While working on the Museum's Facebook page, I have put together a number of postings on the Automatic Electric Plant in Brockville, as well as on the Eugene F. Phillips Electrical Works plant which first manufactured AE phones in Brockville. I am going to present them here for what they are worth, post by post, for those interested in Automatic Electric.
It began with a discussion of a piece of Phillips Cable which Terry rescued and dropped off:
A section of cable manufactured at the Phillips Cable Plant in Brockville, Ontario. Previous to becoming Phillips Cables, it was known as Phillips Electrical Works, where AE phones were manufactured in Canada from the 1930s. IN 1953, construction of a new AE plant began in Brockville on Strowger Bldv., and AE moved to the new facility in 1954. Phillips was bought by British Calendar Cables, and continued manufacturing wire and cable for many years. This sample brought by Terry Biddlecombe.
This section of cable was manufactured in 1957 according to its runner. One has to cut through its lead sheath to expose the wires and runner.
See the brief discussion about the plant under my photos of the finished AE phones brought by Terry. This has been mounted in the Museum Wire and Cable display, added to it this afternoon.
Then:
A photo from the days when it was known as The Eugene F. Phillips Electrical Works and manufacturing AE phones (Pre-1954) This photo from the Book, "How Phillips Cables Helped to Build a Nation", printed in 1989.
In 1954, following AE's move to its new plant, it became Eugene F. Phillips Cables, and produced Wire and Cable only until its closure.
The plant at the end came under the umbrella of General Cable, and one of their reps found this copy for me of the anniversary book left over in one of their store-rooms when he sent me wire samples for the Wire and Cable display. It was printed on the occasion of their anniversary.
Phillips had the first rolling mill in Canada. The construction of the Rolling Mill plant in the 1920s in Brockville - from the above mentioned book. The mill was built on King St. West, and had many expansions over the years as various product lines were produced. By the 1930s, Automatic Electric had increased its ownership of the plant to 80%. In 1935, they began construction of telephones in a separate building at the plant, and were building telephones, switchboards, and other communications equipment. During that time, it was officially known as the Eugene F. Phillips Electrical Works, making telephones in one building, and producing cable in the Rolling Mill and plant..
In 1953, Automatic Electric began building their new plant on Strowger Blvd. in Brockville and when it opened in 1954, work at the Phillips plant reverted to its former Wire and Cable manufacture only. Below is a photo of part of the new AE plant under construction, late 1953. This was considered to be the prototype for the later Eastlake plant in the U.S. I hope all this will be of interest to people who have either Phillips Electrical Works or AE (Canada) phones made in Brockville. I remember both these plants very well, growing up during their heyday, and a good third of my friend's parents worked at one, or the other plant!
Workers assembling Switch Banks at the new Strowger Blvd. AE plant:
Also, something that may be of interest to AE fans. This is a matchbook cover I purchased some years ago. I remember seeing many of these these discarded when i was very young. I now have it framed, as part of the AE display. It reads, "Whichever way you look at it, the Type 80 Monophone has everything. Made in Canada by Automatic Electric (Canada) Ltd., Brockville, Ontario"
The new plant was built on a 33 acre site on Schofield Hill, on a appropriately named new road, Strowger Blvd. (100 Strowger Blvd.) in Brockville. I don't have any good photos, as back then, I didn't have a camera. So here is a brief history of the new GTE/AE plant:
1953 - Construction began.
1954 - Construction completed and telephone operations moved to the new plant.
1955 AE Merges with General Telephone & Electronics Corp. [GTE].
1979 - Became AEL Microtel, then Microtel (owned by the British Columbia Telephone Company (BC Tel)).
1990 - Plant sold to Nortel, becoming Brock Telecom and was doing support for the GTD-5 digital switches in Canada.
1999 -- Sold to Samina SCI Systems - I have several photos from this era.
2001 - Plant closed, and later was subdivided to become an Industrial Mall of sorts, and is still operating in that function.
One final photo of the plant main entrance taken while the plant was still GTE/AE, provided by Roger Reid via Clarence Marshall sent to me a few years ago. This one really brings back memories to me.
