Massey-Harris Company Plaque Unveiling and Pop-up Museum

At the Massey Harris Park, Heritage Toronto unveiled a plaque and hosted a pop-up museum. The pop-up museum, which took place on the grounds of the old Massey-Harris facility, entertained public with a variety of artefacts from the City of Toronto’s historical collection. Kaitlin Wainwright, the Plaques and Markers Program Coordinator in Toronto curated the pop-up museum with the assistance of Alex Avdichuk, the Supervisor of Collections and Conservation with City of Toronto Museums. 

The Massey-Harris Company opened in 1879 and at the time demonstrated state-of-the-art features, such as telephones, elevators, and even sprinkler systems. The company has a long-standing history in Canada which allows them to partake in self-commemoration.  Over the years, Massey-Harris produced 100^th and 125^th anniversary booklets, catalogues and tokens, some of which were presented in the pop-up museum.  

The artefacts displayed helped to identify and share the significance of Massey-Harris’ contributions during the First and Second World Wars. Their key contribution was through technology that improved food production during those critical times. During the First World War the factory was converted into a munitions plant, and in the Second World War Massey-Harris put forth the skills they had excelled in: agriculture manufacturing. The company created the Massey Harvest Brigade, which consisted of dozens of self-propelled combine harvesters that harvested crops from California and the Gulf of Mexico up to the Canadian prairies. This creation saved fuel, steel, and labour, which was reallocated to support the war effort.

Sharing the family history at the unveiling was Peter Tovell (pictured on right), the great-great-grandson of Hart Massey. This pride connected to the Massey-Harris Company is revealed through family, but also through past employees. The company acted as a social hub for those who lived nearby in company-built homes. Outside of work they organized literary journals, marching bands, sports teams, and mutual aid societies, all of which helped to improve morale and the community.