Hiram Walker
1816 - 1899
Massachusetts born, Hiram Walker had by the 1850s become a successful general merchant, distiller and grain dealer in Detroit. After Michigan adopted prohibition in 1855 he acquired land across the river in Canada where he established a distillery and mill which became the nucleus of the company town of Walkerville. Soon the Walker enterprises had expanded to include cattle finishing (using distillery wastes), a river ferry, and a railway to transport the company's products. Although Walker himself lived in Canada only from 1859 to 1864, he played an important role in the economic development of western Ontario.
Marker is on Riverside Drive East west of Walker Road, on the left when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
