In 2003, while first doing research for From Devastation To Beauty – The Creation Of The Butchart Gardens, I visited the town of Lakefield, Ontario, where Robert Butchart, George Stirke Kilbourn, John M. Kilbourn, Francis Kilbourn, Horace B. Smith and William Henry Eugene Bravender created the Lakefield Portland Cement Company in 1900. Despite the importance of the Lakefield Portland Cement Company, …
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To illustrate the chronological progression of the Portland Cement companies Robert Butchart was associated with, here are some of those companies’ corporate letterheads. In Ontario Robert Butchart was a shareholder and manager in the Owen Sound Portland Cement Company of Owen Sound, Ontario. The company’s operations were in Shallow Lake, just outside Owen Sound. Robert …
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Captain James W. Troup (1855-1931) served under Robert Butchart as Assistant Director of Wooden Shipbuilding for the Imperial Munitions Board between 1917 and 1919. Captain Troup’s house (since demolished) stood at 324 Maitland Street, along the waterfront off Esquimalt Road, in Victoria’s Vic West neighbourhood. Here is a map showing the location of 324 Maitland …
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Evans, Coleman & Evans, Ltd. was a diversified Vancouver-based building supply company which was described in 1912 as “the principal commercial firm in the Province.” It was founded in 1888 and Evans, Coleman & Evans remained one of British Columbia’s leading hardware and building supply dealers until well into the mid 20th century. Robert Butchart …
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The Pacific Steamship Company, based in Seattle, Washington, was formed in 1916 through the merger of two earlier companies: Pacific Alaska Navigation Company and the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, which had been based in San Francisco. Robert Butchart was on the Pacific Steamship Company’s Board of Directors from 1916 to 1932.
Alfred Cornelius Flumerfelt (1856-1930) appears briefly in our book, From Devastation To Beauty: The Creation Of The Butchart Gardens. Alfred Cornelius Flumerfelt was a leading figure in Victoria business and financial circles in the late 18th and early 20th centuries. He served as President of the Board of Trade between 1893 and 1903. He was …
Robert Butchart was in the Portland Cement business and the land that is now the Butchart Gardens was used by the Vancouver Portland Cement Company to produce Portland Cement between 1904 and 1921. For those who don’t know the difference between cement and concrete, here is a video which should clear it up for you: …
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