coming. We’re fighting for more. I have a very good feeling more money is out there for members.”

A pensions lawyer not involved in the case noted it turned almost entirely on unusually clear plan wording, so it isn’t really a broad legal precedent — more a case where the contract language did the work for the union.

What’s there now

The property is now owned by E&E McLaughlin Ltd., and as of June 2026, part of the old steel-wheel plant has a new tenant: stevensE3, a fourth-generation London exhibit and trade-show fabrication company, has leased 55,000 square feet inside the old Accuride footprint. The company lost about 85 per cent of its revenue during the pandemic, then rebounded hard — sales up roughly tenfold since, driven by custom exhibit builds for medical, military, and education trade shows. They moved in to consolidate two smaller London locations (a building on Oxford Street East that’s now conditionally sold, plus a separate warehouse) into one space. Vice-President Andrew Stevens described it simply: “We’re still moving in. We’re just getting things up and running. With how much we have grown, we needed to make this transition.” CBRE realtor Larin Shouldice, who brokered the deal, called it “a positive example of the reuse of industrial space… a space that can be adapted for different uses.”

That leaves roughly 445,000 to 450,000 square feet of the old plant still sitting empty — McLaughlin is actively looking for tenants for the rest of the building. So as of mid-2026, this isn’t a fully abandoned site anymore; it’s a partially reactivated one, with stevensE3’s signage now hanging where the Accuride logo used to be, and a large chunk of the original steel-wheel floor still cold and waiting for the next occupant.

My visit

As of summer 2026, workers are on site daily renovating the property for new tenants. A security guard monitors the grounds by surveillance cameras. I hadn’t planned this visit; while heading to another location on a road trip, we spotted an opportunity.

Front End

Back end

Sources:

^{https://www.fleetowner.com/equipment/article/55234732/wheel-maker-accuride-files-for-bankruptcy-for-us-operations
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-s-accuride-plant-closure-signals-a-volatile-time-for-automakers-analyst-warns-1.7381520
https://www.ctvnews.ca/london/article/thats-the-end-of-it-majority-of-employees-at-industrial-landmark-accuride-finished-at-end-of-month/
https://www.ctvnews.ca/london/article/accuride-closes-its-doors-after-57-years-150-people-out-of-work/
https://www.ctvnews.ca/london/video/2025/01/23/accuride-closing-its-doors/
https://www.unifor.org/news/all-news/former-accuride-workers-win-4-million-pension-fight
https://www.benefitscanada.com/pensions/defined-benefit-pensions/court-decision-in-surplus-pension-case-has-no-precedent-for-plan-sponsors/
https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/union-wins-4-7m-pension-payout-for-ex-workers-at-closed-london-plant-eyes-more
https://www.ctvnews.ca/london/video/2026/05/05/4-million-suit-settled-in-terminated-accuride-employees-favour/
https://lfpress.com/business/local-business/former-accuride-auto-plant-lands-new-tenant-as-london-firm-expands
https://lfpress.com/business/local-business/london-accuride-plant-for-sale-may-close-if-buyer-not-found-company
https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/london-accuride-plant-closing-in-january-200-to-lose-jobs-union
https://www.cbre.ca/insights/figures/london-ontario-industrial-figures-q4-2025}

The Canadian Westinghouse Company was incorporated on July 9, 1903. Within 10 years the company had expanded their Canadian operations to include offices in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg. There were over 3,000 employees by 1915.

The production factory was located on Sanford Avenue in Hamilton . Production was primarily air brakes but later included motors, generators, stoves, toasters, transformers, and turbines. In 1917, the company constructed a five-storey head office building across the street from the factory. A bridge connected the two buildings.

The head office featured large, arched windows and decorative keystones and cornices were key elements in the building’s design.

By 1957 there were 13 manufacturing locations, nine service shops and 18 sales offices across Canada. By 1955, the Hamilton location had 11,000 employees.
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The corporate diviosn moved downtown in 1983 while remaining Westinghouse staff moved out of the building by 1987.

In 2001, the City of Hamilton took possession of the building due to tax arrears. Repairs were estimated to be $5,000,000 and so the property was put up for sale as surplus. It was purchased in 2003 for $200,000. Today the building has been renovated and is home to new businesses including an architectural firm.

The plant was located at 286 Sanford Avenue North, Hamilton.

Studebaker was founded in 1852 as a manufacturer of carriages and harnesses for farmers, miners and the military. Beginning in 1904, the company began production of gasoline powered automobiles under the name of Studebaker Automobile Company.

