Brewed in Windsor History of Breweries in Essex County by Chris Edwards

BREWED IN WINDSOR

A look back at our rich history on Breweries in Windsor & Essex County.

Story and Photos by Chris Edwards

The rise and fall of Windsor, Ontario’s Original Six breweries is a tale of brew masters, risk-takers, gangsters, roadhouses, and the transformative impact of Prohibition on Windsor’s brewing industry.

Windsor wasn’t exactly a pioneer in the Canadian beer–brewing industry; that would be La Brasseries du Roy started by Jean Talon, in Québec City in 1668. 217 years later, Windsor finally boasted its first full–fledged beer–making enterprise: the British–American Brewing Company, launched in 1885.

Despite a lack of local brewers, it wasn’t as if Windsor was a dry town. Our forefathers could easily enjoy fresh beer in this

region. “Back kitchen” home brew, neighbour Detroit’s well-established brewers, London, Toronto, Montreal and other regional brewers helped quench our ancestors’ thirst. British-American Brewery: 1885- 1969

Detroiter Louis Griesinger Jr. erected one of Windsor’s earliest breweries at the corner of Bruce and Sandwich (Riverside), then built a small home across the street.

Griesinger had apprenticed at the massive Christian Moerlein Brewing Company in Cincinnati; his father Louis Sr. was an architect who designed and built many of Detroit’s finer breweries, including the famous Stroh facility. Griesinger Jr. found a market for his first batch of Cincinnati style beer in Chatham; its first six barrels were well received. A spur-of-the-moment conversation with an agent resulted in branding one of his brews as “Cincinnati Cream.”

Before long, Griesinger’s Cinci cream ale appeared locally; within a few years, the brewery shipped considerable quantities of brewed-in-Windsor beer to Detroit. B-A eventually expanded to encompass four city blocks. From a few hundred gallons in its first year, production steadily increased to 5,000,000 gallons annually by the mid-1950s. Cincinnati Cream Ale became a beloved brand on both sides of the border.

Griesinger died from injuries sustained in a fall at his brewery in 1902. In 1912, his brother-in-law Louis A. Irion was named president and brother Raymond Irion became secretary-treasurer. In 1927, the Irions brothers sold their interest in the B-A brewery to brokers in Detroit. Walkerville Brewing Company: 1890- 1959

Following the success of the British-American brewery, whisky magnate Hiram Walker expanded his extensive business interests into beer brewing in 1889. Walker erected the imposing Walkerville Brewery on a prime parcel at the corner of Walker Road and Wyandotte Street. As with most of his ventures, Walker’s brewery became a great success.

Following Hiram Walker’s death in 1899, his son Edward Chandler gifted a majority stake in the thriving Walkerville brewery to his childhood friend, Stephen A. Griggs, vice–president of Hiram Walker and Sons. In 1925, Griggs sold the brewery to Detroiter Herman Radner, a purported member of Detroit’s infamous Purple Gang, and father of actress Gilda Radner. PROHIBITION: Brewed in Windsor’s Boom Years

During the wild Prohibition years — 1920 to 1933 — savvy local brewers exploited Ontario liquor laws, which forbade public and hotel drinking, but did not prohibit the manufacture and export of intoxicating beverages. Across the Detroit River, the manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquor was banned, which led to the shuttering of every Detroit brewery.

While Windsorites did their fair share of illicit beer drinking during Prohibition, thirsty Americans became our two local brewers’ best customers. Strategically located only one mile from a parched city, Windsor brewers graciously shipped boat loads of beer to our neighbours.

Three breweries sprang up in Windsor and the Border Cities during Prohibition to capitalize on exports to Detroiters — and to brew 4.4% beer for locals.

The Tecumseh Brewery opened in 1927 in a building erected in 1912 by the

Dominion Cannery. The Tecumseh Brewery enjoyed a couple of profitable years but once U.S. Prohibition was repealed in 1933, it was forced into bankruptcy. The building remained vacant until the Old Comrades Brewery formed in 1947 by World War II veterans and colourful local Prohibition-era millionaire Harry Low.

