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Celebrating Innovation:
Over 30 years in the fireplace industry
Montigo is a proven leader, manufacturing Gas Fireplaces, Stoves & Inserts,
1976-2008
Come home to a Montigo
We at Montigo are proud to be celebrating 32
years in the fireplace business. From our humble beginnings as
a distributor of wood-burning fireplaces, we have grown into
one of the leading manufacturers of gas fireplaces in North
America!
In 1976 our president and founder,
Dan Binzer, identified a demand for wood burning, zero
clearance fireplaces in the new construction market. That
year, he launched Fireplaces Unlimited in a suburb of
Vancouver, British Columbia. Business boomed as the local
economy grew rapidly.
After several years of strong
growth with wood products, we identified a demand for
gas-fired appliances. The company began engineering and
manufacturing the first ever Sandpan Logsets for installation
in zero-clearance wood-burning fireplaces. This sandpan
technology provided what was undoubtedly the most beautiful
and realistic simulation of a wood fire on the market. By
placing these logsets inside factory-built, wood-burning
fireplace shells, Montigo created some of the first
zero-clearance gas fireplaces.
The Montigo brand name
was born in the early 1980's, as we focused more and more on
the manufacturing side of the industry. As the demand for gas
products grew rapidly, the company was split into separate
manufacturing and distribution arms, and the name Canadian
Heating Products was born. The two companies became separately
managed businesses that worked together to identify and meet
the unique needs of the multi-unit new construction market.
Between 1985 and 1989, we focused our efforts on the
development of our first Direct Vent fireplace. Direct Vent
technology was a relatively new concept and it took four years
to design and test our first Direct Vent model the Montigo
36DV.
Over the years, we
continued to grow with the gas fireplace market, and then had moved to
our previous facility. With this growth fuelled expansion in every
department, and helped to establish the Montigo brand name.
The gas fireplace market was maturing, and the consumer demand
for more heat-efficient products rose. Thus, we refocused our
efforts into developing more heat-efficient products. Our
customers watched our gas-fireplace line develop with both
direct vent and b-vent models available, including the EP28
and early Modular Series.
In 1994, we took another
major step forward when Montigo Delray Corporation was
established in Ferndale, WA. The new Ferndale facility was to
share the manufacturing with Canadian Heating Products, and
provide a base through which to establish the Montigo brand in
the western states.
British Columbia, Washington,
Oregon, and California, became our key markets, and from there
the Montigo brand moved east across the US and Canada. We
acquired representation in many regions and introduced Montigo
to new markets in every state and province in North America.
Montigo was quickly becoming a truly multi-national company.
The product line has continued to mature and evolve,
and around 1998, the DelRay line was launched. DelRay included
a variety of specialty products and it was marketed
specifically to the retail market. Recently, DelRay was
amalgamated with Montigo to capitalize on the strength and
reputation of the Montigo name.
The demand for Montigo
Gas Products continued to spread across North America, and the
need to expand our facilities further was imperative. In 1999,
Canadian Heating Products opened up a regional warehouse in a
neighboring city to Toronto, Canada. Business grew in Ontario,
Quebec, and the Maritimes as the product became more readily
available in that market. In 2001, three new regional
warehouses have been opened. Montigo Gas Products are
available from shipping points in Colorado, Illinois, and most
recently in Regina, Saskatchewan. In the past few years, the
markets in these areas and along the Eastern US have opened
up. The newest evolution in Montigo's history is to strengthen
distribution across North America.
Over the last 25
years, Montigo has evolved from a service and installation
company to a world-class manufacturer of quality gas products. In our current facility and along with all our divisions, at Montigo we offer the gas fireplace industry's most
comprehensive line of single-sided and multi-sided fireplaces,
freestanding stoves, masonry fireplace inserts, and direct
vent pipe systems. We pledge our efforts towards manufacturing
a product of superior quality that has been synonymous with
the Montigo name.
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