Waterman Brothers' Atlantic Petroleum Works, London East, ca. 1878.
The Atlantic Petroleum Works was owned by Herman and Isaac Waterman, two Bavarian Jews who became Anglicans and were merchants before becoming oil refiners. The refinery was built along Hamilton Road in the mid-1860s and within a decade (when this anonymous photograph was taken) was one of the leading petroleum refineries and paraffin wax candle manufactories in Canada. As reeve of London East in 1877 Isaac Waterman initiated the system of sidings which connected the various oil refineries and other manufacturing establishments in the village to the Great Western Railway. The Watermans were among the founders of the Imperial Oil Company in 1880.
Courtesy: London Historical Museums, London Public Library Board