Riverside Brewery, financed by Detroit’s notorious River Gang, an organized group of Sicilian mobsters. flourished for a time during Prohibition with its strategic waterfront location near Peche Isle. The brewery’s export dock took advantage of its convenient location at the junction of Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River. The River Gang’s speedboats could zip from the brewery to the gang’s operations on Belle Isle.

Hofer Brewery in LaSalle was another brewery that took advantage of Prohibition-era legal loopholes and illegal smuggling for so-called export beer. The Hofer Brewery’s location was ideal; several nearby islands sheltered speedboats loaded with cases of Hofer’s Select Lager, as they glided across the Detroit River downriver to Ecorse and Wyandotte, Michigan in the dead of night. The Hofer Brewery building is the last remaining Original Six brewery structure in the Border Cities.

On both sides of the strait, proprietors operated blind pigs, speakeasies, roadhouses, inns, and hotels where patrons

could gamble, dine and drink — at least until the cop raids. Our waterfront became a magnet for American revelers seeking illicit pleasures at our spectacular roadhouses, including Bertha Thomas’ Edgewater Inn, The Rendezvous and Abars, each a glittering jewel strung out along the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair. Rich and famous Americans

nightly traversed the mile-wide river to moor their yachts until the first glimpses of dawn, greeted by owners and employees decked in their finery as if from a scene from an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. E.P (Excess Profits) Taylor- The Man Who Destroyed Our Local Breweries

Before WW I, there were over 300 full-fledged breweries in Ontario. By the end of the Prohibition, only 70 Ontario breweries were left standing, many struggling to survive.

Enter vulture capitalist E. P. Taylor (nicknamed “Excess Profits”), chairman of Canadian Breweries. Taylor became one of Canada’s richest men on the backs of hard-working local brewers, forging one of the world’s largest brewery franchises. He did more to reshape the landscape of local beer than anyone in Canadian history. His means were ruthless, threatening holdouts with price wars then buttering them up with lucrative buy-out schemes.

Between 1925 and 1953, Taylor acquired 23 breweries and 150 brands, controlling 60% of Ontario’s beer industry through his Canadian Brewing Corporation (Carling O’Keefe). By the 1960s, most of Ontario's breweries were owned by the big three: Molson, Labatt, and Carling O’Keefe.

E.P. Taylor eventually purchased every Windsor brewery. Taylor acquired the British-American Brewery in 1928 as a piece in a long-term plan to control and consolidate Windsor’s beer business. As with other Ontario beer brands, the British-American name eventually disappeared, the plant renamed Brading’s Cincinnati Cream Brewery, a subsidiary of Brading’s Brewery. Despite its massive production capabilities, B-A was shuttered in the 1960s.

In 1944, E. P. Taylor added Walkerville Brewery to his Canadian beer empire. Walkerville was soon re–branded as Carling’s Brewery, later O’Keefe’s Old Vienna Brewery.

E.P. Taylor’s Carling’s Breweries purchased Old Comrades in 1952, then quickly shuttered its doors.

Walkerville Brewery ceased operation in the late 1950s, while British-American folded in 1969. By the 1970s, Windsor’s Original Six brewers had disappeared from the landscape and eventually, our collective memory. It was the end of an era.

But lately, something unexpected and wonderful has happened. Fifteen local craft breweries have emerged, focused on tastes underrepresented in Ontario’s consolidated beer market. Walkerville Brewery was reborn under the guidance of Mike Brkovich in the same neighbourhood where Hiram Walker brewed his famous beers.

The more things change...

We’ve only scratched the surface of the Brewed in Windsor here; we invite you to read more in our latest book, “Brewed In Windsor.”

To purchase a book, please visit walkerville.com D

In a world where one person's trash is another person's treasure, old becomes new and vintage is chic. Whether it be fashion, home design, cars, collectables, or what-have-you, it is proven that what once was in style, can and possibly will be in-style again.

Nostalgia is a powerful driver of the vintage trend. For old to become new, the trend in question requires a feel, an emotional texture to grab onto. The cool evening breeze in a convertible, the thrill of fi nding a rare trading card, the quaintness of a Victorian home, the warm glow of a neon sign.

