Photo Record
Images
Metadata
Collection |
Waterloo Region Museum |
Object ID |
2002.821.001 |
Object Name |
Print, Photographic |
Title |
John Metz Schneider |
Description |
A black-and-white photographic print portrait of John Metz Schneider. It is adhered to a grey matte and is in a three-layer frame with raised floral designs. There is a typewritten label adhered below the print: "John Metz Schneider - 1859-1942/ Born in Kitchener (then Berlin) - John Schneider lived on a farm at the west end of Victoria Street until age 21. In the year 1890 having a family and requiring more money than his $1.00 per day button factory job paid, he invested his savings of $300 in opening a retail butcher shop on Courtland Avenue. He specialized in country style farmers sausage and smoked meats peddling from door to door with a basket. This humble beginning, with strict adherence to cleanliness, high quality and honest dealing, grew into the present J.M. Schneider Ltd., the fourth in size meat packing plant in Canada, ownership now approximately half by the founding family and half by the employees". No photographer's mark. |
Date |
1930 |
Date |
1940 |
Copyright |
Expired |
History |
John Metz (J.M.) Schneider (1859-1942) began selling sausages door to door in 1886. The sausages were made with his mother's recipe and with help from both his wife, Helena Ahrens (1859-1944) and mother, Anna (Metz) Schneider (1832-1904). In 1890, J.M. began making sausages full-time from his home on Courtland Avenue. By 1900, he had built a retail store next to his home in order to expand the business. In 1911, J.M. bought a 16-acre parcel of land at the end of Courtland Avenue, where an abattoir was built. The following year, the business was organized into a joint stock company under the name of J.M. Schneider & Sons Limited. In order to keep up with demand, a new factory was built on the same 16-acre parcel of land, which opened in 1925. In 1930, the company was renamed J.M. Schneider Limited, and new items such as non-sausage meats and cheeses were introduced. By the mid-1940s, the company employed over 500 people at the Courtland plant. Expansion continued with the Wellesley Cheese Company being acquired in 1945, followed by six other companies across the country by 1972. The corporate structure was reorganized in 1975 with a holding company, Schneiders Corporation, formed to oversee the various companies. J.M. Schneider Limited became J.M. Schneider Inc. and continued to be the meat processing division. Schneiders had remained a family-owned business until 1997 when the company was sold to Smithfield Foods of the United States. Smithfield then sold the company to Maple Leaf Foods in 2004. The Courtland Avenue plant was closed in February of 2015, with 1,200 jobs being lost. |
Search Terms |
J.M. Schneider Limited |
People |
Schneider, John Metz |