From Toronto Evening Telegram, 1928
When King Street, from Yonge Street to the Market, was Toronto’s busiest shopping district, Heintzman’s piano factory was at number 117, just east of Church Street, opposite St. James Cathedral. This is a picture of the factory taken about 1880. “Ye Olde Firme” occupied these premises until removal to the then growing suburb of Toronto Junction in 1888.
Outside the building stands Theodore A Heintzman, founder of Heintzman & Co., Ltd., and one of the ‘dump waggons’ then used for delivery of pianos.
All merchants used waggons (spelled with two g’s in those days), and farmers, hostlers and carters threw in numerous extra “gees” when driving. Their “Gee Haws!” when backing or turning teams and rigs was as familiar a sound on King Street as motor horns are today. ♦
Below, Heintzman general staff & factory hands, ca 1880.
