THE HISTORY OF WHISKYTOWN, CANADA

Built in 1858, the original distillery that Hiram Walker built to produce Canadian Club whisky still stands today as the largest distillery in North America.

Walker was a grocery clerk in both Boston and Detroit but after several failed ventures, began distilling his own vinegar which eventually led to distilling his own whisky. He eventually saved up enough money to open his own distillery.

His original plan was to build the distillery in Detroit, but an 1855 Michigan law that severely restricted the sale of alcohol made him rethink that plan. Hiram saw great opportunity, looser liquor laws and cheaper real estate in Canada and bought his first piece of property in Canada in 1856. In fact, he quickly bought up hundreds of acres. At one point he was one of the largest landowners in Ontario owning over 10,000 acres.
Walkerville (now Windsor) soon became a major rum-running port in the early part of the twentieth century. In 1916, the State of Michigan adopted Prohibition, and in 1919 Prohibition was adopted nationally across the U.S. From then on, Walkerville became a major site for alcohol smuggling and gangster activity. The waterways that separate Windsor and Detroit transported up to 75% of the alcohol that was consumed in the United States during Prohibition.

A regular customer of Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd. was Joe Kennedy, father of U.S. president John F. Kennedy, but, the top customer and most famous was the big man himself, Al Capone. He was a regular visitor to the town and often met with the Walkers in the basement of the distiller's headquarters.

Back then, you could buy a case of whisky from Hiram Walker & Sons for as little as $8. Mr Capone would buy about $30,000 of whisky a month. You think that’s impressive? He’d bring those cases of whisky back to America and sell that each $8 case for $80, that’s 10 times the price he paid!

With the success of the distillery came the rise of the Town of Walkerville. Hiram's ingenuity, innovation and strength in diversifying his business, resulted in the rapid growth of the town. He built houses for his employees, provided running water, paved streets, streetlights, police and firefighters and even built a church. Employees could even deposit their money in his private bank. Walker created the town, controlled every aspect of it and introduced amenities Windsor didn’t have and is often referred to as the town's "benevolent dictator".