For the maple history fan interested in old equipment catalogs and the evolution of maple syrup technology, the Canadian equipment manufacturer Dominion & Grimm has made available a nifty collection of their catalogs from years past.
The catalogs in these full color scans cover most decades of the twentieth century and are presented as downloadable PDF files. Also available on the Dominion & Grimm website is a short history of their company which began as a Canadian wing of the G.H. Grimm Company of Ohio under the direction of a cousin of Gustav Henry Grimm.
Initially manufacturing and selling Champion Evaporators patented by G.H. Grimm, the Canadian Grimm Company was an independent affiliate of the Ohio Grimm company until it was purchased by the Dominion Evaporator Company in the 1950s, becoming the Dominion & Grimm company of today. It’s wonderful that Dominion & Grimm saw the value in preserving and sharing a record of their products and sales publications.
An excellent historical companion to the Dominion & Grimm story is the 1987 history of the G.H. Grimm Company by past owner and president Robert Moore and published in Volume 17, number 4 of the Rutland Historical Society Quartery. This company history traces the successful evolution and ownership of the G.H. Grimm Company from its Ohio beginnings in 1880, through its move to Rutland, Vermont in 1890, on to its sale in 1983. Moore’s article is a much appreciated corporate history of one of the most influential and important companies in the invention and manufacturing of maple syrup evaporators, spouts, and other equipment.