History

McGraw-Hill Ryerson is built on the solid foundations of two very respected publishing companies - The Ryerson Press and the McGraw-Hill Book Company.  Please click on an era below for more details.

 

1829
The Methodist Church established the Methodist Book and Publishing House, the first publishing company in Canada. Egerton Ryerson was the founder and he took the house from religious press into a more worldly publishing program.

 

1919
Known as the father of Ontario's public school system, the press took Egerton's name and continued to publish in many areas - religious, educational and trade.

 

1960
The United Church now owned the publishing house and was wondering if it belonged in the publishing trade, competing with privately owned firms. Throughout the sixties, many attempts were made to reorganize the house. But by the end of the decade it was decided that the Ryerson Press would be offered to sale to a company that would keep the name and the list alive.

 

1909
The McGraw-Hill Book Company was established in the United States of America and began publishing in the school, college and trade areas.

 

1944
The McGraw-Hill Book Company bought the Embassy Book Company of Toronto and incorporated it as a franchised distributor for McGraw-Hill titles.

 

1947
The Embassy Book Company was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent company and was renamed the McGraw-Hill Book Company of Canada. A replica of each sales department in the American company was formed - College, School, Trade and Mail sales - in order to market in Canada the books and other educational material produced by the parent company.

 

1949
The McGraw-Hill Book Company bought Gregg Publishing and added its publications to its list in both countries.

 

Mid-50s
The company undertook to establish a Canadian publishing program that would complement the parent company's titles and meet the growing demand for textbooks written for a specifically Canadian curriculum. Initially this consisted of adaptations of the American texts with Canadian content being added by Canadian authors. Soon the list was strengthened by publishing indigenous books when an American text was not available. Within no time, books were published at all levels and in most disciplines. Some early titles were Geography for Canadians, Canadian Accounting Practice, and Canadian Marketing Problems.

 

1965
McGraw-Hill Editeurs was established for another expansion in the publishing program. The primary objective was to produce French-language textbooks to fit the needs of the province of Quebec. Following the plan of the successful expansion into indigenous publishing in the mid-50s, the first projects were translations of McGraw-Hill texts. Once the base of successful translations was established, manuscripts for original French textbooks were solicited and added to the list.

 

1970
In December McGraw-Hill Book Company of Canada bought the inventory, copyrights and contracts of the Ryerson Press. Ryerson Press brought a list of some 500 titles, divided almost equally between its areas of specialty - elementary and school texts, and general interest trade books. Some of these titles included the works of L. M. Montgomery and Robert Service. As is common in today's nationalistic climate, the sale of the Ryerson Press to McGraw-Hill attracted much attention from those concerned about foreign ownership of a Canadian cultural institution.

 

1971
The two names were combined and became what it is today: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited.

 

1972
McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited made a public offering of 600,000 shares (30% of the stock) and became the only publisher of educational and trade books in Canada to "go public." The balance of the shares are held by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., and are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

 

1980s
As with many other corporations during this time McGraw-Hill Ryerson saw much growth. Markets expanded, lists grew and technology was introduced. First introduced in a limited capacity in the 1970s, computers began to be used throughout the company during the 80s. The first use was in record-keeping for such tasks as billing, inventory control, and some accounting records. After a major update in the late 80s, the systems continued to be used for record-keeping functions, but were also used in desk-top publishing.

 

1989
Promotional materials and events were planned to mark the 160th anniversary of Canadian Publishing.

 

1991
McGraw-Hill Ryerson moved from its Scarborough location, its home since 1965, to its present location in Whitby on the shore of Lake Ontario. These premises provided 40,000 square feet of office space and an 80,000 square foot warehouse. A computerized carousel picking system provides the warehouse with one of the most sophisticated systems in use in Canada. This state-of-the-art facility has a capacity for up to 2-million books. "The Libraries," two of the five conference rooms, contain many rare books, some dating back to the 1800s.

 

1994
The Legal Division, first established in 1989, was closed. With a number of publishing houses in Canada concentrating on the legal market exclusively for over 100 years, finding market-share proved difficult and the huge investment required for the resources to publish successfully in this area was unprofitable.

 

1995
McGraw-Hill Ryerson sold the assets of McGraw-Hill Editeurs to Les Editions de la Cheneliere, a well-respected French-language publisher. The company continues to market and sell the McGraw-Hill French-language product under the imprint Cheneliere/McGraw-Hill.

 

2000s
The emphasis at McGraw-Hill Ryerson in this decade was to increase its use of technology and implement new uses for that technology in the publishing world.  New digital products and services were successfully brought to the market by each of its Divisions.

 

Building on McGraw-Hill Ryerson's strong foundations, the company moves forward with excitement and confidence. The company will enhance past partnerships and build new ones. It will continue to invest in the education and training of employees at all levels, and it will be recognized by our customers as the leading Canadian provider of information products and services.