People have been asking why am I carrying information about American foundries and history in general. The answer is simple – it fascinates me. I love researching, and if information can be brought out that isn’t found anywhere else, why not post it.
Labour strikes back in the 1880 crippled some foundries – and shut others down. It looks like a labour strike caused Chown and Cunningham in Kingston, Ontario to sell out to Thos. Davidson Mfg as an example. It was threatened in the 1880’s that the Knights of Labor would set up a competing foundry close to Chown and Cunningham if they didn’t comply with the Knights. C&C mentioned closing their doors if it happened.
One of the parts of history that I’m interested in – is the shipping around of patterns by struck and/or boycotted foundries to keep production going. I’ve seen articles where Chown & Cunningham took in patterns from struck companies – and paid their workers a little extra to shut up about it and do the job.
