Canadian automotive history preserved in tiny Clarington shed

There’s a lot of history in a lonely little shed on Old Scugog Road in the north Clarington hamlet of Enniskillen that was finally given its proper historical dues last month.

The McLaughlin Shed, which produced horse-drawn sleighs more than 150 years ago, paving the way for neighbouring Oshawa’s eventual transformation into Canada’s automotive capital, earned its designation June 22 following a staff request in January.

“If there had not been for the McLaughlin family business building carriages and sleighs there would not have been a foray into the business of building cars, and probably no automotive production in Oshawa,” said Clarington Heritage Committee Chair Peter Vogel. “GM Oshawa owes its roots to the McLaughlin family business and a humble shed in Enniskillen is evidence of this history, a building that escaped destruction and deserves to be preserved for what it represents – an important link in the early history of transportation from horse-drawn sleighs and buggies to cars, and from McLaughlin to General Motors.”

McLaughlin’s success as a carriage builder, which began on the family farm in nearby Tyrone a few years before the move to Enniskillin, continued into the 20th century, and by 1907 an automotive branch of the company – the McLaughlin Motor Car Company – had been established by Robert’s two sons, George and Sam McLaughlin, after Sam managed to convince his father ‘motor cars’ was the wave of the future.

Listening to Sam – later to be immortalized as Colonel Sam McLaughlin, the founder of General Motors Canada – turned out to be a good idea as the new venture turned out to be so successful the carriage business was discontinued entirely in 1915 so the company could devote all its time to making cars.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The one-storey wood frame shed is the last vestige of Robert McLaughlin’s Enniskillen Carriage Works and showcases a painted sign commemorating its former use and connection to the McLaughlin family. The sign was placed on the building in 2005, and was donated by Edgar and Annie Wright, two long-term residents of Enniskillen.

“Their family motto, “Only one grade, and that the best” should be taught as an example of the pursuit of excellence in both Clarington’s and Oshawa’s history,” said Vogel.

Meanwhile, Oshawa is still trying to ensure the former Oshawa home of Robert McLaughlin, the patriarch of the pioneering industrialist family, is preserved in appropriate fashion.

The home on Simcoe Street – just south of Oshawa Hospital – has seen a lot in its 139 years, from a criminal setting it on fire while he was inside hiding from police to witnessing a murder and double stabbing next door to possibly the worst of all: a decade of “rot by neglect.”

Current owners Nantuck Investments announced their intention to tear down the home, which was built in 1887, prompting the city to have the building designated as a heritage property. That happened in 2021 and the matter is still before the courts after multiple appeals.

McLaughlin Shed in Ennisklillen