Here is another photo of 100 Strowger Blvd., the above building as photographed by Google Street View in August 2015. If you go to Google, and enter 100 Strowger Blvd, Brockville, you can pan around and examine various parts of the plant's exterior. There, you can also see the Earth View, from the sky of the plant as it is now.
Artist's conception of the new Automatic Electric from the AE Book, "Automatic Electric - Pioneers in Communication Techniques", Published the year after the new plant opened. Needless to say, it was expanded considerably through its operating years.
In 1969, I had the pleasure of getting to know a large number of their employees, when I did the stage lighting for the Automatic Electric's Players production of "The Magical Lamp of Aladdin", which they put on in the auditorium of the Brockville Collegiate Institute. Unlike newer schools, it had a full auditorium and stage with full theatrical lighting. I still have the lighting script for the show. Some years later after graduation, as mentioned in another post, I returned the same school to work with a contractor installing a Step switch provided by AE, along with AE80s and AE90s provided by AE. Phillips provided the wire for the complete rewiring of the school.
Alas, I left Brockville in 1978, and missed the declining years of both plants, but will always be proud that Brockville was a telephone town. After all, these plants were a large reason for my interest in telephones!
This post is a bit out of order, due to the fact I had placed it elsewhere on the Museum page, but I am including it since it shows the old Phillips plant in its entirety....
The afore mentioned photo of the cable refers to was referring to a cable manufactured by Phillips Cables in my home town, Brockville, Ontario. This is the same plant, formerly, Phillips Electrical Works, that first manufactured AE in Brockville until the new AE plant opened in 1954. AE remained closely aligned with the plant, with AE selling cable manufactured there for many years. I will be mounting that section of cable in the Wire and Cable display! The Phillips plant was demolished in 2008, the end of an era. The last item to be demolished was its huge smoke stack. The following photo taken from a 1949 calendar when the plant was still manufacturing AE phones: I have a few items manufactured there, and always welcome more, as they bring back fond memories of my childhood. Thank you, Terry!
I apologize for the monologue format of this thread, but it was the only way I could think of bringing up the subject here. I spent quite a while back some years ago researching the changes in ownership after I had left Brockville, and had a lot of assistance from Terry. I eagerly continue looking for further information and photos from the heyday of both these plants, as they were part of my youth. I hope that you AE collectors will find this history and collection of photos of interest.
1955 AE Merges with General Telephone & Electronics Corp. [GTE].
1979 - Became AEL Microtel, then Microtel (owned by the British Columbia Telephone Company (BC Tel)).
Wasn't British Columbia Telephone owned by GTE at the time (1979)?
Thanks for posting the information.
No, BC Tel bought out GTE.
Theodore Gary & Company bought a substantial interest in BC Telephone in December 1926 held in Canada under the Anglo-Canadian Telephone Company.
Although GTE of Stamford, Connecticut, became a 50.2% owner of the BC Telephone Company when the Theodore Gary Company merged with GTE in 1955, BC Tel remained an entity on its own.
On October 6, 1979 the BC Telephone Company acquired GTE/Automatic Electric Canada and formed "AEL Microtel". Soon afterwards the name was shortened to "Microtel".
A bit of a Corporate juggle, perhaps, but in the end, BC Tel got control over GTE Canada. While I don't understand all of the legalese, the end result, is that AEL Microtel and Lenkurt wound up under BC control.
Terry may be able to fill in a few more details when he returns from his cruise.
Quote from: Fabius on October 08, 2015, 10:29:22 AM
1955 AE Merges with General Telephone & Electronics Corp. [GTE].
1979 - Became AEL Microtel, then Microtel (owned by the British Columbia Telephone Company (BC Tel)).
Wasn't British Columbia Telephone owned by GTE at the time (1979)?
Thanks for posting the information.
Hey Dave, I just stumbled upon this topic. Great topic, I have saved it my favorites.
I wish I had grabbed a few more pieces of that lead sheathed cable out of the scrap wire bin at work. Of course it was just a small (relatively light weight) example of lead cable when I grabbed it thinking of your wire display case. It wasnt until later when I opened it that I realized the inside was more interesting than the outside. I, like the cable was made in 1957.
