History Tour in The Distillery District Toronto

Distillery District Anti Freeze Can Production

If you a are a history lover such as myself walk around the Distillery District with your camera and reading glasses.  In Building 58 in the Distillery District has a museum type of display in the entrance.   Many artifacts are displayed in the buildings throughout the distillery area. Read the information tablets with the displays and you might actually learn something new.   A new piece I learned was Gooderham and Worts were into the anti-freeze production, not only alcohol. It was brought on by the automobile age and prohibition era.

Gooderham and Worts

Not only was alcohol a big business in the Distillery District, but anti-freeze had become a big business at Gooderham and Worts by 1938 too.   G &W published advertisements about its’ alcohol industry to promote it’s industrial alcohol operation.   Anti-freeze probably constituted the single largest use of alcohol in Canada at this time.  The production consisted of Hot-Shot, Maple Leaf, Jack Frost, and Bulldog.  They were all produced and canned upstairs in the Cannery of Gooderham and Worts in Toronto.   What a transformation has taken place today.

1940’s Toronto Distillery Workers

In the 1940’s, the distillery workers didn’t have it all that  easy. Apparently  they were still manually attaching lids to antifreeze containers by pressing down on the long handles of  “hand caners” or “crimpers”.  The tedious manual work this must have been.  Carpal Tunnel syndrome was probably common.   Just viewing the photos of this time take me to an era I am not that familiar with except for movies, and make me think, what kind of process manufacturing and lean manufacturing are in place now?   There have been a lot changes since the then.

In the Distillery District in Toronto you can see artifacts such as the anti-freeze gear pump 1910 model of Sylvanus Freelove Bowser’s revolutionary self-measuring pump and storage system that was located on the ground floor of the Cannery with out a museum  cover charge.   The pump is now located in Building 58 on display. This was employed to pump and precisely measure industrial alcohol bound for canning.  Art History lovers should explore the distillery district to see what little treasures are displayed.