McGill Libraries
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Macpherson & Crane
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Macpherson, Crane and Company
S. Crane and Company
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1831-1857
History
Macpherson & Crane was a forwarding firm operating in Prescott, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec. It was founded by Samuel Crane (1794-1858) in 1831 with John Macpherson (and later David Lewis Macpherson). In 1836, the company secured a partnership with the Ottawa and Rideau Forwarding Company, which gave them a degree of monopoly on some of the most important shipping routes to the Ottawa area. In the early 1840s, the firm owned 12 steamers, 40 barges, and 5 schooners, and operated warehouses and shipyards in Montreal, Kingston, and Prescott (with an additional warehouse in Bytown). They went on to expand to Hamilton, Port Stanley, Amherstburg, Boston, and New York. In spite of its success, Macpherson and Crane sold off most of its vessels and greatly reduced their operations in 1853. The firm was bankrupted and dissolved in 1857, after one of their major debtors, Henderson and Holcomb, failed.