Principal Manufacturing history

In June 1940 the Northam Warren Company opened a 17,000 square foot plant in a spacious setting on Barry Place off Fairfield Avenue.

The revitalized company was located in Noroton on the Post Road opposite Ring's End Road until 1943 when it relocated to Garden Street in Stamford.

Burns, Rosemary H. Springdale Remembered: A History of Stamford, Connecticut, 1640-1949.

Clairol grew rapidly, and within a dozen years of moving into its new building on Commerce Road in 1950, the company was in need of a new home.

To make more industrially-zoned land available, the city in 1953 worked with the newly-formed Urban Redevelopment Commission to turn blighted land in the heart of the industrial district into an area suitable for light manufacturing or research and development.

The foundry, which remained in business until 1954, eventually manufactured gas and electric stoves, some of which may still be found in kitchens around the world.

In 1955 the company sold its plant, leasing back only 1/3 of the space for its own use.

By 1966, Hasenfratz's firm was incorporated as Linamar Machine Ltd., and had grown large enough to employ five people at the Linamar Ariss Plant in Guelph.

Beginning with the arrival of GTE in 1973, Stamford entered into a new era as a base for major corporate headquarters, and land in the urban renewal area originally designated for light industry was given over to office buildings and hotels.

Stamford: The Stamford Historical Society, Inc., 1979

By 1980, sales at Linamar had increased to C$10 million, and Hasenfratz was ready to implement an aggressive acquisitions strategy to quicken the pace of his company's growth.

Stamford Weekly Mail, 2 June 1983.

© Stamford Historical Society 1984

Linamar had been importing the component, called a "cornhead," since 1989.

Recognizing the potential market for the component, Hasenfratz returned to his native land and purchased Mezogep in 1992.

With the hiring of over 400 workers in 1996 alone, Linamar has become Guelph's largest industrial employer.