Hiram Walker built a town, and homes, for his workers

Before Windsor's housing debate, one distiller built a whole town. Hiram Walker's Walkerville had worker cottages, St. Mary's church, a railway and a ferry. Owners have changed since 1926, but the distillery and much of the town still stand.

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Long before Windsor debated how to build more homes, one employer built a whole town. Hiram Walker's distillery, opened on the Detroit River in the late 1850s, grew into Walkerville, a company town with worker housing, churches, rail lines and a ferry. Much of it still stands.

A distillery becomes a town

Walker, a Massachusetts-born grocer and vinegar maker in Detroit, began buying farmland on the Canadian shore in 1856, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia. The Ontario Heritage Trust dates his move into whisky to 1858, and the City of Windsor says he moved his distillery from Detroit to Canada that year. The Canadian Encyclopedia gives 1859 for the Windsor Distillery and Flouring Mill. Sources differ by a year.

His Canadian Club whisky, introduced in 1884, was Canada's top export whisky by 1910, the Encyclopedia says. Walker himself lived in Canada for only about five years (1859 to 1864) and otherwise commuted by ferry from Detroit, according to the Encyclopedia and the Heritage Trust.

Homes for the people who did the work

The Heritage Trust describes Walkerville as laid out on the English "Garden City" plan, with modest housing for distillery workers close to the plant. On parallel streets such as Monmouth and Argyle, the company built small cottages, quadruplex row houses and semi-detached homes. Workers were required to live in company housing at modest rent, the Trust says, and were expected to stay sober, with Walker's own police force enforcing it.

Further from the plant came duplexes on Devonshire Road for managers and clergy in the early 1890s, then larger homes for company directors. A City of Windsor heritage study says the Walker family, directly and through its businesses, supplied streetlamps, sidewalks, fire protection, schools and churches.

Churches, rail and a ferry

St. Mary's Anglican Church: built in 1904 by Walker's sons in memory of their mother, Mary, to plans by Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson (Ontario Heritage Trust).

Lake Erie, Essex and Detroit River Railway: built with government help and completed in 1885 to carry Essex County produce and lumber to market (Canadian Encyclopedia; Heritage Trust).

Ferry and street railway: a private ferry brought travellers across the river to Walker's dock, and the town had a street railway and a railway hotel (Heritage Trust).

Willistead: Edward Chandler Walker's home, designed by Albert Kahn and built in 1909, per the Heritage Trust. The City now owns it.

Walkerville became part of Windsor in 1935 (Ontario Heritage Trust).

What changed along the way

The Walker family's era ended in the 1920s. Toronto distiller Harry Hatch's group bought Hiram Walker & Sons in 1926, and in 1927 merged it with Gooderham & Worts to form Hiram Walker-Gooderham & Worts, according to a City of Toronto heritage report and The Canadian Encyclopedia.

Ownership then moved overseas. Allied Lyons acquired 51 per cent of Hiram Walker-Gooderham & Worts in 1987, according to Corby (the company later became part of Allied Domecq). In 2005, Pernod Ricard bought Allied Domecq. Pernod Ricard owns the Windsor plant, which Corby manages, according to Corby's annual reports. As part of that 2005 deal, the Canadian Club brand itself was sold to Beam, a different company, the Windsor Star reported.

Jobs then and now

Firm numbers are scarce. In 2010, Corby said the Windsor plant had the largest distilling capacity in North America, producing four million cases a year. In 2015, the Windsor Star reported about 280 people worked there after a $9-million bottling line upgrade, which the Ontario government supported with $1 million. Windsor News could not verify a reliable figure for peak employment or for today's headcount.

The company's grip on daily life loosened too. Company-required housing and the town's own police belong to the 19th-century company town. The Heritage Trust notes that Walkerville has lost some fine buildings over the decades, "especially those built for the distillery."

What still stands

A lot. The distillery still operates at Riverside Drive and Walker Road. St. Mary's, Willistead Manor, the 1892 distillery offices, the Monmouth and Argyle worker streets and the Devonshire Road homes are all still there. The former Walkerville Town Hall and Post Office are on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.

The City is working on a Walkerville Heritage Conservation District. Council adopted the study in May 2025. The final draft plan was presented at Willistead Manor on Sept. 15, 2026, and it is expected to go to committee and Council in December 2026 or early 2027. Comments can be sent to walkervilleheritage@citywindsor.ca.

Visit or learn more

City of Windsor walking tours, including Walkerville, on the City of Windsor website (search "Walking Tours")

The Walkerville Heritage Conservation District project page on Let's Talk Windsor (linked in the sources below)

Willistead Manor, 1899 Niagara St.

Windsor Public Library local history collections