![]() ![]() Over the decades, Walkerville has lost some of its fine structures, especially those built for the distillery. Architects Cram Goodhue & Ferguson of Boston and New York drew the plans, reminiscent of an English country church with modest Gothic elements. A private ferry service brought the travellers directly across the Detroit River to Walker’s dock, and then on to the elegant train station on the town’s main street, Devonshire Road (since demolished by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway).Īt the heart of the town, in 1904, the Walker sons had a fine stone church built in honour of their mother, and named it in her memory – St. At one point, he and his sons developed a summer resort in the town of Kingsville on Lake Erie – the Mettawas Hotel, with its own beautiful rail station designed by Mason & Rice – taking advantage of the desire of Detroiters to get away from the rapidly growing metropolis and kick back on sunny beaches. With government assistance, Walker built the Lake Erie, Essex and Detroit River Railway to transport farm produce in and out of his empire, as well as to ship liquor across the border (even during Prohibition, thanks to a loophole in the law). The son of a German immigrant rabbi, Albert rose to international prominence through the burgeoning automotive industry, designing grand houses and innovative, light-filled factories across the continent and abroad. For this physical expression of self-worth, Chandler chose Mason & Rice’s extraordinary draftsman, Albert Kahn. ![]() Willistead remains the most architecturally distinguished house in the region. Hiram himself never took up residence in Walkerville as did his sons, but commuted daily by ferry from Detroit.Įdward Chandler Walker, the “Number One” son, built his fine house in 1909 and named it for his deceased elder brother, Willis. Farther inland were more elegant residences for the upper class – the directors and managers of various Walker enterprises. (In addition, Hiram built the town’s church on Riverside Drive, as well as a street railway and railway hotel.). The early 1890s saw fine duplexes rise on Devonshire Road for middle management and clergy. At the outset, Hiram’s architects of choice were Mason & Rice, a prominent firm from Detroit that built the company’s beautiful administrative office in 1892. The Walker sons’ Walkerville Land & Building Company hired outstanding architectural firms. Ironically, workers had to live teetotal Walker’s police force made sure of that. ![]() It is noteworthy that workers were required to live in company housing at modest rent. The housing consists of parallel streets (Monmouth and Argyle), lined with small cottages, quadruplex row houses and semi-detached housing. Swine husbandry evolved – the swine consumed the mash produced by the distilling process.ĭeveloped on the English “Garden City” Plan, the company town provided modest housing for distillery workers close to the industrial hub (Walker Road). Walker eventually spread his land holdings more than a mile to the south, developing the Walker Farms, where hops (for the future brewery), corn and rye (for the whiskey, of course) were harvested. Walkerville comprises about four square blocks, from the shore of the Detroit River where the distillery stands, southward to Ottawa Street, bounded on the west by Lincoln Road and on the east by Walker Road. On the eastern edge of Windsor’s core lies the picturesque precinct still stubbornly referred to as Walkerville. Hiram Walker & Sons became legendary for its Canadian Club brand. It is a short step from vinegar to whiskey and, in 1858, Hiram took that step. This industrialist was Hiram Walker – a farm boy from Massachusetts, an enterprising Yankee grocer and distiller of vinegar in Detroit who looked south across the Detroit River and saw his future in the narrow farms stretching back from the Canadian shore. Among the shrinking number of 19th-century company towns, Walkerville – part of the City of Windsor since 1935 – remains an outstanding example of what can happen when a visionary industrialist acquires acres of French farmland for his fiefdom.
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