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McCormick's Biscuit Factory
Being Demolished Commercial in London, Ontario, Canada
Aug 06 2010
| Recent status | Being Demolished |
| Location # | 1835 |
Thomas McCormick's sweet dream during the Industrial Revolution
Thomas McCormick emigrated from Ireland about 1849. In 1858, he began manufacturing confectionary in a factory located on Clarence Street in London. McCormick was in direct competition with another confectioner, Daniel Simmons Perrin who had established his own business just four years earlier.
The McCormick company was incorporated as the McCormick Manufacturing Company Limited in July 1879.
Thomas McCormick died in 1906.
In 1914, Thomas P. McCormick, son of the company(a)s founder Thomas McCormick, moved the London business from downtown to the Dundas location. McCormick had spent many years researching the latest manufacturing technology and incorporating it into his new "Sunshine Palace". At the time of its opening, it was the most modern and fireproof biscuit factory in all of North America.
The operational capacity of the McCormick Biscuit and Candy Factory
The building contained 1.5 million bricks, eight hundred tons of steel, one hundred thousand bags of cement, forty-five thousand square feet of glass thus earning the nickname “Sunshine Palace” (making up 68% of the exterior walls), and 150,000 square feet of maple flooring and made from concrete and steel and constructed to be fireproof.
The production at the new factory was impressive. 135,000 pounds of candy and 100,000 pounds of biscuits were produced daily. At the time as many as 1000 workers were employed in the factory.
This is how the factory was utilized:-
Floor level | Use |
| First floor | Storage for flour, sugar, administrative office, and bakery
|
| Second floor | Production of crackers along with lab used to hold chemicals |
| Third floor | Production for chocolate, employee cafeteria
|
| Fourth floor | Production of candy, with vents and skylight, used to cool off the candy |
| Fifth floor | Distributed into 2 parts. One for jelly bean production and meeting area for executives |
Various holders throughout the years
In 1926, McCormick’s Manufacturing was purchased by its competitor, D.S. Perrin and Company Ltd., and became the Canada Biscuit Company. The Canada Biscuit Company was sold during the 1940s to George Weston Ltd. In 1990 the company was acquired by Culinar Foods of Montreal, and in 1997 by Beta Brands Inc.
Mccormick factory shut down in the summer of 2008 while it was still being operated by Beta Brands. At that time approximately 100 employees lost their jobs.
Today, the abandoned Mccormick factory, located at 1156 Dundas Street lies vacant, dark, with a lot to see and explore.
Current status of the McCormick Biscuit Factory
A highly fragile roof, with holes in between that, has a constant risk of falling pieces, and a basement could be fully flooded depending on the time of the year.
Currently under the private ownership of Sierra Construction of Woodstock, with restoration costs of around 9 million. The back of the factory was mostly destroyed to construct a new housing complex.
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Pretty good spot, went today and basement was mainly frozen but not to bad that it was difficult to walk on. Lots of windows and holes in the walls so be careful at night with a flashlight. There wasn’t any squatters in at the time i went
The basement isn''t even scary lol that homeless guy may not have wanted you to go there ;). There is a thrashed bathroom / employee change rooms near the front door stair case. Other wise it just really dark and simular to the other floors above. I couldn''t go the first time as there was like 4 inches of water in that change room, so I walked along the lockers as far as I could. My second trip there wasn''t water so I went through. There is actually a couple sets of stairs that go down
Anybody ever been to the basement? I''ve gone twice but only since construction started, ran into a nice homeless man who told us not to go in the basement that it was what nightmares were made of and that he wouldnt even go during the day, a few other people I''ve met have said the same thing, wondering if anything is down there or it''s just as creepy as the rest of the place?
demolition has started here so don't know how much longer it's going to be around for. which kind of sucks cause this is one of the ones i was planning for in the spring
This place is super icy in the winter, as said before. Had a few times where I slipped, and a friend I was exploring with actually slipped and fell down a set of icy stairs, so watch where you walk haha
If anyone wants to visit this location within the next few weeks just know there's currently road construction going on in the area and it's a bit of a hassle to get around.
This place is a soggy, smelly mess. Every floor was practically an ice rink. My friend fell down the stairs.. Bring skates!
Security is pretty tight around the place. All known entrances are boarded up pretty secure. I'm sure someone will have it opened up shortly though. Hopefully get in one last time before it's re-purposed.
"Oh yea, we are going to build a seniors home, here's a shiny new dollar." 2 years later "Aww dang, the seniors home wasn't viable, you people let it go to waste too much. It's your fault!! We're building 1 billion storage units instead."
Thanks Rid! I'm glad it worked out as well as I was hoping; almost a mirror reflection. Too bad some of those puddles give off a really dirty smell or I would have gotten more into it haha.
Nice set PNK! The water reflections in here really adds to a beat location such as this!
Very big & pretty dark in some places, especially the basement. It's one of those places where I was there for a long time but still feel like I missed so much.
looks like the end of McCormicks is on its way. Link posted above to CTV news story
Great additions Dave, Doom and Trail...you've got me considering a 3rd visit...wait WTF....I haven't uploaded my OLD galleries from here yet.....
There is talk city had a byer but they droped out of deal after they realised how much would cost to clean up aspestos and crap in there, last year the site across the street from this one was burned to , they say was insurance scam so one only knows .
ya has been talk of insurance scam, the city has been trying for years to rid themselves of this place so wouldnt surprise me .
It's too bad about the fire. Now this site is too "hot" to ever go back. Now that the "concerned citizens" have the building across the street down. It's full steam ahead on this one.
I was by here today and couldn't find a way in. all the doors have been welded shut and the police were circling the neighborhood too.
Adriana your shots are great, image 10 is really cool with the water reflection!
Thanks RnR...what i THINK you mean to say though is you plan on potentially maybe hitting this place up at some point at a currently undetermined future date?
Thanks phrenzee...it was tough even condensing it down to 40...have so many damned pics of this awesome place. Wish I had been able to capitalize better on the low light in the boiler room. The room beyond that was intriguing but no way to access it safely due to flooding so I laid down on a catwalk and snapped through a small opening between that and an air duct.
was here April long weekend. Great site. The flour silos were the best. Working on getting a model into this place in the near future.
We went back last night to film another episode in this location due to how awesome it is. Entry to this building has become a little more difficult. the city and police are watching it more closely. One of the doors in the back is still able to be opened if you pry it slightly. the rest are bolted pretty tightly. Since our first video of this place, it looks as though someone has made an a
for video of this place check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBH0X9TGh18 i'll have to take some screenshots later and upload them!
Yes ... when exploring be like a scout - take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.
8 months ago
If anyone is planning to go in the next couple weeks, feel free to reach out. Have been trying to get some friends to go with me into this hellhole with no avail...