Walkerville (Windsor, Ontario)

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Walkerville Ontario, Canada is an area of Windsor Ontario, Canada that was founded and developed by Hiram Walker, maker of Canadian Club Whisky. The town surrounding the distillery was started in 1856 and many original buildings and homes still exist as they grew around the first distillery of 1858. The town was incorporated in 1890, and was amalgamated with Windsor in 1935. At the time of amalgamation, the town's limits extended south to the Canadian Pacific Railway and from between Gladstone and Lincoln Avenues in the west, and Chrysler Center Drive and the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway alignment to the east.

Walkerville is composed of two sections: Olde Walkerville, based on the Garden city movement and South Walkerville – the newer district that was developed in the 1910s and 1920s. Walkerville extends south from the Detroit River and is home to much of Windsor's most walkable communities. The Windsor City Market, Ottawa Street and Walkerville's Wyandotte Street section are well travelled spaces, and Walkerville continues to be a high demand area for people seeking to live in well-established, purpose-mixed neighbourhoods.

The area has recently undergone extensive renovations on historic buildings; a former nightclub and office building on Chilver Road has undergone a face-lift by Rosati Group and will now house medical offices and Walkerville Yoga. The former Bank of Montreal building across the street is now home to the Gourmet Emporium, a higher-scale coffee bar/night club. A privately owned gym, Refine Fitness Studio, has recently opened on Wyandotte St E between Windermere and Chilver and caters to an exclusive Walkerville professional clientele.

Recently, a local pharmacist Francesco Vella has invested much time, effort and money into the neighbourhood. Having purchased a former bank building at Windermere and Wyandotte, he has converted the main floor into the Olde Walkerville Pharmacy and is currently renovating the Low-Martin home at Devonshire and Ontario streets. This historic home is said to have cost over half a million dollars with Mr. Vella putting another million or so of his own funds into renovations. He indeed is a community revitalizer.

Hiram Walker championed a diversified economy and Walkerville saw the birth of many industries including the automotive industry. The Ford Motor Company of Canada opened its factory there in 1904, followed by the E-M-F Company whose plant was acquired by Studebaker in 1910 and which became the assembly line for right-hand-drive vehicles exported to the UK and British Empire. In 1929, the Financial Post reported that 500 of the town's families were supported by Studebaker, "only one of its activities being the manufacture of motor cars. During the world war, great quantities of war material was produced for the Canadian and Imperial governments. Today, [the plant] manufactures a line of 59 models of six- and eight-cylinder passenger motor cars, trucks, ambulances, and funeral coaches".