The Distillery
Location : Latitude: 43.650243813168714, Longitude: -79.3591884613038
Media
| Photos |  | 1869_Great_Fire_of_69.jpg |
 | Toronto's Distillery District: history by the lake
by Gibson, Sally, 1946- A new book by Toronto archivist and historian Sally Gibson explores the Distillery District | |
 | Fire engine 1869.jpg | |
 | "Grist to the Mill, Toronto Winter, 1835" Print of a painting by Rowley Murphy, 1947. The print depicts an imagined scene of the Gooderham and Worts windmill, as it might have looked in 1835. | |
 | pumping water.jpg | |
 | Surreal calm 1870.jpg | |
 | Alcohol in Industry by Gooderham & Worts, limited. Year/Format: 1938, Book , 26 p. : Subjects: Alcohol. Private Press and Fine Printing Collection : PPFPC Publication information: Toronto : Gooderham & Worts, ltd., [c1938]. Language: English Corporate Author: Gooderham & Worts, limited. Added author: Brigdens (Firm) | |
 | Booze Boats and Billions by C.W. Hunt Year/Format: 1988, Book, 351 p., [16] p. of plates : Subjects: Distilling industries--Ontario--History. Hatch family. Prohibition--Ontario--History--20th century. Prohibition--United States--History--20th century. Smuggling--Ontario--History--20th century. Smuggling--United States--History--20th century. Publication information: Toronto : McClelland and Stewart, 1988. ISBN: 0771042647 Language: English | |
 | Toronto, in the Summer of 1851 by Francis Hincks Granger (1827-1915). Toronto, in the Summer of 1851 Francis Hincks Granger (1827-1915). Watercolour. 43.2 cm x 137.2 cm. TPL (TRL) Acc. JRR 341 Looking westward from Gooderham & Worts' mill on Trinity Street to Fort York on the far left. The artist, Francis Hincks Granger, was a scene painter for the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Toronto. (1-3) Wharf and st orehouse, mill and residence of William Gooderham. (4) Trinity Church, (5) St. Paul's Catholic Church, (6) & (7) Latham and Atherley houses, (8) Gaol, (9) the Fair Green, (10) C.C. Small house, (11) Dr. C. Widmer house, (12) Lamb's glue factory (1846), (13) 3 houses owned by Dr. Widmer, (14) Thomas Collier house, (15) Russell Abbey, (16) Toronto Gas Works, (17) John Snarr's steam saw & planing mill, (18) Cull's starch factory and shipyards, (19) St. Lawrence Hall, (20) Commercial Mills and Berst & Halliday's distillery, (21) Leak's soap works, (22) City Hall, (23) old Fish Market, (24) Wellington Hotel, (25) Coffin Block, (27) Maitland's Wharf, (28) Bank of Montreal, (29) Brown's & Yonge Street Wharves, (30) Yonge Street, (31) Tinning's Wharf, (32) Queen's Wharf, (33) old Fort York. | |
 | Taylor's Wharf, 1835 by John George Howard This view shows Taylor's Wharf at the foot of Frederick Street (in the mid background) and the Gooderham windmill (right background). The mill was unusual because most industry in Georgian Canada favoured waterpower. John George Howard was an architect, surveyor and drawing master. He arrived in York in 1832, the same year as William Gooderham, part of that great bump of British immigration propelled elsewhere by recession in the old country. | |
 | Toronto 1834 By Owen Staples Owen Staples, also known as Owen Poe Staples (September 3, 1866 - December 6, 1949), was a Canadian painter, etcher, pastelist, political cartoonist, author, musician and naturalist. From 1888 to 1908, Staples worked for the Telegram as a staff artist, reporter and political cartoonist, and illustrator for the J. Ross Robertson Collection. | |
 | Canadian Whisky, Second Edition: The New Portable Expert Davin de Kergommeaux takes readers on a journey through the first systematic presentation of Canadian whisky: how it's made, who makes it, why it has its own unique flavours, its history, culture and the rich centuries of folklore surrounding it. One chapter discusses the contribution of the Gooderham and Worts Distillery to this early history. | |
 | Gooderham & Worts cattle sheds Detail from “City of Toronto, 1893.” The Gooderham & Worts cattle sheds are immediately east of the bend in the river, north of the marsh. Toronto Public Library, TRL, Historical Picture Collection, 916-2-1. | |
 | Gooderham and Worts cattle sheds map Gooderham & Worts Distillery at Front and Trinity Streets, 1858. Note the five cattle sheds on the east side of Trinity Street, opposite the mill buildings. Source: W.S. Boulton and H.C. Boulton, Atlas of the City of Toronto and vicinity, Toronto: J.Ellis, 1858, Special Collections, TRL, Toronto Public Library. | |
 | Survivals: Aspects of Industrial Archaeology in Ontario
