Canadian Otis Elevator Company
Karma Candy, (1902)
The Canadian Otis Elevator Company, a subsidiary of the Otis Elevator Company of New York, started in a small factory on this site in 1902. Three years later, it merged with the sizable Fensom elevator works of Toronto to become the Otis-Fensom Elevator Company. In 1949, it became the Otis Elevator Company Limited (Canada).
Workers at this plant produced all types of elevators and escalators. Forklifts also became an important product line. For many years, this was the largest elevator manufacturing facility under one roof in the world. During World War II, the company produced Bofors anti-aircraft guns and other military hardware.
Wartime demand led the company to add a new 350,000 square foot facility to the east of the plant. After the war, the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana bought this new addition. Otis bought back the Studebaker section of the plant in the early 1970s, but stopped all production in Hamilton in 1987.