Saint Anselme Foundry Ltd., or Fonderie St-Anselme in French, dates back to 1844, when Simeon Larochelle, owner of a grist mill in St. Anselme, expanded his mill to include a large foundry, machine shop and woodworking shop. He was then able to get the Quebec Central Railroad extended to the village and established a successful business repairing cars and locomotives.

Larochelle died in 1850 and ownership passed to local merchant M. Charles Audet. It is not clear how long Audet owned the business before he sold it to "the Roy family". Roy is a common surname in that area and there may not be any connection to the Fonderie Roy that was established in St. Anselme in 1910. Around 1918 or '19 the Fonderie St-Anselme was purchased by Henry Atkinson, who brought in J. Adelard Begin as manager in 1920. At this time the company was in poor shape.

By this time la Fonderie St-Anselme was well-known within Quebec as a maker of sawmill and woodworking machinery. Under Begin's leadership the company became more prosperous. In 1937 Begin assumed ownership of the company, and in 1949 the company was thriving and two of Begin's sons were active in the business as well. In 1953 the Foundry changed ownership to someone named Bouchard. Ownership changed again in 1975 to Baillargeon & Paquet. The business seems to have ceased in 1995.

Fonderie St-Anselme used the Marvelex name; there is still a firm in St-Anselme called Equipements Marvelex Inc., making dust collection equipment; we do not know the connection, if any, to Fonderie St-Anselme.

We have seen a couple of 20" planers, attributed to Poitras; at least one of them actually had a label reading, "Manufactured by St. Anselme Foundry Ltd. / St. Anselme Sta. / General Machineries / Dorchester Co. Que., Canada".

Information Sources

• December 1949 Canada Lumberman (Vol. 69, p. 66).

  FOUNDED in 1844 by Simeon Larochelle, pioneer of industry in that region, the St. Anselme Foundry is located at St Anselme about 20 miles from Levis and Quebec City, in the rich and very progressive county of Dorchester. The plant is on the banks of the Etchemin River. It started as a grist mill in 1829. In 1844 Mr. Larochelle decided to extend this humble mill into a large machine shop, foundry and woodworking shop. It was not long before this foresighted pioneer conceived the idea of a railroad. His efforts were rewarded and in a very short time the first branch of the Quebec Central Railway was built from Levis to St. Anselme, which at the time was the terminus of this railroad. All repairs to cars or locomotives were made in the St. Anselme Machine Shop.

  At the death of Simeon Larochelle in 1850 this already prosperous firm passed into the hands of M. Charles Audet, a successful local merchant, who in turn sold it to the Roy family. At the end of the First World War, Henry Atkinson, proprietor of Henry Atkinson Limited of Etchemin Bridge, purchased the firm which then became the St. Anselme Foundry Limited.

  In 1920 J. Adelard Begin was appointed manager. By this time, the company was known throughout the Province of Quebec as manufacturers of saw-mill machinery. It was also producing a number of woodworking machines. Under the able direction of Mr. Begin the firm, which was not in good shape, was quickly put back on its feet and has enjoyed unbroken prosperity ever since. It was in 1937 that Mr. Begin became president and proprietor of the St. Anselme Foundry Limited. Leaving school at the age of 16, Mr. Begin travelled through Canada and the United States following a number of trades which were to prepare him for the responsible tasks which lay ahead. He is the proud father of ten children, two of his sons being active members of the St. Anselme staff. Mr. Begin is also president of Levis Textile Limited, has been mayor of Levis for the last seven years and is a member of numerous religious and social organizations.

  Picture caption: "Three views in interesting plant of St. Anselme Foundry at St. Anselme, Que. Top—Parks department showing efficient way in which large stock of parts is kept. Centre—General view in machine department. Bottom—View in large foundry."
• We learned of the 20" planer connection from an owwm.org discussion.
• St. Anselme Foundry made other products as well. This Vintage Machinery site is focused on woodworking and metalworking machinery, engines and motors, vises and handheld power tools; we do not track information on St. Anselme Foundry's other products which included canning machinery and agricultural tools among other things.
• A presentation from a 2017 conference on "Business, Law and Economics" (PDF) on a case study by Lisa Baillargeon (Université du Québec à Montréal) and Patrice Gélinas (York University) of the St. Anselme Foundry over the years 1910 to 1995. The presentation lists the majority owners of the Foundry:
  • Roy family (1910-1919)
  • Atkinson family (1920-1943)
  • A. Bégin (1944-1953)
  • Bouchard (1954-1974)
  • Baillargeon & Paquet (1975-1995).
  The presentation notes, "Over most of the studied period- majority of shareholders were external, non-managerial, investors".