Friday’s Message About the Findlay Foundry and Whistle

In case anyone missed it at the opening of Carleton Junction

On June 2 1972 the last stove to be made at the Findlay plant rolled out and the Carleton Place factory doors closed forever and the Foundry whistle went silent.

Douglas Brown was quoted in the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum files that he and his friends learned to swear from the mouths of the Findlay Foundry workers they saw on their way to school. Sometimes their new-found words earned them a sampling from a communal bar of soap. It got so bad in the local schools that there was a basin with a bar of Sunlight Soap waiting for the offending parties at each school in town. Lew Lloyd left me a comment stating that Jerry Flynn of Carleton Place carried on the tradition of listening to the Findlay workers on his way to school. Llew’s exact words were:

“Jerry Flynn taught me how to swear in the old Victoria Public School. He walked by the foundry on his way to school. I did not!

Llew Lloyd said In the summer of 1968 Brian Ford and he worked the evening shift in the oil department . Cecil Robertson was the shop foreman . The next summer he went to see Cecil for a job , but he was full up .He told me that Jack Bittle was looking for help in the enamel shop . Just as he was leaving Cecil asked him if he had a pair of cowboy boots . When he answered yes , he said , ” wear them Jack likes tall people ” . That summer, thanks to Cecil’s advice and Ken Blackburn’s boots, he worked with another group of great guys at the Findlay Foundry .

Video either by Rob Probert or Robert McDonald LOL

Now–Let’s talk about that whistle

Marlene Springer— I remember this whistle well having lived on Moffat Street and hearing the noon and 5 o’clock whistle, the dog behind us use to howl at that whistle. When I started to walk across town to Caldwell School in 1967 I would walk past this old brick foundry which extended from Frank Moon’s little machine shop up to Bennett’s Chev Old’s garage and showroom for the new cars.

Cathy & Paul Dulmage- When I was little my Dad worked there and after I heard the whistle I would go up to the end of the sidewalk to meet him.

Karen Blackburn Chenier — She was always told by her Mom “Be home when the whistle goes” 5:00 was dinner time so you hopped on your bike and peddled like heck to get home to avoid the wrath of Doris Blackburn. No one wanted the wrath of Doris Blackburn.

Photo Robert McDonald

The morning , noon and 5 o’clock foundry whistle was a big part of those years Joan Stoddart said — If you missed the whistle, Stoddart’s hounds would let you know it had happened.

Photo Robert McDonald

Earl Devlin worked in the boiler room at Findlay’s as a teenager. His father Cecil actually ran the boiler room and was in charge of the factory whistles blowing at the correct times.

When the factory was being demolished, Cecil pulled two whistles out of the rubble and with Bill Findlay’s permission, took them home for safekeeping.

Cecil eventually gave the two steam whistles to his son Earl, who graciously donated them to our local museum in 1997. The smaller whistle has been installed here at Carleton Junction as a reminder of the days when our whole town ran on “Findlay’s time”.