firststream Posted August 9, 2009 Share #1 Posted August 9, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) I drove to Midland - 75 miles (120 km.) from home - to visit Midland, Ontario, the home of Elcan. This is the site of the Ernst Leitz Canada (ELCan) operations, where Dr.Walter Mandler designed the 35, 50, 75 Summilux, the Noctilux, and the first Aspherical lenses used by Leica. Fittingly, the factory is about 2 kilometres shy of the end of Yonge, North America's longest street. It is at 450 Leitz Rd. I also paid a visit to the Midland Pawn Shop on King Street, where unfortunately there were no used Leicas. A biologist and avid photographer did tell me however, that there are many families in town with Leica equipment stored away unused - hand-me-downs from their fathers who worked at the factory. (Elcan presently employs 1,100 people on site, and is the Town's largest employer.) A further visit to the town's camera shop again offered no Leica equipment, but the owner was very familiar with Elcan. He knew both Walter Mandler and Walter Kluge - the "Two Walters" in his words - and said the respective families are still in the Midland/Barrie area. He further acknowledged the invisible presence of Leica equipment in the area, but that he himself didn't deal in it. Midland is a pretty, quiet town, busy in the summer with cottagers and tourists up from Toronto. If you are ever in southern Ontario, and would like to make the pilgrimage, it would be worth the while. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted August 9, 2009 Posted August 9, 2009 Hi firststream, Take a look here Midland Pilgrimage. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
dicko101 Posted August 10, 2009 Share #2 Posted August 10, 2009 Interesting to see what it looks like now. Thanks for the picture. No factory tour or gift shop there I bet! Still, a very important place in the history of Leica. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertekijker Posted August 11, 2009 Share #3 Posted August 11, 2009 Much appreciate this interesting contribution! Thank you. --------------- Frans Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyoung Posted August 11, 2009 Share #4 Posted August 11, 2009 We are going to Ontario/Quebec next year for a trip, I wondered if there was anything to see now. I was in Montreal 1966-69, and my 35 f/2 came from there for the M3. Gerry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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