Dodge Plant Fire
January 9, 2012 - 1:33pm — fortinma
I just wrote a very quick short piece on some visual history of the Storage facility that just went up in flames at Osler and Pelham. The post can be found here:
http://maplib.blogspot.com/2012/01/junction-dodge-plant-that-was.html
Marcel
Dodge Pulleys in Canadian machinery and metalworking (1913)
Stumbled across this on Flickr and followed the link to archive.org....
The Dodge Manufacturing Co. has a wonderfully detailed article in the Jan-June 1913 edition of Canadian machinery and Metalworking, including lengthy textual descriptions, photos, and a site map.
Here's the site map on Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14781719741/in/p...
...which links to the complete article on archive.org (starting on Page 25):
https://archive.org/stream/canmachinerjanjun1913toro/canmachinerjanjun19...
-Vic
re: thanks for the update
very cool update, thanks, Vic!
Dodge Plant 1957
Here's another view of the Dodge Plant from the Old Weston Rd. Bridge, 1957:
http://static.torontopubliclibrary.ca/da/images/LC/pictures-r-3615.jpg
Details here:
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMDC-PICTURES-R-3615...
You may need to be logged in to the Library's website to see some of this.
(Aside: With a few quick searches, I've found some real gems on the Library's site, though few photos are of a good resolution...but can be purchased)
re: hobos?
Interesting, when you look at this image and zoom onto the train, there are a couple of guys who look like they are just "hanging" out in the boxcar.
Hobos
Heh. I hadn't noticed those guys when I had a brief look at this photo earlier. There's a third guy at the far end of the car near the "door".
The car isn't likely moving anywhere as it's not attached to any other car or locomotive. That's kind of an odd place to park it though, blocking four other sets of tracks. Maybe they were doing work at this time.
-Vic
re: Dodge plant
I have put the photo of the building being chipped away on top of google streetview here. Quite astounding to see the building chopped in two now:
http://www.whatwasthere.com/b/34053
Here is the previous one I did with the photo you sent before vic
http://www.whatwasthere.com/b/33522
More photos and news links collected...
Over the past few weeks, I've been stopping by the scene of the fire, to observe and photograph it. It's been almost a week since the last time I was there. But yesterday, I had a chance to visit it again.
It was a very sad sight. They've started to dismantle the southwest end of the building. So the extent of the fire damage can be seen, quite literally, as a cut-away view. As a result, one is reminded of the fact that it held the contents of people's lives.
While standing there, a pair of CP frieght trains passed in opposite directions, causing pedestrians to wait on either side of the tracks, for the two trains to pass. One of these folks stopped and shared a story with me of a young couple that she had spoken to there, on the evening of the fire. The couple – whom had stored everything there, in preparation for moving into a new home – lost everything. The thought of that is heart-wrenching.
I've been using the following set, on Flickr, to document what has happened over the past few weeks since the fire...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/krunkwerke/sets/72157628796702349
It's frightening to ponder the destructive power of fire and its ability to impact our lives – for good or bad. It's also sad, to think, that this historic piece of our neighbourhood will soon be completely gone.
... John
Update
Just a quick update on the Storage building fire. They have started to demolish the building. So far the south west upper corner has been removed. Toronto Fire services keeps an eye on any flare ups.
Alison
Ad in the Mail
I just received an ad in the mail yesterday for this place.
What was there?
I have taken the archival photo posted by Vic and draped it over the current google streetview image of the building. Pretty neat to see: http://www.whatwasthere.com/b/33522
Time Travel
Thanks for the digital time travel! A. and I enjoyed fiddling with the fade + and - buttons to see what stayed and what changed in each photograph.
Photos and video of the fire fighting effort...
I spent some time at the scene, earlier today, capturing photos and video of the fire. They're uploading to Flickr as I type this. Here's where the entire set can be found...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/krunkwerke/sets/72157628796702349/
Thanks for sharing the history of this building, Marcel. I had been wondering what it might have been in a former life. Hopefully it is not damaged to the point where it is no longer structurally sound. Though, I have to admit, I had a sick feeling in my stomach this morning, when I saw the news that the storage facility was on fire and thought of all the folks that have stored their belongings there.
Incidentally: the Toronto Fire Service has a couple of Twitter feeds. Here's the one that I checked when I woke up early this morning, to the sound of numerous sirens in the neighbourhood...
https://twitter.com/#!/tofire
... John
Dodge Plant 1948 (Toronto archives)
February 6, 1948:
https://gencat4.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resourc...
Dodge plant - derailment
Marcel,
You mentioned the derailment that hit the building. John (aka Krunkwerke) has a set of photos and video from the aftermath of that derailment posted on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/krunkwerke/sets/72157625704504118/with/5305...
Dodge plant - derailment
Thanks Vic, i have put a link to these from the blog post.
M
Thanks Marcel
Thanks for posting this. The historical background and maps were great to see.
I haven't followed this story too closely yet, but I was hoping to at least post some links to news articles later today.
I hope that everyone escaped this without injury, though I imagine some important memories and personal items were lost in the fire.
-Vic