by Newell, Dianne and Greenhill, Ralph., Erin, Ont: Boston Mills Press, 1989. Pp. 225. Illustrations, select bibliography, and index. Newell, Dianne and Greenhill, Ralph., Survivals: Aspects of Industrial Archaeology in Ontario. Erin, Ont: Boston Mills Press, 1989. Pp. 225. Illustrations, select bibliography, and index. $39.50. This attractive book is the joint effort of two long time workers in Canadian engineering and technological history. One is Dianne Newell who has also had a long interest in industrial archaeology. She wrote Technology on the Frontier: Mining in Old Ontario, which was published in 1986. Ralph Greenhill is a noted collector and writer on photography. His major interest is the history of engineering which led to Engineer's Witness, published in 1985. For this book each author has produced five essays, each one with 7 to 10 pages of text and 10 to 14 pages of photographs, both historical and modern. As Newell acknowledges in her introduction, the book is actually about their favourite sites in southern Ontario. Their selection starts with the Rideau Canal and covers Grand Trunk Railway bridges and stations, the Hamilton Pumphouse, Gooderham & Worts Distillery (Toronto), soap factories in London and Guelph, the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge (Niagara River), the St. Clair Tunnel (Sarnia), and the Peterborough Lift Lock. The book deals almost exclusively with structures. Erin, Ont: Boston Mills Press, 1989. Pp. 225. Illustrations, select bibliography, and index. |
| Documents |  | Gooderham Family Bible found in Distillery Dinah Cruse-Hunter, whose 4th g-grandmother was a sister-in-law to William Gooderham’s son, Alfred Edward Gooderham, was given this bible by a friend who rescued it from under the feet of a worker at the Distillery District. Dinah gave the bible to Gay Gooderham and wrote the following about the bible: My husband and I have been historical re-enactors for the past 15 years or so. We belong to a group called On-gwe-ho-way (first peoples of Turtle Island) and interpret as Native participants in the War of 1812, mostly. We also interpret as 1812 naval participants and camp followers. On occasion, we also participate as my 3rd Great Grandparents (Col. and Lucy Bridgford) in The Rebellion of 1837. One of our 1812 re-enactors who knew of my connection to the Gooderhams, asked if we would be interested in a Bible he found while doing renovations at the Distillery District in Toronto. He rescued it from the floor. It had been used as a “step-up” by one of the workers to reach a ceiling fixture. Needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity to be caretaker of the Bible. The Bible is big!! It’s about 9 ½ “ x 11 ½ “ x 3” thick. I looked through the book and lo and behold, I found handwritten entries for William Gooderham’s family! I was stunned! The Bible itself was published in Boston by Robert H. Sherburne, 1848. It is leather bound, but the front cover has completely separated from the binding and the spine is detached from the binding. Bible is about 9 ½ “ x 11 ½ “ x 3” thick |
 | G & W historic sources adapted from report by Stephen A. Otto, 1994. When developers created The Distillery District from the Gooderham & Worts distillery, Stephen Otto researched the history of the business and the people who built it. This is an adapted version of Stephen Otto's report on sources of archival materials on the Gooderham and Worts families. |
| Histories |  | 2. Inventory of Archival Sources
The Gooderham and Worts Distillery was redeveloped and renamed The Distillery District. The site is designated a National Historic Site. In the process, the developers created a website to capture the sites history, including that of its founders, at www.distilleryheritage.com The source material relating to the Gooderham family on this site is listed in this document. |
 | The Windmill and Its Times This is a link to The Windmill and Its Times by E.B. Shuttleworth |
| Videos |  | Distillery District This video is a promotional video for the Entertainment district built in the restored G&W Distillery. |
| Family Stories |  | 1834 This is a Yankee Place A story about selling wheat to the Gooderham Mill. Excerpt from Landmarks of Toronto by John Ross Robertson Publication date 1894-1914 |
 | 1837 Mr. Cawthra's Bags of Gold According to Louisa Gooderham Walker Score, during the rebellion, the mill was used to store articles of value and “Mr. Cawthra’s bags of gold” | |
 | 1869 Great Fire of ‘69 At six o’clock on Tuesday, October 26, 1869 – just as William Gooderham and his family were sitting down for dinner (or “tea”) – a small cask of benzene caught fire and exploded in the fermenting cellar of his 1860 Stone Distillery, precipitating a night of high drama by the Lake. Sally Gibson, The Distillery Archivist tells this tale... | |
 | 1880 Tons of Cow Poop Gooderham began fattening cattle and hogs in the late 1830s, and by 1841 he had established a large dairy on a nine acre site between Trinity and Cherry Streets, across from the mill. |
| Albums | | The windmill James Worts built in Toronto (4) Collection of documents, photos and links about The Windmill. |
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