During the 1920’s, Robert Williams and William Wallace began the William-Wallace Co. Although the company began producing blue stove pipes, rain gutters and other metal building products, they soon started creating new and innovative products. Their first major invention was a light weight metal chimney that could be used for venting; it was described as “Metalbest.”
By the 1940’s, Metalbest was the industry standard for exhausting gas fired appliances. In 1959, the William-Wallace Company opened an office in Logan, OH, and the next year, Selkirk was purchased. By 1964, Selkirk-Canada was a wholly owned subsidiary and began to sell in the European market.
After years of being referred to as Metalbest, the venting company was finally named Metalbest Systems, and in 1978 they built a new plant in Nampa, ID. The Metalbest Systems companies were based in Canada and the US and were eventually merged into a new company, Selkirk-Metalbest. This new company set the bar high and created an industry standard for Wood Stove Chimney safety in Canada in 1982.
Tomkins PLc acquired Selkirk-Metalbest in 2006 and renamed it
Selkirk Corporation. The UltimateONE all-fuel chimney system was developed by Selkirk engineers in 2011. In November 2012, Selkirk Corp. was purchased by Air Distribution Technologies. In June of 2014, Air Distribution Technologies was purchased by Johnson Controls, Inc.