The factory, located at 440 Victoria Avenue North in Hamilton, had previously been used by Otis Elevators in 1902. From 1914 until 1918 it was used to manufacture shells fror WWI. In 1940, the Federal Government built a gun plant on the Otis Elevator site for World War Two (WWII). Following the end of WWII , the Federal Government then sold the plant to Studebaker of Canada.

On August 18, 1948, the first vehicle, a blue Champion four-door sedan, rolled off the Studebaker assembly line surrounded by 400 employees and news reporters. The following year, the company exceeded both production and profit expectations.

In 1950 through to 1955, the Studebaker plant produced half-ton trucks.The plant was an enormous 740,000 square feet built on 7 and one half acres of land. Steel which was required for automobiles was in close proximity, given Hamilton’s primary industry as a steel producer.

By the 1960’s, the plant was producing Larks, Hawks and trucks. In 1963, the South Bend, Indiana plant closed and global production shifted to Hamilton. The production line was reduced to Daytona, Cruiser, Commander and Wagonaire vehicles.

Studebaker also imported cars for Volkswagen of Canada. They were able to take advantage of lower import duties due to their classification as a manufacturer. Volkswagens were imported from Germany and Studebaker sold them for a $150 profit apiece.

The last car to roll off the line was a turquoise Lark Cruiser on March 17, 1966. Studebaker ceased business the following day. 700 employees found themselves out of work. Otis Elevator purchased the proprty a few years later to use as a warehouse – which was in use until 1987. Following this, Allan Candy used the plant until 1997.

Most of the plant, which has been described as being the “size of three Home Depots”, has been demolished. From 2012 until 2013 more demolition and clean up took place but was not completed.

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The Holmes Foundry was located in the City of Sarnia, which contains 20% of Canada’s refineries. In 1918, John S. Blunt registered the Holmes Blunt Limited name for his business. The foundry produced engine casting blocks and brake linings for the Ford Motor Company. There were two other operations which were the Caposite and Insulation plant and the Holmes Foundry Plant.

Workers at the foundry were unionized under the Canadian Auto Workers however efforts to unionize Caposite Insulation workers were met with opposition from management.

Conditions in the asbestos insulation plant were unsafe and management often dismissing worker’s concerns. With little ventilation, the men finished shifts covered in up to half an inch of dust, but weren’t provided with showers. Meals were eaten in the same room as the toilets.

Violent Strike

On March 2, 1937 beween 30 to 50 of the European immigrant workers went on strike. They sat down in front of their machines and refused to work. The workers presented management with a list of demands: an eight-hour shift, a daily wage of 5 dollars, showers, toilets and a lunchroom, and recognition of their union committee. Superintendent W. B. Millholland refused to negotiate.

Approximately 300 Canadian-born men armed with blackjacks and bullwhips gathered outside the foundry and demanded the strikers step outside. Those who tried to enter the foundry were met with opposition from strikers on the roof. One man tried to escape the chaos and fell 30 feet to the ground, fracturing his spine, pelvis and ankle.A truck was used to break down a door, the mob rushed in and dragged the striking men outside.

The strike lasted 11 days. In the end, all of the striking workers were replaced.

Health Concerns

As early as 1952, Ministry of Health inspections conducted at Holmes Foundry raised concerns about “silica, noise and smoke”. Asbestos and silica sand would be left uncovered in the yard. One report stated that, “Asbestos was everywhere in the Holmes facilities. Former Holmes workers tell horror stories of asbestos in the air so thick they could hardly see, of asbestos on the floor that billowed up whenever anyone walked through, and of asbestos on machines and on shelves. There was asbestos dust on the workers, on clothing, on exposed skin and in their hair.”

In 1958, the Holmes Foundry and the Ministry of Health exchanged correspondance acknowledging that there were potential health hazards due to asbestos exposure. When the Ministry conducted air samples later that year, they found that levels were 28 times over the standard. Despite this, no orders were put into place by the Ministry.

Inspectors returned to the plant in 1967 where they estimated daily production of asbestos to be 10,000 pounds. 34 air samples were taken of which only five were below the legal limit. During the 16 years that the government conducted air sampling at the Caposite plant, asbestos counts were reported to be “the highest ever encountered by this Branch in any of the plants in Ontario.”

AMC Acquisition

In July of 1970, American Motors, Canada (AMC) acquired 100 per cent of the Holmes Foundry.

In the early 1970’s, when new chemicals were brought into the plant, the pigeons that roosted in the plant began to die. Former worker Clare Hall said, “They’d hit the floor. Sometimes they’d kick their feet but they’d be dead.” The women who washed their husband’s work clothes, may have suffered scarred lung cavities.

