Polson Iron Works Limited

{{Short description|Canadian shipyard firm}}

{{Infobox company

|name = Polson Iron Works Limited

|logo =

|caption =

| image = Polson Iron Works Limited (1916).jpg

| image_size =

| image_alt =

| image_caption = Polson Iron Works in Toronto, 1916

|type =

|genre =

|fate = Ceased operations

|predecessor = William Polson and Company c. 1883

|successor =

|foundation = 1886

|founder = William Polson
Franklin Bates Polson

|defunct = 1919

|location_city = Toronto/Owen Sound, Ontario

|location_country = Canada

|location = Toronto 1886–1888 and 1893–1919, Owen Sound 1888–1893

|locations = Toronto, Owen Sound

|area_served = Canada

|key_people = William Polson – co-founder, Franklin Bates Polson – co-founder

|industry = Shipbuilding

|products = Ferries

|production =

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|net_income =

|aum =

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}}

File:Launching the Aquila, at the Polson slip.jpg

The Polson Iron Works was an Ontario-based firm which built large steam engines, as well as ships, barges and dredges.

{{cite news

| url = http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?BioId=41124&query=

| title = Polson, Franklin Bates

| publisher = Dictionary of Canadian Biography

| date =

| accessdate = 22 March 2012

| quote = The steady advancement of the business led to its incorporation on 23 Oct. 1886 as the Polson Iron Works Company of Toronto Limited, with William as president and Franklin as secretary-treasurer.

| page =

| author = Michael B. Moir

}}

Founded by William Polson (1834–1901) and son Franklin Bates Polson, the firm was incorporated in 1886 and it was one of the original shipyards operating in Toronto.

In 1888 favourable land grants prompted the company to move to Owen Sound, which was then an important port for Canadian Pacific's steamships. Owen Sound facility was at the then existing dry docks on the west side of the harbour near the south end of what is now the West Side Boat Launch on 14th Avenue West.{{cite web | url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/polson_franklin_bates_13F.html | title=Polson, Franklin Bates }}

The firm eventually returned to Toronto in 1897 when Owen Sound's town council did not renew the firm's exemption from property taxes. In Toronto the company's ship yard was located on the harbourfront at the foot of Sherbourne Street (south west at The Esplanade where David Crombie Park and hydro substation now occupies). In 1914 the company agreed to lease land from the Toronto Harbour Commission to build a new facility in the newly reclaimed Portlands industrial district, but the outbreak of World War I prevented the move.

Some of the vessels constructed by the Polson Iron Works remain in service today. They include {{SS|Bigwin}}, {{Ship|PS|Trillium}} and {{MV|Kwasind}}.

{{cite news

|url = http://www.saveontarioshipwrecks.on.ca/Chapters/toronto/nautical.htm

|title = Nautical History

|publisher = Save Ontario Shipwrecks

|year = 2003

|accessdate = 21 December 2011

|quote = The Iron Works only two existing ships in Toronto are the Trillium (built in 1913, which still ferry's passengers to Centre Island) and the RCYC passenger ferry Kwasind (1913).

|url-status = dead

|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120207162607/http://www.saveontarioshipwrecks.on.ca/Chapters/toronto/nautical.htm

|archivedate = 7 February 2012

}}

The engines and hull of Bonnington, a steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes from 1911 to 1931, were built at the Polson Iron Works, and shipped by rail to British Columbia.

{{cite book

| isbn = 9781550390896

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UpVrAAAACAAJ&q=Sternwheelers+and+Steam+Tugs

| title = Sternwheelers and Steam Tugs – An Illustrated History of the Canadian Pacific Railway's British Columbia Lake and River Service

| publisher = Sono Nis Press

| year = 1998

| accessdate = 22 March 2012

| quote =

| page =

| author = Robert D. Turner

}}

The company ceased operations around 1919,{{cite web |url= http://www.polsonironworks.ca/index.html |title=Polson Iron Works Timeline |work=polsonironworks.ca |year=2012 |accessdate=2 June 2014}} but the name lives on in Polson Pier, where the company had intended to relocate the shipyard.