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28-609: The Sault Canal Emergency Swing Dam is an all-metal structure built by the Dominion Bridge Company in 1896. It sits along the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal , to protect against the rush of water that would occur if something ever damaged the Sault locks. It operates by swinging over the canal and dropping wicket gates into the water. The Emergency Dam was put to the ultimate test on June 9, 1909, when

56-465: A $ 2.1 million expansion program to add 3,000 square feet (280 m ) to the paint shop, install new roofing over exterior crane rails, and purchase new fabrication equipment. The plant reopened in May 1999. On July 9, 2008, a numbered company (3010864 Canada Inc.) that had been dissolved in 2003 was revived under the name 'Dominion Bridge Inc.' Michel L. Marangere is one of two listed directors (Search for

84-467: A Federal Corporation - Corporations Canada - Industry Canada). To date, there have been no public communications about the objectives of this company. The company participated in the construction of the following: Sorauren Avenue Park Sorauren Avenue Park is a park in the Roncesvalles neighbourhood of Toronto , Ontario , Canada. A reclaimed brown field site , it was created after

112-488: A linseed oil factory and a factory for the Dominion Bridge Company property at 289 Sorauren Avenue. The Toronto Transit Commission took over the factory and converted it into a bus garage on the site in the 1947, and used it until the 1960s, and it later became a repair and maintenance facility. The TTC stopped using the facility, which was contracted out for soundstage use for television series such as Captain Power . In

140-592: A major decline after work was completed on projects for Montreal's Olympic Games in 1976. The Burnaby plant was shut down in the mid-1970s and the Toronto plant was closed in 1990. Furthermore, the company reduced the scope of its Montreal-area operations between the early 1970s and 1990: the satellite facility in Montreal's Longue-Pointe district was closed, two large shops in Lachine were acquired by Sulzer Inc. after

168-431: A parkette. The second purchase, on the corner of Wabash and Sorauren, was the purchase of a warehouse by the city. The warehouse land was cleared and the playground was built. Williams Park was constructed before Sorauren Park. Holly Maria Jones was a ten-year-old Toronto girl who was murdered by Michael Briere in 2003. Jones and her family lived in the neighbourhood north of the park, near Bloor Street. Her death touched

196-687: Is the last of nine ever built. Other examples were previous in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, USA and in the Panama Canal . 46°30′47.74″N 84°21′34.52″W  /  46.5132611°N 84.3595889°W  / 46.5132611; -84.3595889  ( Sault Canal Emergency Swing Dam ) Dominion Bridge Company Other Canadian plants were located in Amherst, NS , Toronto, ON , Winnipeg, MB , Regina, SK , Saskatoon, SK , Calgary, AB , Edmonton, AB , Richmond, BC and Burnaby, BC . In

224-882: The National Transcontinental Railway between 1908 and 1911 including the Cap-Rouge trestle in Quebec and the Little Salmon River Trestle in New Brunswick, Canada's second largest railway bridge. With a lowest bid of $ 6,954,000, the company secured the contract to erect the steel superstructure of the Jacques Cartier Bridge linking Montreal to the South Shore on October 25, 1925. The last girder

252-641: The St. Lawrence River for the Canadian Pacific Railway . Because part of the bridge lay in the reservation of the Kahnawake and Akwesasne Mohawks , the Mohawks demanded jobs on the project. The company planned to use them as unskilled labour but they climbed all over the bridge, without fear, and asked to become riveters . They proved to have a remarkable aptitude for the work and by the end of

280-435: The 1960s and 1970s, Dominion Bridge expanded internationally and renamed itself AMCA International (AMCA name effective June 1, 1981). This name was later changed to United Dominion Industries. To keep name recognition alive, the company continued to call its Canadian division 'Dominion Bridge'. Between 1979 and 1988, the company's Lachine plant operated under the auspices of a subsidiary called Dominion Bridge-Sulzer Inc., which

308-413: The 1980s, the city planned to use the site to store trucks and other vehicles of its public works division. The community, notably local schools, rallied to cancel the plan and convert the site to open space, of which there was a lack in the area. The city council endorsed the plan to convert the bus garage site, clean it of toxins, and build a park. The park construction did not remove the concrete floor of

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336-697: The Engineering Department in 1886, becoming Chief Engineer in 1901, and rose to become President of the company. Another notable employee was Philip Louis Pratley , a Person of National Historic Significance . In 1898 the Dominion Bridge Company was awarded the contract to design and build the Alexandra Bridge , one of Canada's most notable bridges. At the time of completion in 1901 the Alexandra Bridge

364-814: The North American steel industry, which had been losing ground to cheaper Asian competitors for many years. To date, the Lachine plant remains closed and ADF is looking for a buyer. Of the other three plants that survived to 1998, two were never reopened following the Dominion Bridge bankruptcy. The third, in Amherst, was purchased in November 1998 by Amherst Fabricators Limited (part of the Cherubini Group of Companies). Amherst Fabricators rehired 43 former Dominion Bridge employees and conducted

392-465: The area of the park. Across Wabash Avenue from Sorauren Park is the small park of Charles G. Williams Park. The park has a children's playground and a strip of green space stretching from Wabash to Wright Avenue behind the buildings of Sorauren Avenue. The park was created from two separate land purchases by the City of Toronto. The strip was first purchased from the purchase of a house on Wright to serve as