Between 1972 and 1973 the Ministry measured the asbestos levels to be as high as 852 fibers per cubic cemtimeter. They issued 29 orders to the foundry. In 1973, the Ministry of Health issued a “cease production” order. During a follow-up visit, inspectors found that the foundry had ignored that order.

In 1974, asbestos ceased to be used in the plant.

Present Day

On September 16, 1988 the Holmes Foundry was closed. A $7 million environmental cleanup was conducted. The Ministry of Environment issued a certificate indicating that the land had been decommissioned in accordance with all requirements.

In 1989 the land was purchased by a local realtor named John D’Andrea of the D’Andrea Group. The D’Andrea group was a group of Mr. D’Andrea’s friends and family. In 1999, D’Andrea said that he had a buyer offering $1.8 million for the property.

In 1999, the land was sold to a numbered Ontario company, identified as the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation near London. The Chippewas purchased the land with the intention to develop a casino. D’Andrea received $700,000 as he was the majority shareholder.

Things didn’t go as planned however. When D’Andrea claimed that he still had an interest in the land, police were called. It was determined that the property was actually worth $3.6 million and that D’Andrea had only sold half of the property interest.

The lawsuit was resolved in 2017. Demolition of the property began in 2020 at a cost of $840,000. The property was listed for sale again at a price of $7 million.

The Gneral Motors plant in St. Catharines is a 43 acre property with 1.2 million feet of square space. It began operations in March of 1929 after being purchased by McKinnon Industries, which became a subsidiary of General Motors.

The company was founded as McKinnon and Mitchell Hardware by Ebenezer McKinnon in 1878. The hardware company’s main production was carriages and wagons. In 1888, McKinnon took over the business and diversified into carriage dashes and fenders.

By 1900 the city had passed a special bylaw allowing McKinnon to start an operation on Ontario Street. The McKinnon Bylaw as it was named, provided the company with $4000 a year in grants and tax exemption for up to 15 years in return for guaranteed jobs.

The business expanded and became McKinnon Dash and Metal Work Limited. In 1901 a malleable iron foundry was added followed by a drop forge shop in 1905.

In 1916 McKinnon received military contracts to produce shells and fuses for the First World War. After the war ended, the company began producing radiators and transmission gears for automobiles. The company’s founder Ebenezer McKinnon died in 1923. Two years later, his heir Laughlin McKinnon formed McKinnon Industries, adding wrenches, hammers and small tools to their product lines.

In 1929 the radiator business was sold to make room for the gears division. As the gears division was responsible for supplying General Motors of Canada it was logical for the company to acquire McKinnon Industries. On March 29, 1929 McKinnon Industries became a subsidiary of GM Canada.

In 1930 a new DELCO plant was constructed on the property to produce Canadian made automotive components such as AC spark plugs, shock absorbers and wheel cylinders.

Contracts for equipment for the Second World War led to number of employees temporarily doubling 4,200 workers between 1939 and 1945. The company produced armcy trucks, percussion fuses, fire control mechanisms, gunsight motors and elevating units for guns.

In 1952 a foundry was built on the property.

In 1969, General Motors consolidated their engine, axle and foundry plants into one facility. Employment was now close to 10,000 workers.

In 1996 the foundry was closed and one of the engine operation lines was halted.

In early 2010 GM announced that they’d be closing the plant by the end of the year. Approximately 350 employees were working at the time. The financial impact was felt by the local community.

The property was sold on November 4th, 2014 to Bayshore Groups who are planning to build a $250 million housing and commercial development with technical trade school, apartment lofts and retirement residences. In December of 2014 much of the old GM equipment was sold off.

Photos from Octobver 2015

The GM Factory was located at 282 Ontario Street.

This was the John Deere Factory in Welland, Ontario.

The factory opened in 1911 after taking over The Dain Manufacturing Company, a producer of farming equipment. The company moved their headquarters to Welland in 1915 and in 1918 changed their name to John Deere Manufacturing Company.

Workers were unionized in 1989.

In the year 2000, two 14 year-old students attending the traditional Take Our Kids To Work Day, were killed when the Gator they were riding in crashed into a transport.

In 2008 the company announced that they’d be closing the plant next year, putting 800 people out of work. Production of Gator utility vehicles moved to the Horicon, Wisconsin plant. The reason for the closure was the strong Canadian dollar, which made selling to the United States less profitable.

The property was then purchased by 555 Canal Bank Developments CP Inc. 

As of 2018, the current property owners, King and Benton, have been slowly cleaned up the property.

