Weigh Scale Building

Weigh Scale Building. . , In 1904, the Grand Trunk Railway (later the CNR) built a Spur Line along St Patrick Street in Fergus. The Weigh Scale Building was constructed at this location during that same year. The building was designed and built by local craftsmen for a total cost of $930.25. The stone construction blends in perfectly with the streetscape and makes this building unusual. Most scale buildings in Ontario were timber-frame structures that have since disappeared from the landscape., During its sixty-one years of activity, coal, lime, grain, livestock and other commodities were weighed for shipping on the scales once housed in this building. By the 1930's, livestock transportation was moving away from rail. Farmers preferred the convenience of trucking their animals directly from farm to market. Coal fuelled demand for the scales through the 1940's and 1950's until heating oil replaced coal as the home heating fuel of choice. Demand for the scales continued to decline until they were decommissioned in 1965., Fred Upward (pictured here) was the last of the long-term weigh scale masters. He worked in this building, weighing shipments until his death on October 9th, 1965 at the age of 84 years., This building, designated as a Heritage Building in 1993, has found adaptive reuse as a Business Improvement Area office, information centre and public washroom., This little stone building stands as a link to our past and a reminder of the influence of rail and commerce during the evolution of our community.