Purolator International

This massive Purolator facility was constructed in 1946, and it's still in pretty good shape after abandonment. The building contained offices, with scanning rooms, computer rooms, data holding rooms, among other things not worth mentioning.

My interest in the history of this building was piqued when I realized that Purolator was founded in 1960. With the facility being built prior to that, I did some research to find out that the property was previously owned by Motorways Transport, a trucking company that transported general freight specializing in the shipment of frozen and perishable goods. The building was purchased by the Brazeau Transport Group in the mid 1980’s, which was also the last time period I was able to find any publicly available digital records. At some point between 1990 and 2007 (the first iteration of street view), the facility was bought by Purolator, who have owned the property up to present day.

The majority of the facility existed as vast warehouse spaces, where docking trucks would receive and deliver shipments. I won’t go into detail on the operations of the facility, as a quick google search on what Purolator does should do the trick. The facility closed in late 2024 in a move that was not announced to the public. After considerable time digging, I wasn't able to find the reason for the closure or the intended use for the land in the future, aside from imminent demolition. I would speculate that the existence of a neighbouring Purolator facility a mere 500 meters away played a role in the decision, but without much available information, who’s to say?

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