The Darling Pump and Mfg Co. was founded in 1888 at Williamsport Pennsylvania as a producer of oil well pumps and other related products. In 1902 they started producing a line of fire hydrants.

It was around 1920 that the Dominion Steel Products Company of Brantford, Ontario, entered into an agreement with Darling to produce Darling fire hydrants and valves for the Canadian market. However, in 1923, Dominion went out of business. In that same year, Henri Jordan, a former employee, founded The Canada Valve and Hydrant Company Ltd, acquiring the manufacturing rights to the Darling hydrant and valve line.

It was around at this time that the Philip Gies Foundry, a producer of cast iron furnaces and boilers, started to supply iron castings to the newly formed Canada Valve and Hydrant Company Ltd.. Until the 1950s, this was the only relationship between the two companies, supplier and customer. In 1949, Henri Jordan died, and his estate put Canada Valve and Hydrant up for sale. Not wanting an important customer to fall into the hands of a competitor, the Philip Gies Foundry purchased and became the parent of Canada Valve and Hydrant in May of 1950. At this point in time, Canada Valve and Hydrant was quite small, with some 20 employees, and were producing a mere 6 hydrants a day on average. Business was confined mainly to Ontario. An effort to expand production was initiated, quadrupling hydrant production.

In 1956, Darling Valve and Mfg acquired both companies as parent. Many new products were added to the Canadian product line, including the B-50-B hydrant, described as the first ball bearing type hydrant. In 1966 a new plant was constructed, and the Brantford operations were moved to Kitchener, Ontario in January of 1967. Also at this time, Philip Gies Foundry Limited and The Canada Valve and Hydrant Company were merged into one entity, Canada Valve Limited.

In 1978, the decision was made to purchase iron castings, and the Canada Valve foundry in Kitchener was closed. In late 1980 the company name was changed to Canada Valve Inc. The company had 3 locations, with the head office in Milton, Ontario, and plants in Milton and, once again, Brantford, Ontario. The company maintained distribution centers and warehouses throughout Canada.

Today, Canada Valve hydrants are manufactured by Mueller Canada. On this page can be seen some photos from the Mueller Canada factory in Milton, Ontario. The original Darling design hydrants are still produced, as well as the Century model. Mueller Canada also sells the Modern Centurion hydrant, designed by the Mueller Company in the USA. Canada Valve hydrants are the product of a long history of cooperation between the companies of 2 nations.

Mueller Canada literature lists 10 models of Canada Valve hydrants as having been produced over the years. The models are listed on this page in roughly the order of introduction

Other than the Century and the B-50-B-M, the above ground models all look very much alike. As with the Darling hydrants made in the USA, there is a squared off bonnet variation to be found on some hydrants. Hydrants are made with either a 5¼" or 6" mainvalve opening size. The 6" models are designed for higher operating pressures, and the stock configuration is with 4 hose nozzles and 1 pumper.