Above: Hayes Paving Co. - note Alma Baptist Church on the left in Background.
Photo cf. Donna Barbour MacPhee Collection
Hayes Paving Co. began operations in Alma
around 1956 with the building of a work yard which had crushing machines, an asphalt plant,
workshops, stockpiles, etc. This was located on the
Western Road where the Cheese Factory Road meets the western Road next to the railroad tracks.
Stanford and Gertrude McNeill leased the land to Hayes Paving Co. - this farmland once belonged to Pat MacIntyre - the farmhouse and buildings were located where George MacNeill's house is today.
Stanford and Gertrude McNeill leased the land to Hayes Paving Co. - this farmland once belonged to Pat MacIntyre - the farmhouse and buildings were located where George MacNeill's house is today.
The plant was situated to take advantage of rail transportation to bring in tar and gravel. Hayes had their own rail siding, number D68A –
the public siding was a few hundred feet northward by Centerline Road and numbered D68B.
Many local and nearby men worked at Hayes Paving Co. – to name a few: Keith Bowness (night watchman), Ralph
Costain, Ernie Currie, Ralph Duggan, Isaac Dunbar, Clarence Dunn, Wilfred Dunn,
Ken Graham, Irving Henderson, Sandy MacLean, Lem MacLellan, Stanford McNeill,
Earl Matthews, Jimmy Rix.
When Hayes moved in the parishioners of the Alma Baptist Church thought the plant too close to the church - the plant produced alot of dust and pollution.
When the old Alma train flag station was closed it was sold to Archie Dunbar who later sold it to Hayes who used it as a
shortage shed ( see earlier blogpost http://almalauretta.blogspot.ca/2012/03/hi-construction-in-alma-leveled-in.html ).
Hayes Paving Co. was sold to H.I. Construction in the early 1990's – it was operated by the Dawson family of Crapaud who carried on road construction here. In peak season the operation employed near 30 people. In the spring
of 2013 H.I. Construction closed and sold to local interests.
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