We used to make things in this country. #89

Above and below:  riveter for brake shoe linings

Parmenter & Bulloch began in a small stone building on the west bank of the Ganonoque River in 1864, using the river to supply water power.  When the river was low, machines were often turned by hand.  At the beginning, they made "kettle ears" and washers, but in 1876 they turned to solid rivets and in 1884, tubular rivets.  They also made overshoe buckles, ice grippers, sweatpad hooks (for horse collars) and button hooks.  Steam power eventually replaced the water wheel, and the manufacture of rivets became the company's sole product. They pioneered the use of rivet setting machines in Canada and installed electrical generators in 1918, not connecting to the city's grid until 1937.  In 1946, the employees bought the company, rather than see it sold to American interests and moved south of the border. However, six years later it was acquired by the Townsend Company out of the U.S. and then, in 1958, it became part of the Textron Corporation.  At some point, the factory in Ganonoque was closed.  All that now remains is the Athlone Inn in Ganonoque, built in 1877 for Charles Leopold Parmenter, co-founder of the firm.  It is now a bed and breakfast.