Northern Electric Co.
Title
Northern Electric Co.
Northern Telecom
Nortel
Type
Company
Coverage
Montréal, QC
Ottawa, ON
Visit Exhibits
Precision Making in Canada, 1918-1945 https://omeka.uottawa.ca/instrument-precision/exhibits/show/making-1918-1945
Begin Date
1895-01-01
End Date
2009-01-01
Location
367-371 Aqueduct Street, Montréal , QC (1895)
1760 Notre Dame Street, Montréal, QC (1898)
1261 Shearer Street, Montréal, QC (1913, 1943)
250 Sidney St., Belleville, ON (1958)
Carling Ave., Crystal Beach, Ottawa, Ontario (1959-2009)
Product Areas
Electricity
Electronics
Communications
Computing
Activities
Manufacturing
Designing
Repairing
Supplying
Exporting
Timeline
- 1880 – “The Bell Telephone Company of Canada” is founded by Charles Fleetford Sise.
- 1882 – The Manufacturing Branch of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada founded in Montréal. Foreman is Charles W. Brown. (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
- 1883-84 – “Shops” department of Bell Telephone located at 530 Craig Street, Montreal. (Lovell’s Montreal Directory 1883-4).
- 1886 – “Stores” department of Bell Telephone active at 641 Craig Street, Montreal. This location is described as “Manufacturing” in “Northern Electric Company and Its Predecessors”. (Lovell’s Montreal Directory 1886-7; “Northern Electric Company and Its Predecessors”)
- 1891 – The Bell Telephone manufacturing department moves to 371 Aqueduct St., Montréal, QC. (“Northern Electric Company and Its Predecessors”)
- 1898 - Northern Electric active as offices at 1760 Notre Dame Street, Montréal (2024: 1600 Notre Dame St. W., Montréal, QC), alongside Bell, with W.H. Scott as Secretary-Treasurer; manufacturing component still at 371 Aqueduct, under superintendent C.W. Brown (Lovell’s Montreal Directory 1898-1899)
- 1899 – “The Bell Telephone Company of Canada purchases a Montréal wire and cable factory, later known as the Wire & Cable Company Limited. (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
- 1895 – Manufacturing branch of Bell Telephone Company of Canada incorporated as a separate company, called Northern Electric and Manufacturing Company Limited.
- 1905 – “Five years ago [1905] there were scarcely any independent telephones in Canada. The Bell Telephone Company was then the whole thing. It… owned what was at that time the only telephone manufactory in Canada, viz., that of the Northern Electric & Manufacturing Company, Limited, of Montreal, which was then… the manufacturing and supply department of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada. (“The Independent Telephone Convention – President Doan’s Address”)
- 1910 – Operating in conjunction and at same site as other Bell Telephone Company The Wire and Cable Company, with a large Montréal factory. Selling “intercommunicating” telephone systems. Operating in Montréal with factory at intersection of Notre Dame & Guy Streets (roughly 1600 Notre Dame St. W., Montréal, QC); Winnipeg 899 Henry Ave., Toronto, ON at 60 Front St. W., Regina, SK (no address), Vancouver, BC 918 Pender St. W. Exhibiting newly developed products at the CNE: mining telephones, intercommunicating telephones, switchboard. (Various, e.g. “Electricity at Toronto Exhibition” Canadian Electrical News, -Dec. 1910; How to build rural telephone lines)
- 1911 – Wire & Cable Company Ltd. renamed Imperial Wire & Cable Co. Ltd. (“Northern Electric Company and Its Predecessors”)
- 1914 – Company amalgamated with Imperial Wire & Cable Company Ltd., a company owned by Bell Canada, and the name changed to Northern Electric Company Ltd. Manufacturing plant is moved to a new building at 1261 Shearer Street, Montreal. Northern Electric is 44%-50% owned by Western Electric, which was the manufacturing arm of AT&T in the US. The logo is stylized to match Western Electric’s logo. Northern Electric and Western Electric manufactured similar equipment, but also distributed Western Electric-made equipment, or shared the manufacture of a single piece of equipment, depending on demand. (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
