The Woodstock factory is located on Dundas Street eight and half acres of land which now consists of Foodland and Goodlife fitness and the large parking lot out front and which was formerly Zellers.
. In 1880 the brothers returned
to Woodstock and in 1882 they founded their own
company in that town which eventually employed 45
people. However, in 1890 they sold that firm and moved
to set up a new wagon and carriage company in
Brantford, Ontario which was named the "Bain Brothers
Manufacturing Company." They even repurchased their
old Woodstock company and moved it too to Brantford,
merging it with the new firm.
Their residence in Brantford proved short-lived. Brantford's farm machinery and implement manufacturers, the MasseyHarris
Comany, purchased shares in the Bain siblings ' company. This move was part of the Massey-Harris Company's
expansion into the production of other kinds of farm implements and machinery and along with Bain they also bought
control of other companies which manufactured equipment such as seed drills and ploughs . The affiliation with MasseyHarris
allowed the brothers to return to Woodstock and set up a new enterprise, the "Bain Wagon Co." They purchased the
premises of an empty former farm implement manufacture (Batterson-Wisner Co.) on Dundas Street in Woodstock's east
end for their factory. Under this arrangement, John was General Manager of the Bain company while George became Plant
Superintendent and a director of the firm . Through Massey-Harris they were able to market Bain wagons across Canada and
eventually beyond. They focussed on farm wagons but sleighs and lighter spring wagons were also produced. The company
was quite successful, as by 1901 they had
over 200 employees and produced over
10,000 wagons annually which was
almost half the wagons sold in all of
Canada at that time. A major reason for
the success was the beginning of the
Boer War when the company was
contracted to produce transport wagons
and ambulance wagons for the military -
a tradition they would continue through
the First World War as well. The firm
continued to expand and at their height
employed 950 people.
John Bain died March 1 1933 the funeral service was held at his house which was located at 350 light Street in Woodstock . At the age of 81