Truax & Company began on November 7, 1878 when Rueben E. Truax purchased a sawmill in Walkerton from David Moore Sr. and David Moore Jr. The sawmill was located near the Saugeen River and was initially built by Walkerton’s founder Joseph Walker in 1852, along with a dam that powered the sawmill, as well as a gristmill and woolen mill. The mill and land were purchased by John Saylor on August 7, 1867 and then sold to Stephen Noxon in 1870 before it was purchased by the Moores in 1877.
When Truax purchased the saw mill it was outfitted with woodworking machinery to operate a planing mill. R. Truax & Company started out operating the sawmill, planing mill, as well as various logging camps along the Saugeen River. In the 1880 Bruce County Business directory, Reuben Truax, Philip Truax, and Levi Welch are listed as the company’s proprietors. Later in 1885, the company established a wholesale market and began to market their products throughout western Ontario and Rueben’s brother, Philip, relocated to Toronto to become a salesman for the company. The logging mills ceased just after the turn of the century and in 1906, the R. Truax & Company became a partnership between Reuben E. Truax and his son Harry E. Truax.
In 1913 or 1914, the original building was torn down and a new plant was constructed. Six years later in 1919 Reuben E. Truax’s son-in-law, George H.D. Martyn, filled an executive role and the company’s name was changed to R. Truax Son & Company. Just a year later the company discontinued all sawmill activities, and offices and a warehouse were added to the plant in 1921. In 1926, the company increased the manufacturing space and built several outbuildings for the storage of lumber and finished products. Rueben E. Truax died on April 3, 1935, after almost six decades of heading the company. In January 1939, Harry E. Truax’s sons Eldridge “Buster” Truax and Reuben E. Truax Jr. joined the company’s partnership.
During World War II many companies with millwork plants manufactured sashes and doors for barrack blocks, military administrative buildings, and housing units. Post war, R. Truax Son & Company began to produce both solid and veneered doors and shifted away from standard millwork to focus on the production of doors. The company was eventually incorporated in August 1949 with Harry E. Truax as President, R.E. Truax Jr. as Vice President, and Buster Truax as General Manager and Secretary-Treasurer. The company introduced their own trucking system in the mid-1950s which allowed the company to ship their products throughout Ontario and to Northern Quebec.
On February 1, 1963, R. Truax Son & Company Limited merged with C. Lloyd & Son Limited, another large door manufacturer in Wingham, Ontario. C. Lloyd company began in Wingham in 1865 by Charles Lloyd who established a small cabinet shop. In 1888, Charles and his sons Albert, William H. and Charles Jr. started manufacturing doors and erected a new building for their planning mill. The company was then known as C. Lloyd & Son. Throughout the 1900s ownership of the company was passed on to members of the Lloyd family and the buildings were expanded several times. In 1922, the company was incorporated to become C. Lloyd & Son Limited. The company opened a warehouse in Toronto in 1932 and in the decades following, opened warehouses in Kingston, Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton. In 1956 C. Lloyd & Son Ltd. opened an additional plant in Turnberry Township which saw a few additions throughout the 1960s.
After the merger the company was then known as Lloyd-Truax Limited, and the head office was in Wingham. Solid panel doors and louvre bifold units were made in Walkerton and veneer doors were made in Wingham. Warehouses first established by C. Lloyd & Son Limited continued to be maintained in Toronto, Ottawa and Edmonton.
On December 15, 1965, the Lloyd-Truax sold the business to Toromont Industrial Holdings in Toronto and in 1974 the company began construction on a large expansion of the Wingham plant. In January 1975, E.H. “Buster” Truax retired, ending the Truax family’s era with the company which lasted nearly a century. Toromont later sold the business to Seaway Multi-Corp Ltd. based out of Toronto in December 1975.
The Walkerton plant continued operating under that ownership until the end of January 1980 when it ceased operation. The closing marked the end of 128 years of continuous operation, first as a sawmill, then as a general millwork plant; and from 1963 as a manufacturer of doors.
Sources:
Truax, E.H. “R. Truax Son & Company Limited, Walkerton, Ontario” March 1971 (article forming part of booklet BCM&CC, A2022.024.003.)
“Premdor [Lloyd Door’s] most famous names in doors since 1888” [after 1975] (article forming part of booklet BCM&CC, A2022.024.015.)
