© 2024, Christian Cassidy
579 McDermot in April 2015, Google Street View
Sad news that the 114-year-old Union Overall / Western Paper Box building at 579 McDermot Avenue has started to collapse, (also see), while being renovated into a residential block.
Here's a look back at the building's history before it's gone.
1914 Henderson's Directory of Winnipeg
The Union Overall Company was established in Winnipeg around 1904 and was the successor to the defunct Hoover Manufacturing Company. Its unionized workers produced overalls, work jackets and work shirts that were sold across the developing West.
Business was good and the company was constantly in need of larger space. Its initial factory was located at 301 Portage Avenue and it moved in 1905 to the MacRae Block on James Avenue where it soon took up the entire building. After a brief stint on Cumberland Avenue it moved into its new premises at 579 McDermot Avenue in January 1911.
The building, originally four stories in hiegh, was designed by J H G Russell for around $45,000.
September 25, 1915, Winnipeg Tribune
Thanks to new investment, likely by local dry goods wholesaler Stobart, Sons and Co., the garment manufacturer branched out in 1915 with a new division called Faultless Ladies' Wear Company. It was was established to "improve style conditions of ladies' wearing apparel" in Canada by keeping a close eye on fashion trends in New York and manufacturing them here soon after their release.
The new production line required that an additional storey be added to the building and advertisements seeking 25 sewing machine operators appeared in newspapers in August 1915.
Union Overall / Faultless did not survive the war and ceased operation in 1917. The following year, Ben Jacob and John Crowley of the Jacob Crowley Manufacturing Co. bought out the assets and rebranded the company as Jacob Crowley Cloakmakers, (eventually calling it Montreal Cloak), which lasted at this location for just a few years.
Rear of 579 McDermot in 2007 (C. Cassidy)
The next major tenant of the building lasted much longer than Union Overall.
Leopold "Leo" Meltzer came to Manitoba in 1903 and operated several businesses before opening Western Paper Box Company in 1921. It moved to 579 McDermot the following year.
Western produced folding boxes for everything from food products to garments and shipped them throughout the West. By 1925, Meltzer had added a second company called Zenith Printing under the same roof so that he could print the boxes in-house.
Western and Zenith did not take up the whole building. Space was leased out to other tenants, which in 1926 included Peters and Herron, automobile tops and seat covers, and Cowell's Harness Co..
Leo Meltzer died in 1959 and his son Earl became the president of the company until his retirement in September 1984. A trio of long-time employees, Alexander "Sonny" Fedoruk, Cal Kveder, and Steve Gregory, then bought it. Eventually, Sonny and his wife Janet became the owners.
The company was still in operation in 2019.
May 2022 zoning variance application
In May 2022, new owners of the building applied for a zoning variance to convert it into 50 residential units. The redevelopment was slow, the city even cited it under the Vacant Buildings Bylaw in October 2023, but by 2024 there were active building permits for renovation work.
In July 2024 the foundation failed and the building's walls have bowed. It is expected to be demolished.
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