The Archives has recently been in contact with Silvy Embury of Lethbridge, who sent us some photographs of an iron which belonged to her grandmother, Helen Boyle.
On the back of the iron is an information panel which records details of the iron’s manufacture, including the fact that it was made in Deseronto by the Redi-Heat Electric Company Ltd.
There is not a lot of information in the Archives about Redi-Heat, but there is an advertisement for the company in the May 28th, 1948 issue of the Deseronto Post newspaper:
REDI-HEAT
ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
A DESERONTO INDUSTRY
MANUFACTURERS OF NEW MODERN LINES
OF ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES
HOT PLATES
IRONS
TOASTERS
HEATERS
RANGETTES
DESERONTO TELEPHONE 76
The February 4th, 1948 edition of the Post (held here on microfilm) notes that the company was originally based in Belleville, from 1921, and had been in Deseronto since 1932. The firm was based in the building which originally housed the head office of the Rathbun Company, on the east side of Mill Street, south of Water Street. In the Rathbun era, the building looked like this:
We don’t have any twentieth century photographs of this building. A newspaper report from 1967 notes that Redi-Heat had been bought out by Dravo, although there is no date given for this. If you have any more information about Redi-Heat or the building it was based in, please leave a comment below!
Deseronto Archives 
January 28, 2015 at 10:58 am
Excellent! Is it being donated?
Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the TELUS network.
January 28, 2015 at 11:12 am
Just the photos at this point!
January 28, 2015 at 4:09 pm
If I remember correctly, the building was still standing in late 60’s/early 70’s as we had used it to store papers we had collected as Deseronto Boy Scouts. Any former pack members out there remember more? It wasn’t being used at the time and was empty.
January 28, 2015 at 5:47 pm
Thanks, Jamie!
March 11, 2015 at 1:18 pm
[…] the iron we featured a few weeks ago, here are two more examples of Deseronto-made items. These glasses […]
April 2, 2017 at 10:06 am
My father in law, Frederick Harold Ball, was a partner with S Wessman, R Wessman and W.C. Burgoyne of Redi-Heat Electrical Appliance Company in the 1940s. I have just located a photo of this building the company was housed in, in his personal photo album. I also have Financial Statements as at December 31, 1946. From my husband’s recollections, the building burnt down between 1951-53, but he does not have an accurate date. If you wish to contact me, my name is Micheline Ball and I can be reached either on e-mail at micharoma@yahoo.ca or by telephone at 905-436-2625 or 905-213-4266. I will gladly share this information with you.
April 3, 2017 at 11:18 am
Thanks for getting in touch, Micheline, I’ve just sent you an email.