General Wire and Cable Company Limited
609 William St., Cobourg K9A 3A6

General Wire and Cable Co. was a manufacturer of wires and cables. They also sold radio antenna kits.

Source: cobourgmuseum.ca, GeneralWire-Final.pdf

In 1954, General Wire and Cable was just a small business operating out of a garage in Toronto. But before long the fledgling company, founded by Karl H. Fabricius, needed more room to satisfy the growing demand for its products. With the help of Mayor John Burnet, the move was made to Cobourg, to the premises on William Street which had originally been the home of the Wallace Brewery, then the Cobourg Matting & Carpet factory and more recently the Cobourg Dye Works.

In 1959, the space formerly occupied by the Dominion Wheel and Foundry on George Street was acquired and became Plant #2. Using raw materials imported from Europe, such products as guy strand, clothesline, chain link and galvanized fence were manufactured there, while Plant #1 on William Street continued to produce garden hose, lawn soakers, skipping ropes and plastic eaves trough, using mostly Canadian produced raw materials. The finished products were then shipped to Toronto, Hamilton, London and Buffalo.

General Wire and Cable continued to grow and constructed a two story addition to its William Street plant as well as landscaping. Even as the business prospered, Fabricius recognized the impact of competition from the United States.

In 1969 Karl H. Fabricius sold his company to the Belden Corporation of Geneva, Illinois, while remaining president of the General Wire branch. Three years later, citing ill health, he resigned as president but retained his position on the Board of Directors as long as his health allowed.

In the fall of 1985, General Wire and Cable sold its steel division, housed at the George Street factory, to Ontario Wire and Steel Corporation of Mississauga. The conditions of sale required that it would retain all current employees and continue to manufacture the Vinylink brand of fencing. However, Ontario Wire and Steel went bankrupt in 1988 and the name was taken over by the Vinylink Corp., now listed simply as a small trucking operation. Fencing is no longer manufactured under the Vinylink trademark, but Belden does produce an electrical building wire called Vinylex.

Also in 1985, General Wire and Cable purchased 26 acres at Lucas Point in the east end of Cobourg. That company then faded from existence and the Lucas Point site became the new home for the Cobourg operations of Belden (Canada) Inc. Belden is a major producer of communication cables and associated products. Included is a wide range of copper, fiber and coaxial cables and fiber and copper connectors for the enterprise, broadcast and industrial markets.