Oliver Chilled Plow
(1910)
Oliver workers began producing the patented “chilled plow” in Hamilton in 1910. The cutting blade of this plow was made of an extraordinary durable “chilled” cast iron. Some of the plant’s foundries, its forge and paint shops still stand as an assembly of buildings and warehouses on the waterfront directly east of Hillyard Street.
This was the first Hamilton project for the Pittsburgh-based Prack and Perrine’s architects, (later, Prack & Prack). The firm went on to design a number of other important factory buildings in the city, including those of Standard Underground Cable, Canadian Westinghouse and Dofasco.
In 1919, International Harvester absorbed the Oliver plant and continued operations under the name International Plow Company of Canada. In the mid-1920s, a number of the original Oliver buildings were converted to become Harvester’s new Twine Mills.