Luke Piskovic of Piskey's Mobile Detailing and Justin Franzoso of Tecumseh Signs are lifelong friends. Schoolmates, they both endeavoured to make something of themselves and build small businesses that would become the fabric of their community.

Straight out of high school, Franzoso made his way into the sign industry, learning the trade on the fl y. "Ten years ago, I decided to take a leap and start Tecumseh Signs," he explains. "I started Tecumseh Signs on my own. It was supposed to be a one-man show – one little bucket truck – I was going to go change light bulbs and signs and that was it. It would be my own little gig. I was going to do service calls and that was it. One thing led to another and now we've grown into one of the biggest sign companies in the area."

Piskovic, with his detailing company, formed a solid clientele and made excellent contacts, to go along with a penchant for design skills and social media. He has joined forces with his lifelong friend to form a new side-hustle – Tecumseh Signs Neon. "We've been best friends since we were little kids in grade 2," states Piskovic. "We're just two young entrepreneurs trying to use our resources together to push a dying art back to life."

A prime example of these signs on the streets of Windsor are the Yorktown Plaza

We're just two young entrepreneurs trying to use our resources together to push a dying art back to life.

Bob Whitehead

sign on Grand Marais and the Arcata Pizza sign on Walker Ave., both deemed heritage sites by the City of Windsor.

With Franzoso as the sign builder and manufacturer and Piskovic handling design and sales, Tecumseh Signs Neon added glassblower Bob Whitehead to the fray. "We've got Bob, who's been in the industry for almost three decades," beams Franzoso. He is the last of the glassblowers that bends neon tubes. He's the only one right now, I think, from Toronto-down that still does neon glass. We decided to move his whole glass shop from Harrow and into our shop here in Windsor." "Glassblowing is a wild art. It's pretty mesmerizing to see Bob using his own language, bending all the glass into patterns."

Whitehead did the refurbishment of the Yorktown Plaza sign a few years earlier and was a perfect addition to the team.

Even though the new neon business has been operating for a while now, Tecumseh Signs has kept the new hustle fairly quiet, choosing to build a portfolio and grassroots following over jumping feet-first into the fire. "We’ve already started building stuff on the side that we’ve produced and delivered, we just haven’t really posted much because we’ve been building up our portfolio before we launch," explains Piskovic. "One of our main attractions for bringing back this dying art is, here in Windsor, the Lazares Furs sign on Maiden Lane. That sign’s been in disrepair for 25 or 30 years. The current owner bought it in the early 90’s and he’s never seen it lit up."

Affixed to the building at 493 Ouellette St. in 1942, for decades, the magnificent Lazares neon sign lit up Windsor's downtown. In 2015, the sign was added to the Windsor municipal heritage register. "I tracked down the owner of that sign and offered a full in-house restoration – on us!" exclaimed Piskovic. "We are two young entrepreneurs, and we want to donate back to the City of Windsor – we want to light up that piece of art. It is one of the nicest pieces of art in Downtown Windsor. The graffiti that we see down there is beautiful and awesome, but when we see the glow of that neon, it’s something else."

Fixing up the sign was kept hush-hush, even from residents who feared that the gorgeous piece of art was being torn down. Done at their own expense, the duo says

the job caught the attention of the city and even led to them fixing the "WINDSOR" sign for this year's Bright Lights Festival at Jackson Park. "The City of Windsor supports our two local small businesses, and this is our way of giving back to the city that supports us and hopefully everyone can enjoy that beautiful sign in Downtown Windsor," adds Piskovic. "Did it cost a lot of money? Yeah! But once we saw it lit up downtown three weeks ago – it looked so good."

A point of pride for Piskovic and Franzoso has been the work they and Whitehead did to rescue the neon sign from the demolished Tilbury Hotel. Memorable for its bright, fiery glow, the 16-by-five foot red "HOTEL" sign lit up the Tilbury skyline for decades. "It’s the original one from the hotel back in the day," states Franzoso. "The building is now demolished, but my brother, who’s my main installer here at Tecumseh Signs, lives in Tilbury and found out that they were tearing the building down. "He went there with one of our cranes and the sign was actually still on the roof of the building. We craned it off right before they tore the building down and salvaged it at the shop. We had Bob restore it all, redo all of the electrical and glass work on it. We have a lot of people who have interest in that thing and are willing to spend big money to buy it, but it’s so cool that we’ve got it hanging on the wall in our shop for now."

