Gooderham and Worts, also known as Gooderham & Worts Limited, was a Canadian
distiller
Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heatin ...
of
alcoholic beverages. It was once one of the largest distillers in Canada. The company was merged in 1926 with
Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd., and the merged firm was eventually sold to
Allied Lyons
Allied Domecq PLC was an international company, headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, that operated spirits, wine, and quick service restaurant businesses. It was once a FTSE 100 Index constituent but has been acquired by Pernod Ricard. The ...
in 1987.
The company's distillery facility on the
Toronto waterfront
The Toronto waterfront is the lakeshore of Lake Ontario in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It spans 46 kilometres between the mouth of Etobicoke Creek in the west and the Rouge River in the east.
History
Lake Ontario is a recent lake. ...
was closed in the 1990s. The buildings, dating to the 1860s, were preserved and repurposed as an
arts and entertainment district that is called the
Distillery District
The Distillery District is a commercial and residential district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, east of downtown, which contains numerous cafés, restaurants, and shops housed within heritage buildings of the former Gooderham and Worts Distillery. ...
. In 1998, the Gooderham and Worts Distillery was named one of the
National Historic Sites of Canada.
Early history
The business was founded by
James Worts
James Worts (c. 1792 – February 18, 1834) was one of the co-founders of the Gooderham and Worts partnership which, after his death, evolved from a simple mill into a prosperous distilling company which eventual become the largest in the worl ...
and his brother-in-law,
William Gooderham. Worts had owned a mill in
Diss,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, then moved to Toronto in 1831 and established himself in the same line of work. He built a prominent windmill on the Toronto waterfront, near the mouth of the
Don River
The Don ( rus, Дон, p=don) is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire.
Its ...
. The next year, Gooderham joined him in Toronto and in the business. The business prospered, processing grain from Ontario farmers and then shipping it out via the port of Toronto.
In 1834, Worts's wife, Elizabeth, died during childbirth. Two weeks later, Worts killed himself by throwing himself into the windmill's well and drowning. Gooderham continued the business himself. With a surplus of wheat, Gooderham expanded in 1837 into brewing and distilling, and soon this lucrative trade became the primary focus of the business. Gooderham served as the sole manager of the business until 1845, when he made Worts's eldest son,
James Gooderham Worts, co-manager.
In 1859, work began on a new distillery complex, the area that today is the Distillery District. It was built on the waterfront, with easy access to Toronto's main train lines. In 1862, its first full year of production, the facility made some of spirits. At that time, it was a full quarter of all the spirits produced in Canada.
Expansion
![Gooderham and Worts, Canadian Rye Whisky](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Gooderham_and_Worts%2C_Canadian_Rye_Whisky.png)
In the second half of the 19th century, the firm rose to become one of Canada's most prominent industrial concerns. Under the control of William's son, George Gooderham (1830–1905), production increased to over two million gallons a year, half of the entire spirits production of Canada. The distillery itself expanded, becoming one of Toronto's largest employers.
As well as keeping interests in the milling and brewing trades, the company expanded into other ventures. It had a controlling interest in the
Toronto and Nipissing Railway
The Toronto and Nipissing Railway (T&N) was the first public narrow-gauge railway in North America. It chartered in 1868 to build from Toronto to Lake Nipissing in Ontario, Canada, via York, Ontario, and Victoria counties. At Nipissing it would ...
, one of the main lines that transported grain from the rural regions north of Toronto. In 1892, the company constructed the
Gooderham Building
The Gooderham Building, also known as the Flatiron Building, is an historic office building at 49 Wellington Street East in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the eastern edge of the city's Financial District (east of Yonge Street) in th ...
, still a notable Toronto landmark, as its new headquarters.
By the end of the nineteenth century, the company's growth began to slow. Beer and wine became more popular in Canada, reducing sales of whisky. The rise of the
temperance movement
The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
also harmed the company, with the ''
Ontario Temperance Act
The ''Ontario Temperance Act'' was a law passed in 1916 that led to the prohibition of alcohol in Ontario, Canada. When the Act was first enacted, the sale of alcohol was prohibited, but liquor could still be manufactured in the province or importe ...
'' of 1916 banning the sale of alcohol in the province. The company survived by exporting alcohol beyond Ontario, such as to Quebec, where a good portion would then make its way back to Ontario. The firm also relied on its other ventures, most notably the production of
antifreeze
An antifreeze is an additive which lowers the freezing point of a water-based liquid. An antifreeze mixture is used to achieve freezing-point depression for cold environments. Common antifreezes also increase the boiling point of the liquid, all ...
