Kodak Heights

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Kodak Heights is the name Eastman Kodak gave to its large campus in Mount Dennis, Ontario.[1][2] Kodak moved the centre of its operations in Canada to the Mount Dennis campus in 1912, and continued to operated there until 2006.

By 1925 Kodak employed 900 employees on the campus.[3]

At its largest extent the campus covered 48 acres (19 ha).[1] The campus was acquired for use as a transportation hub, and will house the western terminus of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, a new commuter railway station, a 15 bay bus terminal, and the maintenance and storage yards for the Eglinton Crosstown's rolling stock.[2]

At the height of its operations Kodak the campus contained over a dozen building, of which only Kodak building 9 remains.[1][2][4] It was the employee recreation building housing a gym and cafeteria. Kodak hosted a weekly movie night in the Cafeteria. Although building 9 has been vandalized it has been proposed it be designated as a heritage property and preserved and repurposed. Rick McGinnis, in Blog TO, wrote: "What I can't understand is how no one can see the value of Building 9, even if just as a reminder of when even blue collar life had its touches of elegance..."[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ken Shaddock (2013-05-06). "Memories of a former Kodak employee: Ken Shaddock started in the order department at Kodak in 1967 and worked his way up to sales and marketing operations before he retired in 2001.". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2013-09-16. "Kodak came to Canada in 1899 and moved twice in Toronto due to rapid growth before the company bought 48 acres in Mt. Dennis in 1912 — the site that would become known as Kodak Heights and become one of the largest employers in the area." 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Rachel Mendleson (2013-10-02). "Crosstown LRT project reveals — and respects — Eglinton's history". TorontoStar. Retrieved 2013-10-03. "Building 9, the former Kodak employee bulding, is the last remnant of Kodak Heights. The derelict building will become the "heart" of Mount Dennis station." 
  3. ↑ "Kodak Canada Corporate Archives and Heritage Collection". Ryerson University. Archived from the original on 2013-09-16. "In 1912, Canadian Kodak purchased 25 acres of farmland near Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue to build a major manufacturing facility known as “Kodak Heights.” By 1925, there were over 900 employees working in seven buildings at Kodak Heights." 
  4. ↑ "Kodak's Building 9 was once employee hub of Toronto complex" (in English). Toronto Sun. 2013-06-22. Archived from the original on 2013-09-16. Retrieved August 2013. "In 2013, the last remaining building became home to squatters, teenage graffiti artists, and the property of Metrolinx, the government organization that oversees public transportation in the GTA." 
  5. ↑ Rick McGinnis (2009-07-03). "The End of Kodachrome and the Death of Kodak Heights". Blog TO. Archived from the original on 2013-09-16. "I understand completely why Kodak, eager to avoid the fate of its onetime rival, Polaroid, had to make drastic decisions such as the one to close Kodak Heights. I can also understand why local residents and politicians are pressuring Metrus Properties to try and replace the industrial jobs the area has lost, instead of filling the Kodak lands with big box retail stores. I can even understand why bored local kids are trashing Building 9 - frankly, I might have been one of them if this had happened 30 years ago. What I can't understand is how no one can see the value of Building 9, even if just as a reminder of when even blue collar life had its touches of elegance, but I'm sure my dismay is largely a personal reaction to what seems like the erasure of all that history, much of it my own." 

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