Social History Archives | Page 3 of 11 | Sweat Equity – The Grimsby Homebuilding Co-operative 1953

Tompkinsville : North America’s first housing co-operative

The builders and their families named their community “Tompkinsville” to honour Father Jimmy Tompkins, the man who had encouraged their co-operative spirit. Theirs was the first housing co-operative […]

Co-op homebuilding, Reserve Mines, Nova Scotia

The co-operative homebuilders in Reserve Mines studied and prepared for two years, arranging the finances and finally building their first home together, and then the second. All 11 […]

Sherbrien and Cathedral Heights co-operators

Although John Blake captured most of the men at the work site on 8 mm film, this is a rare group photo. Don Gay (far right) is holding […]

Co-op Families on opening day of the “Sweat Equity” Exhibit.

After 2½ years of preparation by co-op daughters and sons and the efforts of the Grimsby Museum staff, the original builders were grateful for a lovely day at […]

Parent Tribute Poster

The photos of the parents included in the poster were taken around the time of the build, with some as young as 20 and others just after their […]

The Komadoski family at the Sweat Equity exhibit

The Parent Tribute Poster was a collage of the photos of the parents taken at the time of the build. For many of the children raised in the […]

Announcing the Sweat Equity exhibit

On August 13, 2016, 60 years after the families had moved into their co-operatively built homes, they were invited for a special co-op family day at the Grimsby […]

Co-op sons collaborated as their fathers had done six decades earlier

The exhibit was designed to create the sense of being on a worksite in an unfinished house. Some of the wood was donated, and the framework sections were […]

Ingenuity and co-operation applied

With volunteer design and construction skills completed, others added their labour to build the exhibit. This echoed the tasks undertaken by their parents 60 years earlier. The magnitude […]

Working together to piece it together

With volunteer design and construction completed, others added their labour to build the exhibit. The tasks echoed those undertaken by their parents 60 years earlier. The magnitude of […]

The Co-op at 60 Working Group, 2016

The group’s mission was to honour their parent builders on the 60th anniversary of the co-op. Initially, they planned just a one-day event. As they gathered details of […]

The Fireside Chat in November, 2014

Within months of reconnecting, the Co-op at 60 Working Group had, by word of mouth and family connections, gathered over 100 people for their first event, A Fireside […]