, which was essential to the war effort and to the growing number of automobiles.
Later history
In 1923, the company was sold to
Harry C. Hatch
Harold Clifford "Harry" Hatch (1884–1946) was a millionaire industrialist from Prince Edward County, Ontario specializing in the business of wine and spirits.
Hatch started out with a small liquor store in Whitby, Ontario and prospered to t ...
for $1.5 million. The company gained a large share of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
market during prohibition, legally manufacturing it in Canada and then selling it to resellers, who would smuggle it into the United States.
In 1926, Hatch purchased Canada's second-largest distiller,
Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd., the makers of
Canadian Club
Canadian Club is a brand of Canadian whisky produced by Beam Suntory. Popularly known as CC, Canadian Club was created by Hiram Walker and Sons, an evolution of a brand around a product that took place over the second half of the nineteenth c ...
. The new company was named Hiram Walker-Gooderham & Worts Ltd. It continued manufacturing spirits at the Toronto distillery, but production gradually declined.
In 1927, at a hearing on tax evasion charges against Gooderham and Worts, notorious
bootlegger Rocco Perri
Rocco Perri (; born Rocco Perre; December 30, 1887 – disappeared April 23, 1944) was an Italian-born organized crime figure in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was one of the most prominent Prohibition-era crime figures in Canada, and was someti ...
admitted buying whisky from the distiller from 1924 to 1927. Gooderham and Worts was convicted of tax evasion in 1928 and had to pay a fine of $439,744.
In 1987, the firm was sold to the British concern
Allied Lyons
Allied Domecq PLC was an international company, headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, that operated spirits, wine, and quick service restaurant businesses. It was once a FTSE 100 Index constituent but has been acquired by Pernod Ricard. The ...
. By 1990, the manufacturing facility had been closed down because it was obsolete. During the years the site was vacant, it was used for filming movies and commercials. Some of the films that used the location include ''
Tommy Boy
''Tommy Boy'' is a 1995 American buddy adventure comedy film directed by Peter Segal, written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, produced by Lorne Michaels, and starring former ''Saturday Night Live'' castmates and close friends Chris Farley and Davi ...
'', ''
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to lo ...
'', ''
The Hurricane'' and ''
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
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''. Also used for 40's Harlem in the PAX TV series
Twice in A Lifetime and exterior sets for
Friday the 13th: The Series.
The site would eventually be converted into the
Distillery District
The Distillery District is a commercial and residential district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, east of downtown, which contains numerous cafés, restaurants, and shops housed within heritage buildings of the former Gooderham and Worts Distillery. ...
, including the
Young Centre for the Performing Arts
The Young Centre for the Performing Arts is a theatre in the Distillery District in downtown Toronto, Canada. It is a brand-new theatre built into 19th-century-era Victorian industrial buildings. It is home to the Soulpepper Theatre Company and th ...
that opened in 2006. The complex has been owned by a group called Cityscape since 2002; the owners were responsible for converting 24 buildings into spaces for artist and galleries.
The Hiram Walker & Sons Distillery, now owned by
Pernod Ricard, makes Gooderham & Worts brand whiskies but does so at its plant in Windsor, Ontario. The production of the American
bourbon Bourbon may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash
* Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels
* Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit
* A beer produced by Bras ...
whiskies formerly owned by Gooderham and Worts has since been taken over by
Laird & Company.
The distillery complex, and the 30 buildings on the property, were designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1988 because "it is an imposing landmark, containing a number of buildings that collectively bear witness to the evolution of the Canadian distilling industry".
References
Bibliography
*
*
*"158-year-old distillery is running out of spirits;" Jack Lakey ''Toronto Star.'' Aug 25, 1990. pg. A.2
*"Gooderham and Worts Distillery." ''Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia'' By Jack S. Blocker, David M. Fahey, Ian R. Tyrrell. Published by ABC-CLIO, 2003.
Notes
External links
.
Gooderham & Worts National Historic Site ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''.
''Lostrivers.ca''.
The Gooderham & Worts families – genealogy website
C. Ian Kyer, ''Lawyers, Families, and Businesses: The Shaping of a Bay Street Law Firm, Faskens 1863–1963.''
{{Authority control
Manufacturing companies based in Toronto
History of Toronto
Defunct companies of Ontario
Distilleries in Canada
Gooderham family