Local historians agree that Menzies’ Wallpaper Factory was one of the earlier companies to set up shop in New Toronto. Some say when Menzies moved in their plant was lit by oil lanterns.
The company made fine wallpaper products that was popular with women who wanted the decorative designs to grace their walls.
The Menzies’ company was purchased in 1903 by Reg. N. Boxer, dubbed the ‘Master Makers of Wallpapers,’ which became well-known for their ‘Maixmur,’ later ‘Resistolite’ brand of wall coverings.
Reg. N. Boxer and three other companies in 1927 formed the Canadian Wallpaper Manufacturing Ltd., (CWM), which had four plants that exported the south Etobicoke made products around the world.
The company was located at the so-called ‘Boxer Building,’ at 222 Islington Ave., which has been deemed a historical building. The McDonald Stamping Works Building, which is part of the Boxer Building complex, is deemed one of the oldest surviving industrial buildings in New Toronto.
The plant was one of the largest wallpaper factories in Canada which operated from 1903 to about 1963, as the industry blossomed with different brands and products being introduced.
The company’s colour department became the Dominion Colour Corporation in 1946, which supplied inks to many industries that were booming at the time. Dominion Colour is still in operation today at the same location producing inks.
“From original art to final printing, it is human skill and ability that make Canadian wallpapers so widely famous,” the company said in its marketing materials.
For decades wallpaper manufacturing was one of the more important industry in the area, employing hundreds of residents in the printing, designing and producing an assortment of wall coverings.
For 60-years CWM operated in New Toronto and was part of the community. The company had a whopping payroll of more than $2 million yearly and used then ultra-modern machinery to produce some of the ‘highest quality wallpaper in the world.’
The Boxer name remained in use until about 1959, while CWM continued until 1978 when, as Sunworthy, the company relocated to Brampton.