| Fact & Fantasy: A History of Tavistock & District | Construction - Page 147-148 |
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CONSTRUCTION Otto Construction Co. Ltd. Rudolph Otto arrived in Canada in 1927, worked for 6 months for W.J. Cooke, a farmer in the Wellesley area. Coming to Tavistock he worked for Conrad Matthies, where Harry Nuttall 's business is now located. In 1928, Mr. Matthies built a blacksmith shop across the road on his own property. For 3 years he worked for Conrad Matthies, then for Ruby and Bender, where Sippel Motor Sales now stands. He bought Mr. Matthies' business, but in 1932 secured property from the Stock Estate and built the cement block building. Here he did horse-shoeing, welding, machine-shop work, and made cultivator points for the farmers in the area. In 1964 he started manufacturing crusher springs under the name of R. Otto's Steel Products. In 1945, Mr. Otto had bought the Heskey Flax Mill business. After the war when there was no market for flax, he demolished the buildings. About 1943, he bought 2 trucks for use in the flax business, and in the off-season hauled gravel; this is how he started in the construction business. In 1956, Otto Construction Co. Ltd. was incorporated. The firm works in Tavistock, the surrounding counties, for the Department of Highways, and, for the past few years, in Brampton.  Wes. Sommers, proprietor, began business at this stand, 154 Hope St. E., in 1937. At present he is assisted by his youngest son Ken and some casual labour. As his firm name implies, the rewinding and repairing of generators and motors is his chief concern. He sells and services stand-by and continuous duty units that keep a business or a farm operation humming even when hydro fails. He has customers in every province of Canada and the Yukon; they include men at Fergus, Troy, Timmins, God's Lake Narrows in Manitoba, Peace River, Alta., even some in Ohio, U.S.A. The highlight in his service was the day when he sold a unit for lighthouse duty on an island off the West Coast of British Columbia, and on the same day another such to Fogo Island, off the North Shore of Newfoundland. His service covers the continent like the motto of Canada - A mari usque ad mare.  Yantzi Brothers have their shop and lumber yard at "Yantziville" at the corner where the XV Conc. meets the Town Line. They busy themselves with home and barn construction in the village and surrounding area. Cupboards and other shop product are built by M. Kenneth Roth. Lorne Yausie, after a stint in the Tavistock Cheese and Butter Factory, has returned to the trade of his father, Joseph Yausie, who according to the minutes of Council provided the Village with its blocks and blocks of cement walk in the last half century. Driveways, foundation and cement floors in cellars, barn and barnyards, and the new, type of disposal pit for liquid manure, provide ample opportunity to practise his, art. L. J. Zehr Construction REMODELLING, REPAIRS AND DECORATING Charter Granted |
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