Coleman Lamps on Queen East

Over 100 years ago, a young man with an entrepreneurial spirit and a better idea began manufacturing lanterns in Wichita, Kansas. His name was W.C. Coleman.

He had very poor vision, but one day while looking in a drugstore window he was amazed to find that he could read the labels on the bottles.

He discovered that the lamps had mantles, not wicks, and were fueled by gasoline, under pressure not coal oil. Their light was clean and white.

Coleman was able to purchase the inventory and patents for the Efficient Lamp in 1901. 

After years of servicing the lamps, he knew he could design a better product; so in 1909, Coleman introduced a portable table lamp that became a staple in rural homes. 

Coleman's biggest customer was the U.S. military, when they designed the GI Pocket Stove. It burned for two hours on a cup of fuel from a jeep or plane, and became the most important contribution to the war.

The lantern and the camp stove became anchors for an expanded line of leisure products, beginning with a galvanized steel cooler introduced in 1954.

By the time the '60s drew to a close, the company that began as a one-man light utility had become the biggest name in the camping business.

">Despite all these grand inventions, this plant on Queen Street just east of the Don Valley Parkway is now home to an auto parts wholesaler.