The company was started by Thomas Lang Moffat (born in Crossfire, Fife, Scotland in 1836) who emigrated to Canada with his family when he was 5 years old.
They produced mill machinery, steam engines, pulleys, plows, mangles, and various ornamental castings in iron and brass.
Soon afterward they set up a long-standing factory in Weston, Ontario, from where their manufactured stoves and ranges became widely distributed across the continent and even used extensively in Europe and Asia.
In 1962, Beatty Brothers Limited of Fergus, Ontario acquired a controlling interest in GSW through a reverse take-over, merging the two large firms.
Under Camco, stoves and refrigerators continued to be built at the Weston plant until 1983 when production moved to Hamilton, Ontario and then off-shore.