As to the eventuality that BCTel owned AE Canada and renamed Microtel, I don't know what the actual reasoning behind it was. BCTel was GTE Canada's largest operating company and the third largest operating company under GTE (including the US). The other Canadian operating company was Quebec Tel. At that time GTE did own 50.1% controlling interest in BCTel. Maybe this was a way for GTE to downsize its ownership of the GTE Canada facilities. This transfered 49.9% of it to the BCTel public shareholders but left GTE with controlling interest. Cash may have flowed to GTE for the 49.9% stake as well.
GTE had been in a divestiture of assets mode for years in order to concentrate on certain areas such as What became Verizon. Years after Microtel was created, BCTel and AGT (Alberta Government Telephones now merged with edmonton Telephones and renamed TELUS) merged in about 1999. GTE maintained their original 50.1% ownership which was now diluted to 26.7% (if my memory is correct) ownership of the new TELUS. Two or three years later they put their shares of TELUS on the market selling their remaining stake off.
As you mentioned, it was renamed AEL Microtel at the time but it wasn't long before the AEL (which was reminiscent of Automatic Electric Limited) was dropped due to some sort of legal problem.
Another large plant built and added to over the same years as the Brickville AE plant was the Lenkurt Electric plant in Burnaby BC, about ten miles from my home. It became a Microtel plant and eventually had other businesses in it once Micritel was shut down. Then ironically BCTel and later renamed TELUS Moved in. It was rental property now, owned by the BCTel/TELUS management pension fund. I worked in that building for years and years both as in house PBX installer/repairman for Microtel (as a BCTel employee though) and later directly as a TELUS employee once TELUS was using it as a compound.
TELUS moved out in about 2012 and it sat empty until last fall when I realized that the wrecking ball was imminent. It is now a flat piece of land awaiting what undoubtably will be hundreds of residential units in Greater Vancouvers virtually out of control real estate market being that it is right on a rapid transit line to downtown Vancouver. The Skytrain tracks built right across the front of the property prevented taking a decent picture of the building(s) in recent years.
Terry
Now, another Bast from the Past I discovered today. As I have mentioned before, two of the major businesses in my Home town of Brockville, Ontario were GTE/AE Canada, and the Phillips Cable Plant (formerly Phillips Electrical Works). Not only were they major employers, but they were very supportive of education in the town. In the early 70s, I worked with a contractor to install an Type 75 SXS exchange in BCIVS - the switch was donated by AE, along with close to 100 AE 80s and 90s, and the wire and cable was supplied by Phillips. The switch was a system taken as a trade-in from Venezuela, and totally refurbished by the company for the school. Previously the school had only one party line to do all classes. With that as background, here is their sponsorship ad from the 1978 BCIVS yearbook, the Vitannia. The photo, of course, is the Brockville GTE/AE plant on Strowger Blvd.
I had worked in Toronto for a few years, and then returned to Brockville for a while. Did it ever seem strange to me to be back at BCI, but not as a student. For the next month and a half, I spent my days running new trunks and lines, then hooking up phones! We had our breaks in the teacher's lounge. I was sorry when it was done, as I kind of enjoyed the attention of some of the senior girls who had a great time gathering around when I was up on a ladder running cabling through the ceilings! It was a lot of work, as every telephone line in the building had to be replaced and new trunks run. It was the one and only time I ever actually worked in the industry, but it cemented my interest in phones for a lifetime. I do understand why it didn't stay there for too many years - it was in the old guidance office right next to the main office, and it was noisy! They would have been better to locate it in a more remote part of the school, but that was the school's decision. Just a funny thought. I must see if Dad had a copy of the 1976-78 yearbook, and see if there might have been a photo in there of either us, or of the switch when we were installing it. I thought it was more like 1976 when we did it, but my memory had been known to be faulty.
Anther sign of the changing times at the GTE/AE plant in Brockville. - from the 1980 BCI Boomerang Reunion Edition book:
Another ad from the 1980 BCI Boomerang Reunion Edition book, and ad from Phillips Cables commemorationg its early roots before it built the Brockville plant: