Waterloo Public Library Digital Collections

Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Distillery 1993 Fire

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Creator

Little, Ellis, Photographer

Media Type

Image

Item Type

Photographs

Description

Photographs of Seagram Distillery buildings at Caroline and Erb Streets, which caught fire on July 12, 1993. The fire claimed the original stillhouse and mill building fronting Erb Street West. The Seagram Museum building was not damaged. The site of the fire eventually became the site of the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

For more information about the fire, see Waterloo Chronicle, July 14, 1993 issue.

Notes

In 1857, William Hespeler, a merchant, and George Randall, a contractor, built what was known as Granite Mills in Waterloo, Ontario. A subsidiary to the mill was a small distillery known as the Waterloo Distillery. The business also included a dry goods store near the corner of King and Erb St. in Waterloo.

In 1863, Hespeler and Randall took in William Roos, and in 1864, William Hespeler hired young Joseph Emm Seagram. By 1870 Seagram had bought out Hespeler's interests and the company name became "George Randall and Company." In 1878, Seagram bought out Randall, and Seagram and Roos operated as "Randall and Company" until 1881 when they changed the name to "Seagram and Roos."

In 1883, Seagram bought out Roos and became the sole proprietor, using the names "Joseph Seagram Flour Mill and Distillery Company" and "Joseph E. Seagram, Miller, Distiller". Seagram incorporated the company in 1911, changing the name to "Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, Limited." By 1919, when Seagram died, he had built his Waterloo distillery into a major exporting company and his brand names were widely known. In 1928 the Bronfman family acquired the distillery and amalgamated it with their company, Distillers Corporation Limited. The Waterloo distillery was shut down in 1990.

A fire in 1993 claimed part of the historic buildings, and the two barrelhouses were converted into condominiums in the 1990s.

Date of Original