Bathurst Street Wharf

Bathurst Street Wharf was a series of shipyards located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, between Bathurst Street and Spadina Avenue along Lake Shore Boulevard West.

Early years

The first facility appeared in 1890 and the last closed at the end of World War II. In total 160 ships were built in the shipyards in the site.^[1] Now filled inland, the area is now being developed into condos along the Gardiner Expressway.

The ship building area was located near Old Fort York (where smaller vessels were built for the garrison) and Queens Wharf.

Shipyards

It was not until the late 19th Century when a formal shipyard began emerging in the area. The first ship building company in the area was John Doty Company (John Doty and Sons) from 1890 to 1893. This company built 6 boats, paddle boat ferries and steamers.

Doty was acquired by Bertram Engineering Works Company in 1893 and built a large number of vessels of various sizes. Bertram sold the shipyard to Canadian Shipbuilding Company in 1905 and operated until 1908. From 1908 to 1913 shipbuilding proved to be financially challenging to the new owners Toronto Shipyards (1908–1910) and the yard was abandoned until 1913.

Thor Iron Works acquired the yards in 1913 and built only 9 ships, mainly warships and cargo ships. Bought out in 1917, Dominion Shipbuilding and Repair Company Limited. Prior to 1918, shipbuilding was done in wharfs and finally in a shipyard built by Dominion. However Dominion shared the same fate as Toronto Shipyards and closed in 1920 after a strike caused the shipbuilder to go bankrupt.

Decline and closing of shipyard

The yards lay empty for two decades before being re-activated by the Government of Canada in 1941 to build minesweepers for the Royal Canadian Navy under the contractor Dufferin Shipbuilding Company Limited and then by federally owned Toronto Shipbuilding Company Limited. From 1943, the new owner Redfern Construction Company Limited built minesweepers for the Royal Navy. The last ship was completed in 1945 with the remainder orders cancelled. The shipbuilding industry came to a close in the area for good.

Post-shipyard use

Following World War II, the area remained industrial and served as docking facilities the nearby silos. Berths were filled in and in the 1980s industry was replaced with condos and a City of Toronto park (Toronto Music Gardens). The only marine use in the area is a marina for sailboats at Spadina Quay.

References

↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-06-19. Retrieved 2010-06-04.

External links

Canadian shipbuilders and shipyards
Active shipbuilders	ABCO Industries A.F. Theriault & Son Allied Shipbuilders Canoe Cove Manufacturing Davie Yards Hike Metal Products Irving Shipbuilding Glovertown Shipyard Kiewit Offshore Marystown Shipyard MIL/Metal Craft Marine Newdock Pictou Shipyards Port Weller Dry Docks Seaspan Marine Toronto Drydock Vito Steel Boat & Barge
Defunct shipbuilders	Albion Iron Works (VMD) West Coast Shipbuilders Bathurst Street Wharf Bel-Air Shipyards Limited Betram Engineering Works Company Burrard Dry Dock Canadian Dredge and Dock Limited Canadian Power Boat Company Canadian Shipbuilding Company Canadian Vickers Collingwood Shipyards Davie Shipbuilding Dominion Shipbuilding and Repair Company Limited Dufferin Shipbuilding Company Limited Eastern Equipment Limited Ferguson Industries Limited Friede Goldman Newfoundland Government Dock Yard, Sorel Halifax Dartmouth Industries J. Coughlan & Sons John Doty Company John Manly's Limited Marine Industries MIL-Davie Shipbuilding Morton Engineering and Dry Dock Company Navy Island Marine Newfoundland Dockyard North Van Ship Repair Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company Prince Rupert Drydock & Shipbuilding Russel Brothers Saint John Shipbuilding Star Shipyards Thor Iron Works Toronto Shipbuilding Company Limited Toronto Shipyards Victoria Machinery Depot W. Armour & Company Western Canada Shipyards Limited West Coast Manly Shipyards Limited Western Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company William Lyall Shipbuilding Co Yarrow Shipyards (Canada)
Historic naval shipyards and shipbuilding facilities	Amherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard Fort Saint-Jean (Quebec) Île aux Noix Naval Shipyards Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard Naval Shipyards, York (Upper Canada) Navy Island Royal Naval Shipyard Penetanguishene Naval Yard Royal Naval Dockyard, Halifax

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