Object Archives | Sweat Equity – The Grimsby Homebuilding Co-operative 1953

List of co-ops in CO-OP-ORATOR, June 1955

Besides the co-ops listed here along with Sherbrien, Cathedral Heights and Lakedale, the newsletter included the names of 22 co-operatives that were underway in 1955 throughout the province […]

Silent video – Blake Footage – Shingling on Stewart Street

In this short clip, someone took John’s camera and filmed Wilf Worley (in white cap) and John Blake (end of clip) shingling houses . With the Niagara Escarpment […]

Sweat Equity Exhibit featured during Doors Open, 2016

Together around the original time clock are (from left) original co-op builder Betty Dale, Mary Marrocco and her mother Rita Marrocco, (author of The Light from One Candle), […]

Father Marrocco and fellow priests blessed each of the 14 homes.

On the completion of their neighbourhood, Father Marrocco and fellow priests blessed the 14 homes of the Family Home Builder Co-operative on Marysfield Dr. near Brampton. With the […]

Co-op builders shingling the houses along Lakeside Drive in the early part of the build.

Although the co-operators did a lot of the grunt work, they learned and became very good at certain tasks. John Rowan with John Colleary (in white cap) who […]

Father Marrocco at the ground- breaking ceremony in Hull (Gatineau), Quebec.

This was the first of many ground-breaking ceremonies Father Marrocco would attend throughout Ontario. This one in Deschênes, near Hull (Gatineau), Quebec, would have been particularly meaningful to […]

25th anniversary itinerary, signed by fellow co-operators

Bob Walsh, once known as “Mr. Co-op,” wrote an “everyman and woman” story about the co-op experience for the anniversary itinerary. Charlie Gallagher wrote about the challenges and […]

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 […]

Co-op families arrive at dedication ceremony

This place by the water had been a park since the start of the co-op and included a playground. When the co-operators built their homes, a certain amount […]