Finding out the location	very easy
Access	very easy
Safety	unsafe
Risk of being seen	high
General condition of the place	very bad
Traces of vandalism	very many
Good place for taking pictures?	very good
Did you see other people?	none or very few

Visit date    September 14 2020 at 13 hr
Visit duration    2 hours

Thomas McCormick began manufacturing candy in London Ontario in 1858. In 1879 the company was incorporated under the name of McCormick Manufacturing Company and at that time had a location on Clarence St. In 1906 Thomas passed away leaving his sons to run the company. In 1912 it was decided that they needed a bigger and more efficient facility. After touring over 100 different biscuit and candy factories the McCormick location on Dundas was built. With the help of Watt & Blackwell Architectural firm they created what was considered the most fireproof and sanitary factory at the time. With 68% of the exterior walls being windows it was described as a “sunshine palace” The new location had more than 100 acres of farm land. The facility had the capacity to produce 135,000 pounds of candy and 100,000 pounds of biscuits on a daily basis and employed as many as 1,000 within the factory. In 1926 the company grew, purchasing its competitor D.S Perrin and company Ltd. and became The Canada Biscuit Company which was owned by McCormicks sons until 1940 when it was sold to George Weston Ltd. Finally in 1990 the company was purchased by Culinar Foods and was then sold again in 1997 to Beta Brands Inc. The factory closed in September 2008 at which time it was still owned by Beta Brands Inc and the location has sat abandoned ever since being owned by Sierra Construction with plans to redevelop the site. While demolition has already began the remaining main building will eventually be redeveloped into mixed residential and commercial space.

We visited this location on a sunny Monday afternoon in September. Having grown up in London I knew this location was there and always wanted to check it out finally finding some free time we did exactly that.


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