General Engineering Company of Ontario, munitions factory, Scarborough, c. 1943. Image: Archives of Ontario
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Resource ID
8108
Access
Open
Credit Line
Archives of Ontario
Date of Creation
1943
Program Category
Rights
Public Domain
Caption
General Engineering Company of Ontario, munitions factory, Scarborough, c. 1943. Image: Archives of Ontario
Description
Struggling with supplying ammunition for the war effort, in 1940 the federal government commissioned brothers Robert and Philip Hamilton to set up a plant in Scarborough. Owners of a successful mining operation, the brothers imported experts to help run the new plant. However, during its four years of operation, GECO (General Engineering Company) munitions plant employed over 21,000 local people - mostly women.
Made up of over 170 buildings over 346 acres of land, the plant filled 256 million munitions shells with women handling explosives 24 hours a day, six days a week.