Rhodes Curry Company was a construction contractor and builder of railway rolling stock based in
Amherst Amherst may refer to:
People
* Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name
* Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst''
* Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...
,
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
. Rhodes Curry Company was a significant business in the industrial, commercial, and architectural history of Nova Scotia, and was instrumental in the commercial development and expansion of Nova Scotia’s turn-of-the-century economy.
Rhodes Curry Company had a reputation for quality of workmanship and craftsmanship and was the contractor and builder of a number of grand homes, churches, and business in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
[ Many examples of their work still survive, such as the Pugwash Train Station][ in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in ]Sydney, Nova Scotia
Sydney is a former city and urban community on the east coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Sydney was founded in 1785 by the British, was incorporated as a city in 1904, and dissolv ...
,Beinn Bhreagh
( ) is the name of the former estate of Alexander Graham Bell, in Victoria County, Nova Scotia. It refers to a peninsula jutting into Cape Breton Island's scenic Bras d'Or Lake approximately southeast of the village of Baddeck, forming the so ...
, the former estate of Alexander Graham Bell, in Victoria County, Nova Scotia,Amherst, Nova Scotia
Amherst ( ) is a town in northwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, located at the northeast end of the Cumberland Basin, an arm of the Bay of Fundy, and south of the Northumberland Strait. The town sits on a height of land at the eastern boundary of th ...
in 1877.
It was originally a manufacturer of sash and doors, but they soon switched to construction business. It later acquired mills and other manufacturing plants (brick and other building materials) in the 1880s.
After the departure of Dodge, the company expanded into the railcar repairing business in 1880s.
Rhodes and Curry acquired Harris Car Works and Foundry of Saint John, NB
Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...
in 1893 and moved operations to Amherst.
Rhodes Curry Company began operations in 1891 and began building railcars for railways in the region. The company expanded with branch plants in New Glasgow, Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
and Halifax.
After Rhodes died in 1909, the company was sold to Canadian Car and Foundry, CCF. In 1920, the architectural and commercial building portion of the former Rhodes Curry Company split from CCF and continued to exist until the 1950s.
Products
* Wooden boxcars
A boxcar is the North American ( AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most lo ...
, sold widely to Canadian railways
* Wooden passenger cars
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
; customers included the Intercolonial Railway
The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also completely ow ...
* Wooden coal hopper cars; one large customer was Cumberland Railway and Coal Company in Springhill, Nova Scotia
Springhill is a community located in central Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The community was founded as "Springhill Mines." Coal mining led to economic growth, with its incorporation as a town in 1889. The mines in the Springhill coal ...
* Other wooden railcars
* single and double end closed streetcars
* open streetcars
References
{{Reflist
RHODES, NELSON ADMIRAL, industrialist
Manufacturing companies of Canada
Defunct rolling stock manufacturers of Canada
Companies based in Nova Scotia
Amherst, Nova Scotia