The Waterloo Evaporator Company began under the leadership of Sylva LeBrun in Waterloo, Quebec. Born in nearby Shefford, Quebec in 1891, LeBrun opened a hardware store and sheet metal works on Main Street in Waterloo in the 19-teens. By 1919, he was manufacturing his own evaporator and other maple sugaring equipment.
In 1924 LeBrun obtained a Canadian patent for his evaporator and arch featuring a series of widely spaced drop flues. His patent is most notable for the addition of two designs of floats for controlling sap and syrup levels in the evaporator.
LeBrun expanded his hardware and manufacturing business in the early 1930s bringing on Claude Lussier, a younger partner. Claude Lussier was born in 1916 to a mother with a maiden name of LeBrun, suggesting that the men were related in some way. Sylva LeBrun and Claude Lussier were described as next door neighbors and Lussier took on the role of god-parent to one of LeBrun’s children, further demonstrating the closeness of their business and family relationships.
The 1930s were tumultuous times for LeBrun. In 1934 a fire destroyed a large historic barn at his farm south of Waterloo. In 1935 he ran for a seat in the national assembly as a conservative; however, he lost that election. Still wishing to get into politics, in 1937 he was elected mayor of the village of Waterloo, a seat he held until 1941.
In January 1940, Sylva LeBrun broke away from the hardware and manufacturing business in Waterloo and opened a new business called the Dominion Evaporator Company in Montreal. He established the company on Le Devoir Avenue and soon after relocated with his family to Montreal. Following the death of Charles E. Grimm in 1943, LeBrun purchased the Grimm Manufacturing Company of Montreal in 1953, forming Dominion & Grimm, Incorporated. The history of Dominion & Grimm will be covered in another blog post.
With LeBrun leaving for Montreal, Claude Lussier took control of the Waterloo hardware and manufacturing company and by 1945, it was called Lussier & Sons, or Lussier et Fils in French. Although the differences int the designs are not clear, the company continued to sell a “LeBrun” model and a “Lussier & Sons” model of evaporators.
Lussier & Sons continued in business until 1952 when they sold the hardware store and evaporator company to Raymond Ares and his son Andre Ares. For a few years, the Ares family continued to operate under the name of Lussier & Sons selling the Lussier & Sons and the LeBrun evaporators.
By 1964 Raymond and Andre Ares had changed their company name to Societe Ares Ltee but continued selling the Lussier & Sons model of evaporator. In time, Andre Ares took over management of the company following the death of Raymond in 1975 and until it was sold to Ernest Bieri in 1982. Bieri had begun working for Ares and the company as manager in 1979. It appears that following the death of Raymond the company dropped the name of Societe Ares Ltee and began to refer to itself as l’évaporateur Waterloo by early 1976, with a note that it was previously Ares.
In 1996 Waterloo Evaporators, Inc. combined forces with Small Brothers to form one company Waterloo/Small Incorporated which continued to be run by Bieri. (see Small Brothers company history post). Then in 2001 Waterloo/Small Inc. was sold to Lapierre Equipment, Inc. to form the largest Canadian manufacturer of maple syrup equipment and supplies.