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Once
Upon a Brewery: Part 4
Windsor
soon faced a beer shortage, due to government restrictions imposed
by the War Measures Act (industrial alcohol was used to make smokeless
powder, syn-thetic rubber and pharma-ceutical products. This severely
curtailed beer production by all breweries across the country- less
than 10% of the 1942 total-while demand continued to grow.
Windsor
Mayor Art Reaume wrote to Prime Minister W. L. MacKenzie King, proposing
a beer rationing scheme. In May 1943, a ration book was introduced
for home consumption. Four cou-pons, each good for six bottles,
were issued to those 21 years of age and over upon application;
these coupons continued in use until January 1947.
For
some time, Canadian Breweries, under instructions of E.P. Taylor,
had been buying Walkerville Brewery shares on the open market. On
March 18th, 1944, Canadian Breweries announced they had purchased
the majority of all outstanding shares at a cost of $1,500,000.
When
Canadian Breweries took control of the Walkerville Brewery, Charles
S. King, president of the British American Brewery, stated the plant
would continue to operate under the Walkerville name but could consolidate
at a later date with the British American firm.
The
following year a change was made, not to consolidate with British
American but with another Canadian Breweries subsidiary, Carling's
Breweries of Waterloo. D. Clive Bette, president of Canadian Breweries,
stated all Walkerville labels would change to Carling Breweries
Limited (Walkerville) and would produce both "Carling's Red Cap
Ale, and "Carling's Black Label Lager".
All
Walkerville brewing production came under Carling's Waterloo control.
During this period, alterations to the plant were carried out. This
new name change was short lived, and in 1947, a subsidiary
of Canadian Breweries, O'Keefe's, took control of the Walkerville
plant.
A
new retail store was opened and modifications to the plant carried
out. Because "O'Keefe's Old Vienna Lager" was the company's
flagship beer, the name was changed from O'Keefe's Brewery to O'Keefe's
Old Vienna Brewery.
On
Sept. 15th 1956, an official statement from Canadian Breweries head
office in Toronto announced the closing of the Walkerville Brewery
(which was still producing over 100,000 barrels a year), effective
November 1st, 1956.
A.
F. Fuerth president of the Bradings Brewery in Windsor, another
Canadian Breweries subsidiary, stated that sales staff and the retail
store would remain in Windsor and the building would be kept intact
in the event it was needed in the future.
However,
the days of brewing beer in Walkerville were over. In January 1962,
a permit was issued for the demolishing of the old brewery; demolition
was completed by June '62. The retail store remained
on site until 1965; when sales transferred to Brewers Retail in
1973, the former O'Keefe's retail store was demolished. Today,
nothing remains at the site of one Canada's finest breweries, and
the location is now a Credit Union and storage centre.
But
some things are too good to be left to history books. In 1998, Karen
Behume and husband Michael Plunkett obtained the rights to use the
name Walkerville Brewing Company. In an empty Hiram Walker warehouse,
two blocks from the original brewery, Walkerville Lager is brewing
once again- the region's first and only high calibre microbrewery.
Thus, after fifty four years, Walkerville delivery vehicles are
back on the streets of the Border Cities with their motto 'World-class
beer, Made right here." As it was in the beginning...
Bill
Marentette worked at The Walkerville Brewery as a teenager. His
collection of Walkerville Brewery memorabilia is second to none.
Sources
Amherstburg Echo; American Breweries, Donald Bull, Manfred Freidrich
and Robert Gottschank; Border Cities Star; Directories of Canadian
Breweries, Richard Sweet; Evening Record; Taylor E. P. , Biography
of Edward Plunket Taylor, Richard Rohmer; Shea, Albert A., Visions
in Action, The Story of Canadian Breweries Ltd. 1935-1955 ; The
Sheaf "The Canadian Breweries Employees Newspaper"; Windsor &
District Telephone Directory 1927, Fall & Winter; Windsor Daily
Star; Windsor Record; Windsor and Area City Directories; Windsor,
Essex County Historical Scrap Books; Windsor Ontario 1931, Published
by Windsor Record, Garner, H.; Windsor Public Library Main Branch,
History & Literature
To
learn more about The NEW Walkerville Brewing Company, click
here:
Visit
their corporate website, built by The Walkerville Publishing Company,
at:
www.walkervillebrew.com
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