RUBBERSET STORY WEDNESDAY NIGHT TELLS TALE OF WHEN GRAVENHURST WAS MANUFACTURING GIANT
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
GRAVENHURST — Among the many historical accounts of Gravenhurst, the loss of the Rubberset toy and paint brush factory was the one of the most telling tales of the modern decline of the town.
It was not only a valuable employer of thousands of men and women for much of the last century — through wars and more — but it was a world-class manufacturer the small town was proud to be home to.
At its height Gravenhurst was a manufacturing giant.
Its was at the heart of the community with workers involved in all facets of life outside the massive building that was piled high in its north yard with wood stacks a couple of storeys high. Its annual Christmas parties were legend.
Today the huge tract of land — which takes up most of a square block between the main street and Gull Lake is occupied by the YIG grocery store (also where once Gravenhurst’s first indoor arena sat).
A couple of old staff houses remain on the property.
Rubberset shaving brushes were in the bathroom cabinets of most men in town and their paint brushes in their garages. Across much of North America it was much the same thanks to one of its owners Pittsburgh Paints.
When it closed about 30 years ago it highlighted an economic decline that also included the Muskoka Centre and a couple of other large occupational manufacturing plants.
For decades some of the men who worked there would answer the fire bell next door to battle blazes.
During the Second World War German PoWs marched past the Rubberset en route to Camp 20 on Lake Muskoka.
Local archivist and historian Judy Humphries brings it all back to life with another of her amazing town tell-alls — online again — through the Gravenhurst Library Thursday night at 7 p.m.
Call library clerk Megan Davidson at 705-687-3382 to register and receive a Zoom invite link.
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