Bruce County’s furniture industry has deep roots, impacting the local economy as well as the day to day lives of families across the region, and beyond. Among the interesting chapters in this history is the story of the Lucknow Furniture Factory, a business that transformed several times to respond to economic needs, the needs of its community and, at times, the country. The resources preserved in the Bruce County Archives help bring this story to life.
A Small Shop with Big Ambitions
The Lucknow Furniture Factory began in 1881 as a modest wood-working shop operated by John Ackert and Tom Hoey. Over the following years, the factory changed ownership several times. William Millar and Joseph Cliff acquired and ran the factory successfully for a period. Following Millar’s retirement, Cliff managed it alongside partners such as William Glasgow, Edward Stovel, and his brother in law David Forester. Cliff’s sudden death in 1896, at only 35 years old, led to the eventual closure of the factory despite efforts to keep it going.
A New Era of Growth
In 1898 the business saw new life when it was purchased by John Button of Teeswater and Henry J. Trevett, of Lucknow, who led the company into a period of table manufacturing.
After Trevett left the business in early 1907, John Button brought in Jesse Button and George T. Aitchison. That same year, they committed to building a new, fire proof concrete factory on Campbell Street, just north of Victoria Street – a major investment costing $10,000 (approximately $275,000 in 2026 terms). This modern facility served the company well, with management eventually expanding to include Tom Aitchison and Russell Robertson, who successfully manufactured a variety of furniture for many years. Although the company wound down sometime between 1931 and the early 1940s, the company had left its mark on the town’s growing industrial landscape.
WWII Brings New Factory Identity
During the Second World War, a stock company reopened the building under the name Maple Leaf Aircraft Corporation Limited, which appears to have been operating as a subcontractor in the production of Hawker Hurricanes, essential fighter aircraft used in the defense of the United Kingdom. A 1942 advertisement confirms this wartime role. The Hawker Hurricane was a combat aircraft produced in the late 1930s and early 1940s, designed by British aircraft manufacturer, Hawker Aircraft Ltd.
With the Hurricane’s simpler design for mass production, and the high demand for aircraft, Canadian factories -including those in small towns like Lucknow – played a vital part in the wartime manufacturing effort. Other factories produced components used in Mosquito Bomber aircraft, such as Andrew Malcolm Furniture Co. Limited, Kincardine, and Dominion Plywoods Ltd., Southampton, Ontario.
Post-War Industry Shift
After the war ended, Maple Leaf Aircraft Corporation shifted priorities from aircraft components to more domestic products, briefly producing talking machines (early phonographs). This change aligned with a unique moment in consumer history, when major North American phonograph patents (Edison, Victor, and Columbia) were expiring and new manufacturers were entering the market.
Maple Leaf Aircraft Corporation ceased operating in Lucknow in the late 1940s, and the building continued to see new uses over the following decades:
- William Renaud of Kitchener operated it as a furniture factory for a short time.
- After the factory sat idle for a decade, in 1958 the Beatty Brothers of Fergus reopened the plant as Beatty Ladder Co., specializing in wooden ladders.
- In March 1963, Lucknow Wood Products Co., owned by Murray and Joseph Frieberg, took purchased the factory to produce wood components, followed by Lucknow Furniture, which returned to specialize in table manufacturing.
The factory closed permanently in 1972. It remained unoccupied until Montgomery Motors later purchased and demolished the building, using the land for a school bus fleet—today the site is home to Montgomery Ford.
Preserving the Legacy of Bruce County’s Industries
These furniture factories represent only part of Bruce County’s rich history of furniture manufacturing. At the Bruce County Archives, a growing collection of articles, business records, catalogues, photographs, and production documents help illuminate the lives of the factory owners, workers, the companies they built, and the communities they supported.
Our records related specifically to Lucknow Furniture and Maple Leaf Aircraft Corporation are limited. We are committed to preserving as much of this history as possible. If you have documents, photographs, or other materials connected to these companies, we would be pleased to discuss potential donations.
