Ontario Abandoned Places will be rebranded as Ominous Abandoned Places

Long Branch Arsenal Lands

Abandoned Military in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Nov 11 2011

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Recent status Abandoned
Location # 3472

The Ontario Rifle Association and the Government established the Long Branch Rifle Ranges in 1891. In May 1915 Curtis Aeroplanes and Motors Company of Toronto opened Canada(a)s first airfield and flying school there. Its objective was to train airmen for service in World War I.

In June 1940, Small Arms Limited was formed, and produced Sten Submachine guns and the Long Branch Lee Enfield rifles until the end of WWII.

In the Mid 90(a)s the buildings were torn down after Canada post closed the sorting station that had been in use since the 70(a)s.

Many historical structures remain, including the firing range backstop, the sound baffles, the water tower, and other concrete structures littered around the site as you will see in my photos.

The area is currently planned for park development in the near future. The water tower will be knocked down and replaced with a splash pad and picnic area. See map in gallery.

Added by Lightbulb, January 8, 2017:

An Ontario Heritage sight. Built in the early 1800, this was the sight of munitions production and small arms testing, it. The only building left standing was the building designated to small arms inspection. A lot of weapons that came through here saw action in WWI and even WWII. The sight stop supplying munition in 1974 and was shutdown for good sometime in the 90's.

The old and over grown firing range that was used until 1957 still stands directly south of the small arms building, but be careful. Directly behind the small arms building is a nice little deposit of mildly radioactive materials burred under the soil. Nothing horrible, and nothing your body can't deal with. Probably.

The old water tower still stands and is planned to remain standing along with the firing range and the small arms building.

Future plans for this space include redevelopment: a connection to the waterfront, hipster cafe style shops; areas for small businesses that hipsters love so much and even a greenspace for squirrels.

Comments

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4 years ago

as i approached to go up the ladder i was met by a woman and her boyfriend who looked surprised to be caught trying to climb. i reassured them that i was not a snitch and the woman advised me that she was an off-duty cop. lol. but she encouraged me that tower climbers will most likely just be told by cops to leave, not harassed?

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7 years ago

the main building is now active, a company has bought it and they are renovating it. last time i went there were contractors on site as well as lights on inside.

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7 years ago

Word is that although it had a fire on January 27th, it is still standing.

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7 years ago

Water tower is currently burning..

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9 years ago

I went yesterday, there was a film crew shooting "Heroes" at the back of the building, and they were all staring at me as I made a lap around the building so I didn't get any photos of that. Very disappointing that I couldn't get inside, but I've posted a couple photos of the water tower.

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10 years ago

Jesus... no wonder she was banned.

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11 years ago

Motion Detectors, set off alarm. No one responded for 1 hour and 15 minutes while I waited across the street, so I went back inside.

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11 years ago

I think that link is a PDF. So just google search "Small Arms, Ltd. 1940-1946 - Heritage Mississauga" and click on ther first link.

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11 years ago

I found a good link on the history of this location. It's got some cool photos in the article as well. http://heritagemississauga.com/assets/Small20Arms20Final20Report20-20by20Liwen20Chen.pdf

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12 years ago

When we visited in July there was a dude living beneath the water tower. Sealed then too.

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12 years ago

Currently locked up tight with no POE

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13 years ago

Great piece of history, thanks for showing us this place.