Historical Photos

Staff member taking a break

How times change

Looking over the plans for the new plant in Sussex, New Brunswick

Company History

1907
Two young brothers, Percy and George W. Nelson, began their careers in the stone working trade, apprenticing for Tingley Monuments in Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick.

1909
After only 2 years, the brothers boldly decided they could do better on their own and proceeded to set up shop in an old church at Lower Cape, a mere 2 miles down the road from their former employer. The ambitious pair worked seasonally, spending the off season months working as lumbermen, then hitting the road when the weather cleared traveling throughout New Brunswick & Nova Scotia, taking monument orders from clients. Periodically they returned home to fill the orders and the finished monuments were then shipped by train to the town or village nearest the cemetery. Once the stone was all shipped, they made an installation trip by horse and carriage, often buying and selling horses at the same time.

1930’s
With 20 years of experience under their belts, the brothers branched out into quarrying and producing building stone. They also worked under contract, and as suppliers to other stone companies. A great deal of their work can still be seen in the stone buildings in New Brunswick, from that time period.

1950’s
The company continued along as a relatively small family business until the early 1950’s until Maurice and Russell Nelson, took over the reins from their father George. Maurice and Russell’s vision for the company was much grander than that of their father. In 1954, they incorporated the company and renamed it Nelson Monuments Ltd. By the late 1950’s, Maurice and Russell both had sons that had started to work in the business.  According to family tradition, village officials began to take note of the successful operation, and decided to heavily tax the company, so they were forced to seriously consider their options.

1959 & 1960
A brand new stone manufacturing and finishing plant was built in Sussex, New Brunswick, and the entire operation moved. The grand opening was an unusual event in the quiet little town and it was well attended by the locals and by many of the provincial dignitaries of the time.     

1967
Russell Nelson and his 3 eldest sons, Merrill, Eric and Carter acquired full ownership of the company.
Maurice & Harry Nelson moved to Windsor, Nova Scotia, and have since then, built another successful monument & stone working company, called Heritage Monuments. Another of Russell’s brothers, Jim Nelson, moved with his family to Florida, where he ran a business manufacturing the Nelson Stencil Press, a machine that mechanically impressed and cut letters into the stencils used for making monuments. He also made the specialized handcarts that are to this day widely used in the monument industry.

Late 1970’s thru early 1980’s
The youngest son, Garth Nelson purchased his father’s shares in the late 1970’s.
The company began to expand rapidly, hitting the first million $ mark in sales. The plant was modernized, new equipment regularly installed, a full size tractor trailer for extended deliveries purchased, granite importing and exporting companies set up, sales force expanded and the companies first mainframe computer was installed in climate controlled room in a new office building.

1979
Garth and Allison Nelson moved to Moncton, New Brunswick to work in the Moncton sales office. They later transferred to St Johns, Newfoundland, where they set up a new sales office in the Avalon Mall. Allison worked as the branch manager and Garth traveled throughout the province, as sales manager for Newfoundland.

1980
Carter Nelson and family moved to Vermilion Bay, Ontario to open a subsidiary company, known as Nelson Granite. This company has been very successful and owns and operates several quarries in north western Ontario.

1982
Garth and Allison Nelson moved to Kitchener, Ontario, to start up a division of the company that would serve southwestern Ontario on a retail basis.  A store was set up on Victoria Street in Kitchener, monuments were made in the New Brunswick plant and shipped to Kitchener for delivery to the cemetery. The first stones were delivered in the back of a station wagon, then later a U-Haul truck was hired, and finally the other shareholders in the company were convinced that a real truck was needed, so they sent the oldest truck in the company fleet.

1983
A sales representative was hired to work in the Kitchener office, which allowed Allison to travel extensively, setting up the new sales offices, and hiring and training outside sales representatives. Allison also did the administrative work, and the sales in the Kitchener showroom on weekends. Sales were increasing dramatically and it was quickly becoming apparent that some manufacturing would have to take place locally.
Garth set up the manufacturing plant in 1000 sq ft of leased space in an industrial park in Waterloo. By the end of the first year things were getting increasingly cramped for space and there was no outside storage, so the unit directly adjacent was leased and the shop doubled in size to 2000 sq ft. A year later a third unit was leased and the office & showroom was moved from Victoria Street to the plant location in Waterloo. This was fine for another year but it became obvious that a larger more permanent location was going to be required.

1986
Land was purchased by Garth and Allison Nelson, in the Township of Woolwich adjacent to the city of Kitchener and the Bridgeport Industrial Park to build a new shop and house on. The 17 acre parcel was subsequently subdivided into a 2.54 acre parcel for a new manufacturing plant to be built on, and the back parcel that fronts on the Grand River, was retained for the family home. Nelson Monuments was formally moved to it present location in 1988. The new plant was carefully planned to provide the most efficient flow of work, room for expansion, lots of outdoor storage, a large indoor showroom and office with large windows and lots of natural light, and featured the most advanced equipment available for manufacturing and delivery.

1992
Ideal Monuments, an old and very respected monument company based in London, Ontario, was offered to us for purchase. Lambton Memorials, Sarnia, Ontario was also purchased at the same time, from the same owners.

This photo was taken in the loading area of the Ideal Monuments plant that was located on Springbank Drive in London.  A few years ago, Ideal's showroom was moved to a much nicer location and building at 390 Springbank, just a few blocks down the street from the original building.

1995
The oldest shareholders, Merrill and Eric Nelson were nearing retirement age and decided to sell their shares in the company. Carter and his son Nevin took over the ownership of the Nelson Granite quarrying operations in northern Ontario, and Garth Nelson became the sole owner of the southern Ontario monument company. The Ontario retail operation was renamed in the process as, The Stone Centre Inc. The original parent company (Nelson Monuments) and all of the operations in the Maritimes were subsequently sold to outside interests.

2002
Brantford Monuments, a well established firm in the Brantford / Paris area, became part of our family, when Mary Reilly, the proprietor for many years decided to retire. The business is located across from Mt Hope Cemetery in a lovely cobblestone house with an attached showroom. The manufacturing area has been removed, the showroom size has tripled, and a great deal of restoration work has been completed.

2004
Shantz Memorials, Shuh Memorials and Galt Monuments were purchased. Their manufacturing plant was closed as we did not purchase the building, and Shantz and Shuh operations were moved to The Stone Centres head office on Bridge Street in Kitchener. Galt Monuments remained in operation in its existing location.

2005
The original City of Cambridge Pump House, a beautiful gothic style stone cottage, was purchased as a permanent, much nicer and more easily accessible location. We have completed the restoration work and our Galt Monuments showroom and office has been relocated to its new home at the corner of Dundas and Hopeton Street.