English: Richard Mott Wanzer was an American who moved to Hamilton in the late 1850s and set up to manufacture sewing machines. His first factory opened in 1859-1860 in a stone building at the southwest corner of Vine and James Street.He incorporated ideas from Singer, Wheeler and Wilson to manufacture his own line of machines as patent protection did not apply to American inventions. His original 12 employees could only turn out 4 machines in his first month of business which he sold door to door. Demand soon exceeded supply and he expanded and began an aggressive marketing campaign. By 1867 he employed more than 100 men and boys and the factory produced between 70 and 100 machines weekly. One of his earliest and most popular machines was called the Little Wanzer and was hailed as the “most perfect of all sewing machines”. Distribution was local, national and international. His machines won awards at Fairs across Canada and Europe. He moved into a larger factory in 1868 at the southeast corner of King and Catherine Streets. At one point Hamilton was known as the sewing machine capital of Canada. Wanzer won an award for producing the best sewing machine in the world at the Vienna Exposition in 1873.
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