Wooster, Thomas

WOOSTER, Thomas (1845-1935) was a successful architect and a building contactor in Aylmer, Ont. Born in Redding, England he came to Canada as a youth and at first resided in St. Thomas. He moved to Aylmer after 1870 and worked as a contractor for several years, supervising the construction of many buildings including the Town Hall & Opera House there (1873), a work often mistakenly attributed to him but actually designed by George Watson of London. Many of the stores, factories and residences erected in Aylmer in the late 19th C. were built by him; by 1900 he owned the largest lumber yard and planing mill in the town, enabling him to design and provide building materials for a variety of commissions. He retired after 1920 and died in Aylmer on 4 June 1935. The Aylmer & District Museum holds a small collection of drawings by Wooster, Acc. 978-15-1 (obituary Aylmer Express, 6 June 1935, 1; inf. Ms. P. Zimmer, Aylmer)

AYLMER, ONT., Methodist Church, 1874 (list of works in obituary)
LAKEVIEW, ONT., Baptist Church, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 7 April 1909, 20, t.c.)
AYLMER, ONT., factory for Aylmer Canning Co., 1911 (C.R., xxv, 22 Nov. 1911, 66)
STRATHROY, ONT., warehouse for Dominion Canning Co., 1919 (C.R., xxxiii, 19 March 1919, 45)