Over the course of time, Acton’s former Beardmore Tannery was often subject to the threat and destruction of fire, both during and after its operations.
The first incarnation of a tannery in Acton, later to become known as Beardmore’s, was started in 1842 by Abraham Nelles. This Tannery was of wood construction and, like most factories of the era, had a fire-fed boiler system. Unfortunately, these two factors eventually lead to the first tannery’s demise when it burned to the ground in 1852.
The business was then purchased by a Mr. McKay who rebuilt the tannery and ran it for some time until changing hands to the famed Beardmore & Co. of Toronto in 1865.
Under the ownership of Beardmore, there were a couple more major fires, which saw partial damage of the tannery in 1872 and again in 1924. Although, after the fire of 1924, a decision was made to install a 12,000-head sprinkler system throughout the entire factory to prevent further loss from the flames of fury.
Following the reconstruction of the plant and installation of sprinklers, no major loss occurred since then during the remaining operational years of the tannery.
After more than 140 years of producing leather in Acton, Canada Packers (Maple Leaf) - the owner of the Tannery by that time - made the decision to cease operations on September 12th, 1986. For a while after the closure, parts of the facility, that once housed the British Empire’s largest tannery, was rented out but subsequently left vacant; becoming vulnerable to further destruction.
It was on May 19th, 1998 at 11:45 a.m., when the largest fire of present-living memory happened at the aging and relatively abandoned tannery.
Of unknown origin, heat and flames ravaged through a good portion of the one-million-square-foot facility, such as the offices and leather processing departments, leaving a significant part of Acton’s history in smoke and ash.
As reported in the May 21st, 1998 edition of The New Tanner, dark smoke from the large fire could be seen as far away as Highway 401, and over 30 firefighters battled to control the blaze from Acton and Georgetown, with the Milton Fire Department manning the Halton Hills stations.
Additionally, it was reported that while a caretaker was on site when the fire began, no injuries were reported but several firefighters had to be treated at the scene for heat exhaustion. There was also health concerns that the fire would spread to some hydro transformers filled with cancer-causing PCBs on the property, but that location was never in any danger, according to fire officials at the time.
Following the fire, out of concern for public safety and the environment, demolition and clean up began in the fall of that year, which included the toppling of the iconic “Beardmore” water tower that stood, since 1924, at the foot of John Street. It would take a number of years until the entire site was cleared and decontaminated, with the removal of soil from where the tailing ponds once sat along Main Street South.
And while it has been a quarter-century since that fateful fire and cleanup of the now-vacant site, which is still owned by Maple Leaf Foods, it serves as a reminder of how disastrous fire can be and how quickly it can turn the page on Acton’s historical past of tanning leather.
Article written by Scott Brooks, with information from Dills Collection / The History of Acton’s Leather Industries / The New Tanner / HHPL