420-406: The bus garage, which was instead filled over with soil. The park cost $ 700,000 and was officially opened on September 17, 1995 by Mayor Barbara Hall and Councillor Chris Korwin-Kuczynski . The park has two mini-soccer fields for youth soccer, two tennis courts and one baseball diamond for sports. Open space is set aside for a dogs' off-leash area. In 2008, one of the former linseed oil buildings

448-435: The company into bankruptcy. Later in 1998, Groupe ADF Inc, a steel company from Terrebonne, Quebec , purchased the assets of the Lachine plant and restarted operations. Employees who had been laid off following the bankruptcy, many of whom had worked at the plant for over 20 years, were re-hired to work for a new company called ADF Industries Lourdes. In November 2003, ADF closed the Lachine plant due to declining fortunes in

476-461: The dissolution of Dominion Bridge-Sulzer Inc., and several buildings on the property of the Lachine plant were mothballed or torn down following the dissolution. Employment at the Lachine plant alone dropped from approximately 2,000 in the early 1970s to about 250 in 1990. In 1993, the Cedar Group (led by Michel L. Marengere) acquired United Dominion Industries' Dominion Bridge subsidiary, which

504-478: The freighter Perry G. Walker crashed into the upstream lock sending a torrent of water crashing into the downstream lock. The Perry G. Walker and another ship the "Assiniboia" were sent back into the St. Marys River and another ship that was heading upstream out of the locks the "Crescent City" hit the channel wall. The swing dam proved its worth by slowing down the torrent of water. This example of emergency swing bridge

532-431: The local community objected to City of Toronto government plans to convert a former bus garage into a facility for storing city vehicles. The park opened in 1995 and now hosts several sporting fields, a farmer's market and a fieldhouse for community gatherings. The location was first cleared in the 1800s for a farm. After the building of bordering rail lines, the site became a desirable location for industrial uses such as

560-413: The materials for the project, which was constructed by a contractor selected by the City of Toronto Parks Department. A noise barrier is scheduled to be built between the park and the adjoining rail lines. It is part of a Metrolinx transit project to provide a rail link from Union Station to Pearson Airport . The lands of the oil factory are to be used as a staging area for noise barrier construction in

588-526: The one night following Halloween in the annual Pumpkin Parade. The pumpkins are placed around the paths of the park and number in the hundreds. The pumpkins are then collected by a City of Toronto crew the following day to be composted. A pumpkin sale is held a few days before the event, with proceeds going to park services and improvements. The Wabash Building Society estimates that nearly 2,000 pumpkins are on display annually. The former linseed oil factory, on

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616-640: The project there were 70 iron and steel riveters in the Kahnawake band, who went on to work on projects throughout Canada. In 1890 civil engineer for various railways James Ross replaced Job Abbott as president of the company. Although credited to the drive of Ross, vice-president James Pawley Dawes lead the developed via joint-venture the St Lawrence Bridge Company to construct the Quebec Bridge . George Herrick Duggan joined

644-419: The south boundary of the park along Wabash Avenue, is currently vacant. It was purchased by the city with the intent to be converted to a community centre. The centre project is approved by the city, but the actual start date will take place when funds are allocated to the project. A "town square" was constructed in the area between the field house and the factory in 2014. Community fund-raising purchased much of

672-533: Was co-owned by AMCA International and Sulzer Inc. The Dominion Bridge facility in Burnaby, BC operated from 1930 until the mid-1970s at a 15-acre (61,000 m ) property located at 2400 Boundary Road. After being sold, this property was repurposed to become The Bridge Studios , the site of the largest special effects stage in North America. In 1886, the company began to build a cantilevered bridge over

700-515: Was converted to a fieldhouse, and is used for community meetings and community usage. In the wintertime, ice rinks are set up on the field. A farmer's market is held each Monday by the West-End Food Co-op and sells local produce, meat, baked goods, soaps and services. The market is held outdoors except in winter, when it moves inside the field house. After Halloween, neighbourhood residents bring their jack-o-lanterns for display for

728-664: Was placed on 10 July 1929, seventeen months ahead of schedule In 1957 and 1958 Pratley returned to the bridge as the consulting engineer when the company jacked up the span from 40 feet (12 m) to 120 feet (37 m) to enable free passage of ships on the new St. Lawrence Seaway . The company also raised the Honoré Mercier Bridge as part of the same programme. It had built the original bridge between 1932 and 1934 using steel caissons assembled by Dufresne Engineering from plates manufactured at Dominion's Lachine yards. The company's Canadian operations experienced

756-499: Was the fourth longest cantilever span in the world. Dominion Bridge opened a manufacturing site in Toronto at Sorauren and Wabash Avenue sometime after 1910, which later became TTC Parkdale Bus garage until 1980 then demolished in 1990s to become what is now Sorauren Avenue Park . This facility provided steel for the building of the Prince Edward Viaduct . The company built a series of large railway viaducts for

784-509: Was then a four-plant operation (Lachine, Amherst, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Regina). Cedar Group kept the Dominion Bridge name alive, renaming itself 'Dominion Bridge Corporation' and bundling the four plants under a subsidiary called 'Dominion Bridge, Inc.' However, in 1998 the company made a disastrous decision to purchase the bankrupt MIL-Davie shipyard in Lauzon, Quebec . The Davie purchase drained Dominion Bridge of its cash reserves and pushed

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