Tecumseh Signs Neon are looking to do their part to bring back this dying art and to light up Windsor once again by making the old new again. "In 2022, everybody is looking for the vintage look in cars, style, clothing, decorating your house – a lot of people are going with the vintage look," explains Franzoso. "The same thing is happening in the sign industry, where people are chasing that vintage look. People are now buying, selling, and trading old neon signs that are 50, 60, 70 years old, and we figured that if there is a demand for this out there, why can’t we start recreating this stuff? We started it as an experiment to see where it would go, and it’s done nothing but take off."

For more information on Tecumseh Signs Neon, please visit TecumsehSigns.ca, or follow them on social media at @tecumsehsigns, as well as Piskey's Mobile Detailing at @piskeys. D

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Located in Belle River, MMFS inc. was founded by Moe Mailloux Sr., who entered the business in 1986. After starting with London Life, he branched out on his own, continuously broadening the focus of the business to accommodate his clients’ needs. Kevin King entered the industry in the early 1990s and merged his business with Moe Sr.’s in 2016. Moe’s son, Moe Jr. came aboard in 2008.

“Diversification is the key to our success,” says Kevin, a partner in the fi rm. “We have a holistic approach to financial services. Each of the three partners at the shop has a specialty.”

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Kevin built his business specializing in individual estate and corporate succession planning. “At a client’s request, for example, I will look at a company, fi gure out the tax liability if it was sold today. We put together insurance policies, so the heirs inherit the business debt free.”

Moe Jr. works with employee groups and employers setting up pension and benefi ts plans for their employees.

“We also have full-time service advisors on group benefits,” Kevin continues. “We have a lawyer on premises to get signatures and assist with wills and estate planning.”

Over the years, MMFS inc. truly became a boutique in the insurance business.

“We choose our suppliers based on our customers’ needs,” Moe Sr. explains. “As a brokerage agency, we fi nd the best fi t for the client. We get prices and plans from fifteen different companies, for instance, and explain the benefi ts to our client. Cheapest is not always the best. We help clients fi nd what fi ts their needs.”

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“We educate our clients,” Moe Sr. continues. “There are carriers who charge a 2.5 percent management fee. It’s possible we can provide the same service for 1.5 percent.”

The #1 question Moe Jr. hears from clients is: “How much money do I need to retire?”

The answer to that question is unique to each individual. Moe Jr. concedes: “There are two ways most Canadians believe in retiring: winning the lottery or inheriting the money. Neither is a viable plan.”

Working on the pension side of the business, Moe Jr. is quick to raise the warning: “Not enough people are saving

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Moe Jr.’s approach to helping clients save for retirement is making it aff ordable.

“People won’t stick to a plan they can’t aff ord,” he says.

Kevin agrees with this: “The key is making the plan aff ordable, so people stick to it. Our goal is to educate them about fi nancial products that are available, and what’s aff ordable for them to put into their annual budget.”

The newest part of MMFS inc. business is pre-paid funeral planning. It is a part of life not many people want to think about but is something nearly everyone will have to deal with at some point.

“Pre-paid funeral planning is unique in this area,” Kevin explains. “We built this part of the business during the initial outbreak of COVID-19. We work with two licensed funeral directors who answer client questions and address their concerns. As part of the process, they draft a document that gives the funeral home direction on what the family is looking for.”

There are many benefits to a pre-planned funeral. Families have confi dence that the departed loved one’s wishes are followed. Costs are locked in. Most importantly, during a family’s time of grief they are not confronted with upsetting decisions. This also spares families from being hit with an unexpected expense.

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A NEW HOME SWEET HOME

After two years of pandemic setbacks, hard work, and an outpouring of generous community donations, Family Respite Services Windsor-Essex is opening the doors to their new community respite home.

The 4,400 square-foot house is located at 4400 Howard Avenue and offers a variety of programs and engaging activities for children with intellectual and physical or mental health challenges.

“It’s a central location; we want to make it as easy as possible for families to access,” explains FRS’s Community Relations Alexandria Fischer, noting the new space is located directly beside their previous home.