- 1923 – Active and selling: Cable Accessories, circuit breakers, conduits, controllers, cooking devices, cords, cross arms, curling irons, electric railway equipment, fans, fire alarm equipment, fixtures, fuses, generators, heating devices, instruments, insulators, lamps, lighting arrestors, line materials, lighting standards, measuring instruments, meters, motors, poles, potheads and sleeves, reflectors, showcase lighting, street lighting, tape, telephone equipment, tools, transformers, underground installations, vacuum cleaners, wire and wiring devices, (“Classified Index to Advertisers”)
- 1931 – Company has “general sales offices” at 637 Craig Street W., Montreal, selling Western Electric equipment out of this address. (Western Electric “Moving Coil Microphone”)
- 1940s – Active with war work at factories. (“Northern Electric Company Limited – Telephone/Electric Division” photo album, 1943)
- 1948, Mar. – New plant at 250 Sidney St., Belleville, ON occupied in March of 1948, possibly after leasing a site at 11 Water St., Belleville, ON. (“Nortel Belleville”; unknown source)
- 1954 – Plant active at 250 Sidney Street, Belleville, Ontario (“The Electrical Apparatus and Supplies Industry, 1954”)
- 1959 – Established Northern Electric Research and Development Laboratories in Ottawa, Ontario, at Crystal Beach on Carling site. (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
- 1964 – Active, advertising electrical goods at 1600 Dorchester Blvd W., Montreal. “Also Cable Testing Sets, Ground Testers.” (Fraser’s Canadian Trade Directory (1964))
- 1971 – Bell Canada and Northern Electric merge their R&D activities to form Bell Northern Research (BNR) (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
- 1972 – “Northern Telecom launches its first electronic switch, the SG-1, also known as PULSE. This is highly successful. (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
- 1989, Sept. – Northern Telecom buys Microtel’s manufacturing plant in Brockville, ON, also purchasing the company’s “central office switching business”, GTD-5 equipment. The proposal also plans to create a new company to coordinate “the network management systems businesses of both Northern Telecom and Microtel”, 51% owned by Northern Telecom. The new plant to be located in Burnaby or Richmond, BC. (May, “NorTel plans to buy Brockville plant”; Smith, “B.C. Tel, Northern Tel create new company”; Smith, “New firm sees software opportunities”)
- 1990 – The joint Northern Telecom and Microtel company is named Prism Systems Inc., “aimed at the global telecommunications market” producing network management systems and transmission equipment and services. and located in British Columbia. (Smith, “Northern Telecom, B.C. Tel link up in new joint enterprise”)
- 1995 – Company is renamed Nortel Networks.
- 2009 – Nortel files for bankruptcy. (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
- 1882 – The Manufacturing Branch of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada founded in Montréal. Foreman is Charles W. Brown. (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
- 1883-84 – “Shops” department of Bell Telephone located at 530 Craig Street, Montreal. (Lovell’s Montreal Directory 1883-4).
- 1886 – “Stores” department of Bell Telephone active at 641 Craig Street, Montreal. This location is described as “Manufacturing” in “Northern Electric Company and Its Predecessors”. (Lovell’s Montreal Directory 1886-7; “Northern Electric Company and Its Predecessors”)
- 1891 – The Bell Telephone manufacturing department moves to 371 Aqueduct St., Montréal, QC. (“Northern Electric Company and Its Predecessors”)
- 1898 - Northern Electric active as offices at 1760 Notre Dame Street, Montréal (2024: 1600 Notre Dame St. W., Montréal, QC), alongside Bell, with W.H. Scott as Secretary-Treasurer; manufacturing component still at 371 Aqueduct, under superintendent C.W. Brown (Lovell’s Montreal Directory 1898-1899)
- 1899 – “The Bell Telephone Company of Canada purchases a Montréal wire and cable factory, later known as the Wire & Cable Company Limited. (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
- 1895 – Manufacturing branch of Bell Telephone Company of Canada incorporated as a separate company, called Northern Electric and Manufacturing Company Limited.
