Celebrating a local captain of industry

Born in 1864 on a farm near Melbourne, Ont., George L. Griffith took an interest in harness and began to experiment in its manufacturing. Because he suffered from arthritis, he found farm work difficult, which led him increasingly in the direction of harness-making.

In 1901-02, he patented a halter made from rope and leather, and started to make them in his spare time. Demand for the Griffith halter was high and, in 1905, it became his full-time occupation. By 1912, he was looking for a real manufacturing plant, which is what brought him to Stratford.

For the first 16 years of its existence in Stratford, the Griffith firm was involved solely in the manufacture of harness. In 1928, Griffith bought the Federal Manufacturing Co., a Wingham rubber manufacturing business, and moved it to Stratford. In 1934, he combined the harness and rubber divisions under one roof in the former Stratford Mill Building Co., a factory on the southeast corner of Erie and West Gore streets (today, the site of Cooper-Standard Automotive plant on 341 Erie St.).

George Griffith died in 1929 and, for many years, his son, Ewart T. Griffith, was president of G. L. Griffith and Sons Ltd. until the company was sold in 1961 and became Federal-Mogul-Bower (Canada) Ltd. at 1030 Erie St. For a while, Ewart Griffith chaired the board of that company, which has since changed hands several times. Because the new owners were primarily interested in manufacturing rubber products, the harness plant was closed. Ewart Griffith was determined to keep the harness business alive so, in 1966, he established a new company, Griffith Saddlery and Leather Ltd. at 240 Norfolk St., which no longer exists. See www.streetsofstratford.ca.

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