Family Respite Services Windsor-Essex works in partnership with 1200 families who have children with disabilities, coordinating support and providing short breaks that strengthen families and contribute to children having meaningful lives in their community.

The organization had been providing these invaluable programs at their previous home for the last twenty five years. Fischer explains that while the outdated home had been maintained and updated over the years, the group was in dire need of a new space. The organization was thrilled when the opportunity to purchase the property next door became available three years ago.

The group was able to purchase the lot at the same time they sold their existing property to Joe Ciaravino, owner of neighbouring business Antonino’s Pizza. Through their arrangement, FRS was able to operate out of their original home until the new location was built. This enabled families to continue to receive support during the construction process.

“It just worked out perfectly,” says Fischer. “The stars aligned.”

The two-million-dollar project was completed through monetary gifts and in-kind donations from individuals and businesses across the area. The only government funding was a grant to assist in making the washroom and play space within the home accessible for children with disabilities.

“We’re so grateful that the community came together and we had the donations to make the build possible,” says Fischer. “So many businesses came on as in-kind donors. The whole roofing system was donated. All of the doors and windows were completely donated. All of the flooring was donated.”

“These items weren’t any off the shelf items or things these businesses couldn’t sell; these were exactly the things we needed to create a specialized, accessible home,” she continues. “Meloche Windows fabricated a completely new line of windows for us because we needed triple pane shatterproof glass with blinds inside the windows for safety purposes. Incredible.”

The Solcz Family Foundation ignited the campaign back in 2019 with a $300,000 gift and made additional donations of $200,000, as well as $225,000 this past December to cover additional expenses that the group

Family Respite Services Opens Doors to Solcz Family Foundation Respite Home

By Jen Brignall-Strong Photo by Trevor Booth

didn’t anticipate with their initial projected budget due to the impact of Covid-19.

“We did our feasibility assessment three years ago and then the pandemic hit and our projected budget increased significantly,” Fischer explains.

Thanks to the support of these community donors, the interior of the home is now complete. Fischer says the remaining outdoor work will be completed in the spring, including landscaping and the installation of special rubber ground for the fully accessible play area.

“This is the only respite home for children with disabilities in Windsor that is licensed by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services” says Fischer, sharing that there has been a wait list to utilize the home’s programs for many years. “We’re excited that we can now have increased flexibility and provide a high quality of support in our community.”

“This home is very specialized to offer support for children after school and on weekends. The support is adapted to each child’s needs since every child is affected differently by their disability.”

In addition to after-school programs, Family Respite Services also provides a specialized summer camp program, day support programs, as well as a full weekend program and overnight stays for the children and youth. Many of the children require support during the day and throughout the night to give their families a much needed break.

“It’s a large home. We can have five children sleeping there based on our ministry standards,” says Fischer, noting that the children are scheduled to come in on a rotating basis.

Fischer points out that each family might need something different, so the organization’s goal is to be as flexible and family-centered as possible.

“It’s like an individualized respite support plan; it’s not a cookie cutter program,” she explains. “We want to make sure that we’re offering support that works within cultural dynamics and individual family situations.”

Over the years, Fischer says families have expressed to them the importance of these programs, which allow parents and caregivers the chance to rest and recharge while their child socializes with their peers, builds and develops skills, engages in sport and recreation, and participates in the community.

“Research tells us that families benefit from respite. Parents who have children with disabilities often experience challenges with being able to balance the needs of the child with a disability and their siblings, the financial impact, and the social isolation that often occurs,” she explains. “So, when we hear from families directly and we read the research, we know this home is crucial for so many, giving everyone a short break.”

Fischer says that the journey to create this new home has been an emotional one, but the entire Family Respite Services team and the families they support are thrilled to finally be able to utilize the modern, spacious home to its full capacity.

“It’s very exciting to have families walk through the doors of the home. There’s just so much more room to roam. Now we have this beautiful space to get more creative and offer and implement some really amazing learning opportunities,” says Fischer. D

Congratulations

to Family Respite Services on the build of the new Family Respite Services Home.

The Windsor Construction Association is proud to support this new building.

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