- 1905 – “Five years ago [1905] there were scarcely any independent telephones in Canada. The Bell Telephone Company was then the whole thing. It… owned what was at that time the only telephone manufactory in Canada, viz., that of the Northern Electric & Manufacturing Company, Limited, of Montreal, which was then… the manufacturing and supply department of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada. (“The Independent Telephone Convention – President Doan’s Address”)
- 1910 – Operating in conjunction and at same site as other Bell Telephone Company The Wire and Cable Company, with a large Montréal factory. Selling “intercommunicating” telephone systems. Operating in Montréal with factory at intersection of Notre Dame & Guy Streets (roughly 1600 Notre Dame St. W., Montréal, QC); Winnipeg 899 Henry Ave., Toronto, ON at 60 Front St. W., Regina, SK (no address), Vancouver, BC 918 Pender St. W. Exhibiting newly developed products at the CNE: mining telephones, intercommunicating telephones, switchboard. (Various, e.g. “Electricity at Toronto Exhibition” Canadian Electrical News, -Dec. 1910; How to build rural telephone lines)
- 1911 – Wire & Cable Company Ltd. renamed Imperial Wire & Cable Co. Ltd. (“Northern Electric Company and Its Predecessors”)
- 1914 – Company amalgamated with Imperial Wire & Cable Company Ltd., a company owned by Bell Canada, and the name changed to Northern Electric Company Ltd. Manufacturing plant is moved to a new building at 1261 Shearer Street, Montreal. Northern Electric is 44%-50% owned by Western Electric, which was the manufacturing arm of AT&T in the US. The logo is stylized to match Western Electric’s logo. Northern Electric and Western Electric manufactured similar equipment, but also distributed Western Electric-made equipment, or shared the manufacture of a single piece of equipment, depending on demand. (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
- 1923 – Active and selling: Cable Accessories, circuit breakers, conduits, controllers, cooking devices, cords, cross arms, curling irons, electric railway equipment, fans, fire alarm equipment, fixtures, fuses, generators, heating devices, instruments, insulators, lamps, lighting arrestors, line materials, lighting standards, measuring instruments, meters, motors, poles, potheads and sleeves, reflectors, showcase lighting, street lighting, tape, telephone equipment, tools, transformers, underground installations, vacuum cleaners, wire and wiring devices, (“Classified Index to Advertisers”)
- 1931 – Company has “general sales offices” at 637 Craig Street W., Montreal, selling Western Electric equipment out of this address. (Western Electric “Moving Coil Microphone”)
- 1940s – Active with war work at factories. (“Northern Electric Company Limited – Telephone/Electric Division” photo album, 1943)
- 1948, Mar. – New plant at 250 Sidney St., Belleville, ON occupied in March of 1948, possibly after leasing a site at 11 Water St., Belleville, ON. (“Nortel Belleville”; unknown source)
- 1954 – Plant active at 250 Sidney Street, Belleville, Ontario (“The Electrical Apparatus and Supplies Industry, 1954”)
- 1959 – Established Northern Electric Research and Development Laboratories in Ottawa, Ontario, at Crystal Beach on Carling site. (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
- 1964 – Active, advertising electrical goods at 1600 Dorchester Blvd W., Montreal. “Also Cable Testing Sets, Ground Testers.” (Fraser’s Canadian Trade Directory (1964))
- 1971 – Bell Canada and Northern Electric merge their R&D activities to form Bell Northern Research (BNR) (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
- 1972 – “Northern Telecom launches its first electronic switch, the SG-1, also known as PULSE. This is highly successful. (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
- 1989, Sept. – Northern Telecom buys Microtel’s manufacturing plant in Brockville, ON, also purchasing the company’s “central office switching business”, GTD-5 equipment. The proposal also plans to create a new company to coordinate “the network management systems businesses of both Northern Telecom and Microtel”, 51% owned by Northern Telecom. The new plant to be located in Burnaby or Richmond, BC. (May, “NorTel plans to buy Brockville plant”; Smith, “B.C. Tel, Northern Tel create new company”; Smith, “New firm sees software opportunities”)
- 1990 – The joint Northern Telecom and Microtel company is named Prism Systems Inc., “aimed at the global telecommunications market” producing network management systems and transmission equipment and services. and located in British Columbia. (Smith, “Northern Telecom, B.C. Tel link up in new joint enterprise”)
- 1995 – Company is renamed Nortel Networks.
- 2009 – Nortel files for bankruptcy. (“Northern Electric – A Brief History”)
Sources
“Classified Index to Advertisers” The Electrical News XXXII No. 21 (November 1923): 74–78 (https://ia902209.us.archive.org/23/items/electricalnews1923/electricalnews1923.pdf)
Fraser’s Canadian Trade Directory (1964): 769.
