Company History

In 1967 our company started out as a residential/commercial glass company in St. Thomas, ON. Eli Wielhouwer, who had learned various skills in carpentry and cabinet making progressed into the window trade after working for a national window company in sales, service and marketing. Eli and his wife Dorothy started their first business venture named “Eli’s Glass”.

The company quickly grew over the years supplying and installing residential windows and commercial store fronts in the region. The company also secured a contract with the Elgin County School Board replacing glass and mirrors, which endured for approximately 25 years.

During the time working with the Elgin County School Board, Eli realized that there was a big need for replacement toilet partition hardware not only locally but nationally.

In 1981 the business expanded again bringing in a large inventory of aftermarket toilet partition parts to supply and a national marketing program of catalogues were sent to every school board in Canada. This progressed to colleges, universities and hospitals. Along with partition hardware, Eli’s experience with commercial window and door hardware was included in our offerings as well as washroom and handicapped accessories. With this new market, “Eli’s Glass” changed to Wielhouwer & Associates Inc.

During this period, the glazing portion of the business was slowly phased out as sales efforts was mainly focused on toilet, window and door hardware with Gerda Brokenshire coming on the “Inside Sales Desk” for the next 35 years looking after clients across Canada as Eli expanded our relationship’s in the South Western Ontario region and GTA.

Fast forward to today, and the Wielhouwer family is carrying on Eli’s legacy, building on more than 40 years of relationships forged through expertise and superior customer service. The next generation of family has come aboard to continue to serve our clients with a high level of service and adapt to a rapidly changing business environment through changes to IT, social media, and accounting management.