Norman M. Paterson Corporate and family : In 1908, Norman M. Paterson founded the company under the name of N.M. Paterson Co. in Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay). In August 25, 1915, the name of his company changed to N. M. Paterson Company Limited. The primary business activity during these early and formative years involved buying bulk screenings from elevators and selling them for shipment in the east.
In 1912, Paterson built a small terminal elevator called "Elevator K" in Fort William which had a capacity of 75,000 bushels. Three years later, a second terminal facility in Fort William was constructed, which, after reconstruction in 1927, had a storage capacity of nearly 4 million bushels and where grain was handled until 1977.
In May 1914, the company entered into the line elevator business after purchasing 12 line elevators from Royal Elevator Company and then establishing the Interior Elevator Company. In 1916, 12 new elevators were purchased - 11 in 1917 and 23 in 1918. By August 1920, when the Interior Elevator Company was amalgamated into N. M. Paterson Company Limited, 76 line elevators were owned in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and, by 1928, the company owned 107 line elevators.
To begin transporting grain to Eastern Canada for export, Paterson invested in a fleet of Great Lakes vessels. On February 10, 1926, Paterson Steamships Limited was created. Prior to this, the company had already been operating 7 vessels, which began in 1915 with the purchase of their first vessel, the S.S. Van Allen. The year of 1926, however, marked the company's official entry into the shipping business. In the same year, 11 vessels were purchased from the Interlake Steamship Company of Cleveland, Ohio. These vessels were named after provinces and cities in Canada with a "DOC" suffix to designate "Dominion of Canada". This system of nomenclature continued after 1926 for all Paterson vessels with two exceptions, the S.S. "Paterson" (1954-1984) bore the company name and the laker "Senator of Canada" (1957-1985), which was named to honour the company and its founder, Norman M. Paterson.
The Paterson fleet underwent further expansion between 1927 and 1929 with the addition of 18 canallers, which were built in England by the shipbuilding company Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson. By the end of 1929, the Paterson fleet consisted of 11 Upper Lakers and 20 canallers. In the same year, Paterson Steamships became the second largest Canadian shipping company to operate on the Great Lakes. The Paterson enterprises survived the Great Depression with some difficulty. However, Mr. Paterson began investing in other growing industries - namely in mining exploration and prospecting in Canada. In 1938, three additional vessels were purchased for the Paterson fleet and by 1939, the company had 33 vessels in operation.
During the Second World War, most vessels were involved in hauling ore cargoes to steel centres, but 16 of the Paterson ships were commissioned for war service. Although the main order of business involved the shipment of bauxite in the Caribbean and British Guiana (now Guyana), some of the Paterson vessels were utilized overseas, which included involvement in D-Day operations. In total, 7 canallers from the Paterson fleet were lost through enemy action. During the post-war years, business conditions began to improve and the company was able to return to prosperity once again.
After his appointment to the Senate, most of the decision-making of day-to-day operations for the company was turned over to Paterson's two sons, Donald S. and John N. On July 31, 1950, the company was renamed N. M. Paterson & Sons Limited. The Paterson fleet was rebuilt to meet the demands of the post-war economy and in 1961, 40 vessels sailed the Inland Waterways. In the 1960s, the company diversified its business into a wide variety of activities including iron mining and metal fabrication. A new generation of post-war vessels were brought into service which included new bulk freighters for inland lakes and Seaway service as well as small vessels which traded from the Head of the Lakes to the Maritimes and going as far south as Miami, Tampico or to South American ports. Similarly, operations in the West underwent great changes. Holdings within the Grain Division of the company were streamlined through a process of consolidation, closures and elevator reconstruction. During the 1970s and 1980s, the company owned 78 elevators facilities with a combined capacity of 235,580 tonnes of bushels - all of which continue to be expanded. In 1981, John N. Paterson passed away and Donald S. Paterson of Winnipeg succeeded his brother as Chairman and President of N.M. Paterson & Sons Limited until his death in 2006.
Since the 1990s, N. M. Paterson & Sons Limited has been controlled and operated by third-generation descendants of Norman M. Paterson. Today, Robert J. and Donald C. Paterson, sons of John N. Paterson, are involved in the day-to-day activities of the company. Norman and Andrew B. Paterson, sons of Donald S. Paterson are also involved in the company's grain operation. In 2001 the company - Paterson GlobalFoods Inc. - divested itself of its shipping interests and began offering export standard cleaning services for grain products. In addition to this, the company now offers Canadian grain producers as well as independent elevators on-site chemical and fertilizer facilities. Facilities for cleaning and bagging speciality seed products are also offered.