Video

The history of this piece of property dates back to the 19th century when a wealthy family of political background purchased this adjoining parcel of land to expand their estate. The families didn’t live on the additional property, but rather leased it out to tenants.

The location was last used as a retreat that could accommodate up to two dozen guests. It featured a central in-ground pool that the building wrapped around. The architecture of the structure was based on Italian villa design.

With the building being 19th century, it was outdated compared to surrounding homes. Around 2015 the owners sought a demolition permit. The property was purchased by a developer to be demolished. A heritage assessment found no reason to designate it as a heritage property.

We were turned off from exploring this location due to workers across the road who could see the entrance to the house. They used the driveway for their vehicles. On my second visit to this property, we saw a vehicle in the driveway. The first instinct was to move on, but I was determined. I discreetly made my way down the driveway and to the rear of the property. The workers across the road didn’t see me, or if they did, paid me no attention. I called out “hello?” when I opened the door. I was alone… nervous but also quite certain that the vehicle belonged to a worker across the road.

The back of the property is overgrown but you can see that it had a basketball court and small guest building. There are no photos of the basement because it’s filled with several feet of water.

The Royal Brock was a 104-room Best Western brand hotel that operated in the City of Guelph. Prior to this, it had operated under different company names. The last of which was the College Motor Inn (est. 1970s to 1980s).

In 1987 the College Motor Inn underwent renovations to increase guest capacity and include a conference centre. The two separate buildings were combined into one during the construction.

The Royal Brock contained a conference center, outdoor swimming pool, workout gym and board rooms.

In 2013, the Ontario Municipal Board ruled that a Mississauga company named Abode Varsity Living (affiliated with Rise Real Estate) could build student housing on the property. This resulted in the land being rezoned for housing.

Rise Real Estate Inc. planned to build 26 housing units geared towards students in four connected towers that would be eleven, nine, six and four storeys respectively. They were to present a site plan to the City of Guelph in 2018, but due to some revisions in their project, it wasn’t until October of 2019 that the application was received. At that time the application still wasn’t complete, and so the application was further delayed until the missing information was obtained.

The University of Guelph used the hotel to house its overfill students, as part of a guarantee that all first year students would have student housing, For eight months the hotel was unable to take any guests in as 100 per cent of their rooms were being used by students.

In July of 2019 a man and a woman were arrested for breaking into the building which had been seeing several break and enters since closing. The building was also being used for drug use and by homeless people. Eventually the Guelph Fire Department stepped in and on April 30, 2020 issued a Fire Protection and Prevention Act order to demolish the unsafe building.

Demolition was underway as of July 2020.

The Lookout Inn is located just south of North Bay. It used to be a hotel with a dining area and patio overlooking Lake Nipissing. The business closed in the 1990s.

The hotel was supposed to be revived in 2005 but plans fell through. The two buildings became a popular destination for vandals over the next decade. In 2015

I could find very little information about the hotel itself except that new owners took over in 2016. They repaired one of the buildings and opened Terrace Suites Resort. There’s a golf course on the property which sits between the old and new buildings. It had become overgrown and required maintenance to be reopened along with Terrace Suites.

The new owners might repair the old Lookout Inn depending on the outcome of a structural survey. At this point I’d think it would be a write off.

Perhaps you can fill in some of the missing blanks?

Video

The Burgess Battery Company was formed on March 2nd, 1917 by Dr. Charles Burgess, a professor at University of Wisconsin. The company was a subsidiary of C.F. Burgess Laboratories. Burgess was a chemical engineer who developed dry cell batteries commonly known today as A, B, C and D cell batteries.

Burgess had also been working on developing a flashlight, which had already been invented in 1900 but had been dismissed by many as being impractical. Burgess was successful in selling his flashlight batteries and in 1913 resigned his position at the University.

Burgess expanded his business operations which grew to 2,000 employees. He built two production plants in Canada, one in Winnipeg and the other in Niagara Falls. The Niagara Falls production ran from 1923 until 1981.

Eveready had a 90% dominance of the battery market at the time and would attempt to run their competitors out of business by claiming patent infringements on a manganese battery component. Burgess went on to create a material superior to Eveready’s, who ended up licensing it from him.

Burgess was bought by Servel Inc. in December of 1958.

During the mid 1970s the company suffered financial difficulties including a government anti-monopoly suit. In 1989 the company’s assets were sold off and the business ceased. As of 2010 the Burgess company name was been purchased and still in use today.

After the Niagara factory closed, Vector Tooling took over operations,

Burgess hit financial difficulties in the 1970s with a large anti-monopoly law suit, and went under in 1989 after being bought out by Mallory Battery – now known as Duracell.