“The Electrical Apparatus and Supplies Industry, 1954” Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Industry and Merchandising Division – Metal and Chemical Products Section C.D. Howe, Minister of Trade and Commerce (Edmond Cloutier, 1956): A-32 (https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2017/statcan/43-201/CS43-201-1954-eng.pdf)
“Electricity at Toronto Exhibition” Canadian Electrical News 19 No. 10 (October, 1910) (https://ia902205.us.archive.org/30/items/electricalnews1910/electricalnews1910.pdf): 43
How to build rural telephone lines (Pamphlet, 1910) (https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.75298/6)
“The Independent Telephone Convention – President Doan’s Address” Canadian Electrical News 19, No. 12 (December 1910): 53-54
MacDonald, Larry. Nortel Networks: How Innovation and Vision Created a Network Giant (John Wiley & Sons, 2000)
May, Kathryn “NorTel plans to buy Brockville plant” Ottawa Citizen, January 14, 1989: 104 [F10])
Newman, Peter C. Nortel, Northern Telecom: past, present, future (1995)
“Nortel Belleville” Progress is fine, but it’s gone on for too long (blog), March 4, 2014 (http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2014/03/nortel-belleville.html) [29-11-23]
“Northern Electric – A Brief History” Bell System Memorial (https://www.bellsystemmemorial.com/northern_electric_history.html) [01-11-24]
“Northern Electric Company and Its Predecessors” Northern Electric Company Historical Data (unpublished history document) Ingenium Centre Library – Trade Literature TPHON N8747 0002 C1964 (https://museum.ent.sirsidynix.net/client/en_GB/ingeniumcanada_English/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:94384/one) [pg 34]
Smith, David. “B.C. Tel, Northern Tel create new company” The Vancouver Sun, 1, 1989.
Smith, David. “New firm sees software opportunities” The Vancouver Sun, 4, 1989: 33
Smith, “Northern Telecom, B.C. Tel link up in new joint enterprise” The Vancouver Sun, January 25, 1990: 35
Tyson, John F. Adventures in Innovation: Inside the rise and fall of Nortel (2014)
Western Electric “Moving Coil Microphone” (Western Electric Company, Inc., 1931): 11 (https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Western-Electric/Western-Electric-Moving-Coil-Microphone-1931.pdf)
Fraser’s Canadian Trade Directory (1964): 769.
“The Electrical Apparatus and Supplies Industry, 1954” Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Industry and Merchandising Division – Metal and Chemical Products Section C.D. Howe, Minister of Trade and Commerce (Edmond Cloutier, 1956): A-32 (https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2017/statcan/43-201/CS43-201-1954-eng.pdf)
“Electricity at Toronto Exhibition” Canadian Electrical News 19 No. 10 (October, 1910) (https://ia902205.us.archive.org/30/items/electricalnews1910/electricalnews1910.pdf): 43
How to build rural telephone lines (Pamphlet, 1910) (https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.75298/6)
“The Independent Telephone Convention – President Doan’s Address” Canadian Electrical News 19, No. 12 (December 1910): 53-54
MacDonald, Larry. Nortel Networks: How Innovation and Vision Created a Network Giant (John Wiley & Sons, 2000)
May, Kathryn “NorTel plans to buy Brockville plant” Ottawa Citizen, January 14, 1989: 104 [F10])
Newman, Peter C. Nortel, Northern Telecom: past, present, future (1995)
“Nortel Belleville” Progress is fine, but it’s gone on for too long (blog), March 4, 2014 (http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2014/03/nortel-belleville.html) [29-11-23]
“Northern Electric – A Brief History” Bell System Memorial (https://www.bellsystemmemorial.com/northern_electric_history.html) [01-11-24]
“Northern Electric Company and Its Predecessors” Northern Electric Company Historical Data (unpublished history document) Ingenium Centre Library – Trade Literature TPHON N8747 0002 C1964 (https://museum.ent.sirsidynix.net/client/en_GB/ingeniumcanada_English/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:94384/one) [pg 34]
Smith, David. “B.C. Tel, Northern Tel create new company” The Vancouver Sun, 1, 1989.
Smith, David. “New firm sees software opportunities” The Vancouver Sun, 4, 1989: 33
Smith, “Northern Telecom, B.C. Tel link up in new joint enterprise” The Vancouver Sun, January 25, 1990: 35
Tyson, John F. Adventures in Innovation: Inside the rise and fall of Nortel (2014)
Western Electric “Moving Coil Microphone” (Western Electric Company, Inc., 1931): 11 (https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Western-Electric/Western-Electric-Moving-Coil-Microphone-1931.pdf)
Collection
Citation
“Northern Electric Co.,” Precision Instrument Culture in Canada, accessed November 18, 2024, http://omeka.uottawa.ca/instrument-precision/items/show/35.
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