Charles Boeckh
Plot U, Lot 42
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Boeckh was born in Strasbourg in Alsace, France, in 1817. As a young man he entered the family’s broom, brush, and wooden-ware business and at the age of 32 immigrated to New York City where he established an American factory that specialised in the manufacture of paint brushes. Boeckh’s Canadian customers encouraged him to move north of the border and in 1856 a factory was opened at 98 Berkeley Street in Toronto. Three years later the entire New York business was transferred to Toronto. Eventually Boeckh was forced to build a larger factory on Adelaide Street plus an extensive warehouse on York. Things went extremely well and soon Boeckh products, that now included a wide variety of brooms, were in demand from Halifax to Vancouver. Charles Boeckh died in 1899. The company remained in business until 1965 when it was sold to another Canadian outfit, the T.D. Sims Company.
Mike Filey
Mount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide
Second Edition Revised and Expanded