Residential Archives | Page 3 of 4 | Sweat Equity – The Grimsby Homebuilding Co-operative 1953

Earth and mud everywhere

As some houses neared completion, the families began to move in. It must have been a challenge for Moms and Dads to keep their children safe and clear […]

Stuck in the mud

It was noted that a man who became stuck in the mud had to walk out of his boots and carry on “with one bare foot.”

Expert shingler John Colleary

Although John was a plasterer by trade, he was very good at shingling during the build. And so he was honoured as the King of the Shingleers.

Wilf Worley wrote a song for John Colleary

Sixty years later, John Blake would sing the song at a “Co-op at 60” information event hosted by the Grimsby Archives. It speaks to the fun-loving guy that […]

Shingling in the Lakedale Co-op

Some jobs were simply backbreaking and others required skill. Sometimes work could be dangerous. Supervisors and inspectors were on hand, but men who had never done construction found […]

Shingling alone or together

Harold works on the roof of a 2-story building illustrating the challenges and dangers facing the builders. Fortunately there were contractors who over saw the day-to-day workings of […]

Materials and Men

The management of materials and men fell to the hired supervisors, Rod and Ward Sexsmith and Roy and Denton Wilson, as well as to the co-op team leaders. […]

Teamwork was key

Working 30 hours on the co-op site per week, over and above their regular jobs, the builders focused first on grunt work. Eventually, they took on some of […]

North end homes, with the Niagara Escarpment to the south

Within view of both the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario, this beautifully situated neighbourhood was aptly named Lakemount Terrace Subdivision. As houses passed inspection, the CMHC would release […]

Sweat equity begins with land clearing

The men were so anxious to begin the building phase, they cleared the land themselves. Later, they would mix their own concrete, haul and lay bricks for basements […]

Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) facing east, 1947

The QEW, built in the late 1930s and upgraded in the late 1940s, had sped up travel from Hamilton to Grimsby, but it was still a 25-minute commute. […]

Mary Arnold with co-op builders in Reserve Mines, Nova Scotia

Arnold, a Quaker and an American activist in housing co-operatives, went to study the work being done at St. Francis Xavier University’s Extension Department in 1937. She remained […]