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| 1a Folding Pocket Kodak (circa 1899-1909) |
When I embarked on collecting classic cameras I decided immediately for Kodak cameras as a good beginning. First motivation: they are easy to find here in Toronto, and the second one; prices are not too bad at all.
For that reason, I started visiting flea markets, antiques and second hands stores, garages sales etc and quickly my collection begun to grow up. What I knew before long, was that Eastman Kodak cameras had been manufactured here in Toronto since beginning 20th century. In the late 19th century Toronto city was into an astonishing booming. In less than 40 years, population was over 5 times bigger. Railways connecting Toronto with some of the major North American cities like New York, Chicago, Detroit and Montreal; banking, mining, as well as many others progress, became the metropolis into a city markedly industrialized.
Of course, for such a visionary person like George Eastman, this opportunity didn’t go by unnoticed, and he sent his Brooklyn born associate, John G. Palmer, to explore the increasing Canadian market. Palmer, shortly President of the Canadian Kodak until his death in 1921, was impressed with the growing metropolitan area and convinced that Toronto offered great scenario for the photography business. Thus, Kodak Canada Inc. was founded in 1899, only few years after the integration of its parent company, Rochester-NY-based Eastman Kodak Company.
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| Kodak Brownie Target six-20 (1946-1952) |
In 1900, the same year that Eastman introduced the trendy Brownie camera model, the first office at 41 Colborne Street in downtown Toronto opened its doors under the direction of John G. Palmer. In this building there were roughly 15 employees performing hand process like cutting film, fitting lenses to cameras and mixing photographic chemicals. Like the Brownie model, Canadian Kodak Ltd. was an immediate success and quickly established for itself a dominant role in the photographic trade. The company expanded and moved to 588 King Street West in 1908 and the employ grew almost 400 people, who manufactured film mounts and photographic paper. At the same time, plans were underway for an expansive complex because the enormous accomplishment and, in 1912, Canadian Kodak acquired 25 acres of farmland near Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue to build a major manufacturing facility known as “Kodak Heights.”
By 1925, there were over 900 employees working in seven buildings at Kodak compound. The Toronto complex has been owned and operated by Kodak since 1913 until it closed down in 2006, leaving behind many buildings with considerable amounts of materials still inside . Today only one building, # 9, remains standing. Unfortunately it is badly vandalized.
