The Millhaven Fibres Plant opened September 28, 1955 as the third

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natural ...

plant in the world. It was originally built to manufacture a new type of synthetic yarn called

Terylene Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods ...

, which is known as Dacron in the United States. Terylene polyester fibre was invented in England in 1940 and had wide application in the apparel trade and for industrial use. In 1966, Terylene underwent a name change, to Fortrel. This happened in the same year as the plant's name being changed The plant, at 5275 Bath Road, was built on a 70-acre site near

Napanee Greater Napanee is a town in Eastern Ontario, southeastern Ontario, Canada, approximately west of Kingston, Ontario, Kingston and the county seat of Lennox and Addington County. It is located on the eastern end of the Bay of Quinte. Greater Nap ...

, in Millhaven,

Lennox and Addington County Lennox and Addington County is a county and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. The county seat is Greater Napanee. It is located in the subregion of Southern Ontario named Eastern Ontario. Around the middle of the 19th century, ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, on the north shore of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

. The project, in 1954, was initiated by

Canadian Industries Limited Canadian Industries Limited, also known as C-I-L, is a Canadian chemicals manufacturer. Products include paints, fertilizers and pesticides, and explosives. It was formed in 1910 by the merger of five Canadian explosives companies. It was until r ...

, a wholly owned Canadian subsidiary of

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

(ICI) Limited of Great Britain. Since then, the plant changed ownership several times and underwent a handful of expansions. The site was owned by ICI of Canada Ltd., Canadian Industries Limited, Millhaven Fibres Ltd., Celanese Canada, Hoechst, and KoSa at various points in its 55-year history, before

Invista Invista (stylized as INVISTA), headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, United States, is a fiber, resin and intermediates company. It has about 10,000 employees in over 20 countries worldwide. The predecessor DuPont Textiles and Interiors was formed fro ...

bought the 75-hectare site on Lake Ontario in 2004.

History

In 1954, the plant began operations under ICI of Canada Ltd, abbreviated as CIL. In 1964, the plant began producing

nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...

. In 1967, the DI & staple lines were started. In 1968, a tire yarn plant was introduced. Millhaven also invented the polyester tire in this year, which was the fusion of polyester with rubber. In 1971, the plant was bought by Chemcell & Fiber Industries. The nylon filament line was shut down. In 1972, Chemcell changed name to Celanese Canada. In 1973, 1,500 persons were employed at Millhaven Fibres. In 1976, the second staple line was built, and the third was built in 1983. In 1987,

Hoechst Hoechst, Hochst, or Höchst may refer to: * Hoechst AG, a former German life-sciences company * Hoechst stain, one of a family of fluorescent DNA-binding compounds * Höchst (Frankfurt am Main), a city district of Frankfurt am Main, Germany ** Fra ...

bought Celanese and became a majority shareholder of Celanese Canada. In 1989, the textured yarn line was shut down. In 1992, HDI was shut down. In 1996, a

PET A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence, ...

resins line was built for the production of polyester packaging resins. PET is used to manufacture shatter-resistant plastic bottles for water, soft drinks and medicinal and cleaning products. In 2009, the 100 people employed at the plant were laid off. In 2013, explosives were used to destroy the factory during a controlled demolition.

References

External links

http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com/2010/09/cns-millhaven-spur.html https://kornfeldllp.com/2012/02/off-duty-conduct-of-an-employee-may-constitute-just-cause-for-dismissal/ {{coord , 44.20762, N, 76.71728, W, display=title Demolished buildings and structures in Ontario Buildings and structures in Lennox and Addington County Buildings and structures demolished in 2013

History

References

Further reading

External links