Sunshine Waterloo Factory (1943). Click the photo for more details.

The Sunshine Waterloo Company had its origins in the Waterloo Manufacturing Company, which began in the early 1850s. The Waterloo Manufacturing Company produced implements such as threshing machines, steam engines, boilers and sawing machines. In the following years, the company had a number of name changes as ownership shifted from one party to another, but it continued to grow and produce more effective farming tools. In 1884, E.W.B. Snider purchased the company with Levi Bricker and gave it the Waterloo Manufacturing Company name. Under their leadership, the company became popular all over Canada for their two threshing machines: one steam-powered, called the “Champion,” and the other with old-fashioned horse-power. When Snider died in 1921, his son Cranston took over the company as president and general manager. ¹

Page from Waterloo Manufacturing Catalog showing thresher (1903). Click the photo for more details.

In 1928, the Waterloo Manufacturing Company was purchased by James Playfair, a grain and oil magnate from Toronto, and E.J. Hallet, an investment banker from Galt. Cranston Snider and his brother, W.W. Snider kept their positions on the company’s Board of Directors. ² The following year the Waterloo Manufacturing Company entered into three weeks of negotiations with H.V. McKay of Melbourne, Australia to create a joint business venture in which the Waterloo Manufacturing Company would manufacture and distribute McKay’s “Sunshine Combine” thresher in Canada. ³ When the H.V. McKay Company of Sunshine, Australia started producing the Sunshine Combine in 1924, the company had experienced enormous success, which lead to 40 acres of factory buildings and 3000 employees. ⁴ They hoped for the same success in North America. In October 1929, the Waterloo Chronicle reported the global partnership between the two companies and described the revolutionary thresher as follows:

The new combine thresher is run by one man, as it requires no tractor. With the ordinary combine thresher three men are required, as well as about three times the gasoline. This “auto header harvester,” as it is called, will cut 40 to 50 acres a day, and an added feature is that it is said to be able to pick up grain which no other machine can touch. ⁵

Page from Sunshine Auto Header brochure (1920). Click the photo for more details.

This exciting announcement brought the promise of 1500 jobs and a new manufacturing plant to be built in Waterloo. In March 1930, the new “Sunshine-Waterloo Combine Thresher” was displayed in the Waterloo Manufacturing Company building on King St. and in traveling exhibitions. People flocked to see the new combine, with over 30 000 people visiting an exhibition in Dodge City, Kansas. ⁶ The positive response from farmers, along with subsequent orders, fueled the anticipation to see the factory built. When pressed for details by the Waterloo Chronicle, Waterloo Manufacturing Company Vice-President and General Manager, A.T. Thom, reminded readers that correspondence between Australia and Canada took time and confirmed that the plant would indeed be built in Waterloo after some speculation that land might be purchased in Kitchener. Thirty acres of property was purchased from the Canada Barrels and Kegs company in Waterloo, near Erb Street West, just off of Dietz Avenue and Rudy Street (behind modern-day Luther Village.) ⁷

In May 1930, a bylaw was proposed to give the newly-named Sunshine Waterloo Company a fixed assessment of $25,000 for ten years.⁸ If the bylaw passed, this meant that the new company would pay the same taxes, based off the initial assessment, for ten years. This tax break sweetened the appeal for a large industry to make its home in Waterloo, but first it had to be approved by the citizens of Waterloo. ⁹ The bylaw was passed in an “almost unanimous vote,” and the news was celebrated with a parade that featured the Waterloo Band, town council, company officials, citizens in cars and of course, Sunshine threshers.¹⁰