{"id":7827,"date":"2021-03-07T12:35:17","date_gmt":"2021-03-07T17:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7827"},"modified":"2021-03-07T12:41:02","modified_gmt":"2021-03-07T17:41:02","slug":"episode-272-the-massey-ferfuson-bull-wheel-planned-symbol-of-working-class-history-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7827","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 272 THE MASSEY FERFUSON BULL WHEEL…planned symbol of working class history…GONE"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 272    THE MASSEY FERGUSON BULL WHEEL\u2026symbol of working class history\u2026gone<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
March 2021<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Our history department at Parkdale Collegiate Institute in 1980.  Left to right\u2026Lynn Roddick, Phil Sharp, Sam Markou, John Maize,<\/div>\n
up top Alan Skeoch. Terry Wickstrom was rescuing a few boards, missed the picture.  The glory days of teaching when history as a subject had a firm place in the curriculum. 1980, A time when<\/div>\n
we nearly saved something important.  A symbol of our past.  We failed but had a glorious time trying to make this wheel into a<\/div>\n
monument.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
THE STORY OF THE BULL WHEEL, 1980<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
In 1980 the wrecking machines began to be unloaded at the Massey Ferguson <\/div>\n
factory on King Street West in Toronto.  This was once the site of the biggest<\/div>\n
employer in Toronto.  Makers of farm machines sent around the world\u2026horse drawn<\/div>\n
harrows, binders, dump rakes, wagons, hay forks.   The Massey Harris days witnessed<\/div>\n
the changes in farm technology of 19th century Canada eventually resulting in Massey Harris<\/div>\n
tractors which at one point dominated the tractor business.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
About the same time that the demolition began I wrote a 300 page thesis on agricultural<\/div>\n
machine technology from 1850 to 1891.  A massive job.  I am not sure that my professors<\/div>\n
at the U. of T. actually read the tome.   I worked in three departments at the university\u2026three<\/div>\n
professors\u2026.Donald Webster in Fine Arts, J.M.S. Careless in History, and Bruce Sinclair in Engineering.  I did not<\/div>\n
care if it was read or not.  It was a matter of the heart.  For decades I had observed the steady<\/div>\n
decline of family farms across Ontario.   Farm sales were so common that there could be a<\/div>\n
dozen sales to choose from on any given Saturday\u2026weekdays too.   Ontario was changing.<\/div>\n
Something was being lost and unrecorded.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
So when the excavators, drag lines, bull dozers began pushing down the Massey buildings\u2026so many of them<\/div>\n
were in place\u2026I was a witness.  More than that.  I was a collector.  Every morning from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. I was<\/div>\n
on the demolition site.  So often that it was assumed I was part of the crew\u2026hard hat and steel toed boots.<\/div>\n
I loaded my truck with all I could push or carry.  The Portuguese foreman and his<\/div>\n
crew even helped with the cast iron carts of which I managed to load a number.  On one occasion I remember<\/div>\n
our principal came out to the parking lock to see the timbers jutting five to ten feet out the back of my truck<\/div>\n
while I was washing the soot of a century before going to class.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
There will be a number of stories coming about this odyssey.  Odyssey?  yes, an odyssey on a sea of broken bricks.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The deeper the demolition the more that was found until the gem of gems was uncovered.  The giant bull<\/div>\n
wheel that ran the line shafts that were belt wrapped to the lathes, heavy punch presses, shapers, iron workers<\/div>\n
that made all those bright red and Yellow Massey Harris\u2026then Massey Ferguson farm machines.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The bull wheel!   The heart of the factory.  Huge.  Cast iron and steel.  So big that a special machines had<\/div>\n
to be delivered on a flat bed truck just to pull the wheel from the machine shop to an open space.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat will happen to this wheel?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWho knows?   Need  a big wrecking ball to smash it into pieces.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI would like to save the wheel.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIt is a wonderful symbol of 19th century manufacturing.  It could be an enduring monument<\/div>\n
to working class history.   Could be set up on a bit of parkland.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIt is yours if you want it.  But better be fast.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
As  it happened Kris Korwin Kuchinski was our City Councillor for Parkdale\u2026a district in west Toronto where<\/div>\n
I taught history.  Kris  was<\/div>\n
One of my former students.  I taught both of the Kuchinski boys.  Mark and Kris.  We even have a large<\/div>\n
maple tree that they gave me years ago.  Tree is now 60 feet high.  Nice kids.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cKris, do you think we could persuade the City to save the Massey bull wheel?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBull Wheel?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCome over to the school, we\u2019ll go down to the demolition site and I\u2019ll show you.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Kris thought the idea was great.  As did others in positions of power.  The wheels began<\/div>\n
to turn.  The bull wheel was going to be saved.  Even David Miller, future mayor of Toronto was  on side. It would of course cost a bit of money to do so.<\/div>\n
But it would happen.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I was  elated.<\/div>\n
Just for fun, I asked my  whole Parkdale Collegiate history department to come <\/div>\n
down to the site and pose on the wheel.  Now a cherished photo in our house.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Then I asked the Portuguese workmen and the foreman to simulate that they<\/div>\n
were moving the wheel.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
In short, I was overjoyed.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
One day, a bunch of white helmeted men arrived and nosed around while I was loading <\/div>\n
American pitch pine floor planks.  They paid special attention to the bull wheel. No <\/div>\n
attention to me.  They paid too much attention to the bull wheel as it turned out.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The next day, at 6 a.m. the bull wheel was smashed to bits by a big steel ball<\/div>\n
swinging from a crane.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Why?  I have no idea.  I suspect the power people had heard my plan.  It would<\/div>\n
cost them money\u2026perhaps cost a parcel of land.  The site was planned for condominiums<\/div>\n
High profits. Dense population.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cSmash the bastard wheel to bits.  Some damn fool wants to save it<\/div>\n
as a monument.   Get it the hell out of here before the city puts a stop<\/div>\n
work order in place.\u201d   That is what I think happened. <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Here is the last picture of the bull wheel with the CN tower as proof that the bull wheel was once apart of our city.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 272    THE MASSEY FERGUSON BULL WHEEL\u2026symbol of working class history\u2026gone alan skeoch March 2021 Our history department at Parkdale Collegiate Institute in 1980.  Left to right\u2026Lynn Roddick, Phil Sharp, Sam Markou, John Maize, up top Alan Skeoch. Terry Wickstrom was rescuing a few boards, missed the picture.  The glory days of teaching when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7827\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}