Cockshutt Plow Company: Brantford's Agricultural Innovation and Industry

The Cockshutt Plow Company,  the crown jewel of Brantford industrial heritage, started out as a small business owned by James G. Cockshutt in 1877. James was Ignatius Cockshutt’s eldest son, and started the Cockshutt Plow Works on Market Street South, though his father was cautious of this business idea. Ignatius, who preferred safer professions, was unwilling to fund such a risky venture, but James was optimistic about the future need for farming machinery. With only five staff in his early days, James’s vision and drive later built one of Canada’s largest farm machinery manufacturers.

The firm had great progress by 1882, and was registered as the Cockshutt Plow Company. James was soon joined by his father Ignatius as vice president, who added financial stability and saw the company through to success. Over time James’s brothers W. F., Frank, and Harry all took leadership roles that helped the company over the years through a period of fast growth. They had made a name for themselves with high-quality plows, seeders, cultivators and more developed at Cockshutt Plow, which expanded in 1903 to a larger location on Mohawk Street to due to growing demand. This expansion highlighted the growth of Brantford as a Canadian manufacturing centre.

The Cockshutt Company went on to flourish by buying up other businesses. It bought the agricultural implement company Frost, Wood and Company in 1909, then the Adams Wagon Company and the Brantford Carriage Company shortly after. This shifted in the First and Second World Wars, when the company converted its manufacturing to wartime activities, producing transport vehicles and munitions for the Allies. These wartime actions showed how much the Cockshutts had to do for the local community and nation.

In the 1960s, Cockshutt’s story twisted once more as it became a division of the White Motor Corporation and then renamed White Farm Equipment in 1969. Nevertheless, the Brantford factory continued to operate until 1985, when it was finally shut down, marking the end of an era. The original Cockshutt Company though now extinct, has a legacy that lives on in Brantford and in books such as, “Cockshutt: Innovation, People, Industry, Survival” by William Henry Cockshutt. The history of the company is a testament to Brantford’s place in the story of Canadian industry and agriculture.

References

https://history-api.brantfordlibrary.ca/Document/View/c35a2046-4306-441e-ab2f-3fade46ce2f3

Muir, G. (1977). Bits and pieces of Brantford's history: The history of the Cockshutt family. Brantford.