Sunshine Metal Basket

1951 to 1994

If you remember poking a safety pin through your swimsuit at the Lion’s Pool in Waterloo Park, then you might recognize this object. Before change rooms had lockers, numbered baskets like these held your clothes, shoes, and anything else you brought with you. Pool staff kept your gear safe in a basket-filled room. The matching numbered safety pin clipped onto your swimsuit and off you went to splash and swim in the outdoor pool. The Sunshine Waterloo Company supplied hundreds of metal baskets to local city pools and YMCA’s.

In 1930, Waterloo Manufacturing Limited and Australian H.V. McKay Limited merged to become The Sunshine Waterloo Company. They sold innovative self-propelled grain combines throughout North America and Argentina. The Depression forced the company to manufacture more affordable items like electric ranges, baby carriages, roller skates and metal shelving. During WWII, Sunshine employed many local women to build bombs, landmines, gun mounts and nose assemblies for the Mosquito fighter-bomber. After the war, tricycles and bicycles rolled off the line until 1954. Until they closed in 1990, modern steel office furniture production was their focus.

For more on swimming in Waterloo Park, see our Waterloo Park Virtual Exhibit.

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