HISTORY DRIVE
When you get a whiff of what smells like baking bread, you know you’re in Walkerville. Born 160 years ago as employee housing for an aspiring whisky distillery, the hamlet known first as “Walker’s Town,” then officially Walkerville in 1890, evolved into one of the finest 19th-century model towns in Canada. A Detroiter named Hiram Walker was its benevolent dictator; he conceived of everything to ensure the comfort and wellbeing of its denizens. From well-constructed housing located close to work, to free clean running water and electric lights, paved roads, (long before neighboring Windsor had them), fire and police protection, a public beach, schools, churches, a ferry system to Detroit and Belle Isle, electric trolleys and even a railroad to Harrow, Kingsville, Leamington and all points east—everything was carefully planned according to Hiram Walker’s tenets and decrees. Walkerville’s success was based on producing an extraordinary whisky. When Hiram Walker purchased the former Antoine Labadie’s farm in what was known as East Sandwich in 1858 and founded his distillery, most whisky was sold by the barrel and was of suspect quality (hence the term “rotgut”). In that bygone era, a gallon of “good” whisky retailed for 40 cents and often even less. Walker believed patrons desired something better.
Hiram Walker
Whisky in Walkerville
“Hiram Walker’s mission was to create a whisky that was palatable and social,” said Tish Harcus, Manager and CC Global Brand Manager. “If you were drinking scotch or bourbon, which have big bold flavours, making it through an entire evening was tough. Walker imagined a whisky to sip on social occasions, with a soft, smooth, easy-drinking palette.”
By Chris Edwards
By 1882, Walker’s distillery was producing a whopping 27 different whiskies, including “Walker’s Old Rye,” “Toddy,” “Family Proof,” “Superior” and
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The market for whisky in Canada was marginal: a census published in 1861 listed our country’s population at 3,295,706. It was the American whisky drinker that Walker was after. In his quest to dominate market share, he became one of the first whiskymakers to use a red-hot iron to “brand” each barrel with his name, and to actually bottle his whisky. His brand-consciousness included labelling one early whisky “Magnolia” after a town in Massachusetts, not far from his birthplace.