Contact the Archives & Research Room at BCM&CC:
- archives@brucecounty.on.ca
- 226-909-2893
Gallery Images
- Lucknow Furniture Factory Building, from the book A Glimpse of the Past : a historical chronicle of…Lucknow, The Sepoy Town, 1858-1983, A2003.035.001
- Maple Leaf Aircraft Corp. stores requisition to Jack Campbell, 1944, A2024.086.002-002
- Maple Leaf Aircraft Corp. stores requisition to Jack Campbell, A2024.086.002-002
Sources
“1942 Ad Maple Leaf Aircraft Corp Lucknow Ontario Building Factory Military CWA1,” Print. Accessed August 11, 2025. https://www.periodpaper.com/products/1942-ad-maple-leaf-aircraft-corp-lucknow-ontario-building-factory-military-plane-119641-cwa1-031.
“A Glimpse of the Past: A Historical Chronicle of… Lucknow, “The Sepoy Town”, 1858- 1983″. The Town & Country Crier (Mildmay, Ontario). June, 1983. Print. A2003.035.001
Bank of Canada. Inflation Calculator. www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/related/inflation-calculator/
David Forster, 1901 Census of Canada, Lucknow, Bruce West 1901 Census of Canada – AncestryLibrary.ca, accessed 2025.
David Foster, 1891 Census of Canada, Lucknow, Bruce West, 1891 Census of Canada – AncestryLibrary.ca, accessed 2025.
Goad, Charles E. Lucknow, Ont., Bruce County, October 1890. Underwriters’ Survey Bureau Limited, 1890. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, AX2022.017.003
Henry J Travett, 1901 Census of Canada, Lucknow, Bruce West, 1901 Census of Canada – AncestryLibrary.ca, accessed 2025.
“Lucknow Plant is purchased by Toronto Company.” Clipping from unknown newspaper in Bruce Krug Kinloss Township Scrapbook, Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, A2014.003.0559, page 16B.
MacLeod, Mary & T. H. Burns. “The Lucknow Furniture Factory,” Accessed September 22, 2025. https://images.ourontario.ca/Partners/FWIO/FWIO003203460_0065p.pdf.
Maple Leaf Aircraft Corporation. Receipts for earnings by John C. Campbell from Maple Leaf Aircraft Corporation Limited, Lucknow, 1943-1944. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, A2024.086.001.
Maple Leaf Aircraft Corporation. Requisitions to J.C. Campbell, 1944. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, A2024.086.002.
McKague, Kevin. “Lucknow Business History: The Complete Guide To Lucknow Businesses And Their Owners From 1864 to 1927.” Cargill: Bruce County Bookstore, 2023. Print. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, A2024.037.011.
Noakes, Taylor C. “Hawker Hurricane,” The Canadian Encyclopedia. September 10, 2021. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/hawker-hurricane.
Russell Robertson household. 1931 Census of Canada, Lucknow, Bruce West. Library and Archives Canada Census Database. https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=census&IdNumber=79925740&ecopy=e011642436
Seeger, Rhea Hamilton & Lucknow History Book Committee. “Lucknow… The Place We Call Home: History and Recollections of Our Sepoy Town, 1858-2008.” Auburn: Possibilities Publishing, 2008. Print.
“The Lucknow Furniture Factory,” Our Ontario. Accessed August 11, 2025. https://images.ourontario.ca/Partners/FWIO/FWIO003203460_0065p.pdf.
Thompson, Campell. “A century in retrospect: the story of Lucknow. A souvenir book in commemoration of the Centennial Anniversary of “The Sepoy Town” August 1, 2,3,4, 1958.” Lucknow: Lucknow Centennial Historical Committee, 1958. Print. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, AX2019.090.001.
“Toronto Firm buys Lucknow Ladder Plant.” Clipping from unknown newspaper in Bruce Krug Kinloss Township Scrapbook, March 20, 1963, Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, A2014.003.0559, page 16B
Warren, James. “Plan of Lucknow being comprised of parts of the townships of Kinloss Wawanosh & Ashfield, 1874.” Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, AT2011.007.006.
William Glasgow, 1881 Census of Canada, Southwold, Elgin West, 1881 Census of Canada – AncestryLibrary.ca, accessed 2025.
Wright, Keith. “Curtiss Aeronola and the Post War Effect,” Antique Phonograph News: Canadian Antique Phonograph Society. July 2015. Accessed August 11, 2025. https://www.capsnews.org/apn2015-4.htm.
