North bank of Humber River, west of Queen St.

Distillery, late 1830s, on the north bank of the Humber River

• In the late 1830s, local merchant and postmaster Samuel Sterne set up a distillery in a stone building located on his property as noted in the Historical Atlas of Peel County 1877 ¹
• The property, across the river from his store and future inn, fronted on what would later be called Distillery Street ²
• The still was probably a one-man operation with George Bolton’s grist mill supplying inferior grades of grain not suitable for milling ³.  Francis McDonald’s cooperage supplied barrels ⁴
• Samuel Sterne’s intent was to use the still to supply the bar of his inn and he held the appropriate licenses for this activity, the earliest dated in 1840 ⁵
• It is not known if he also supplied bars in any of the other hotels operating in this era.  This could have included Elijah Harsent’s tavern, George Evans’ tavern which evolved to the Exchange Hotel and James Johnston’s tavern/inn
• In 1849, the property was sold to Dr. Edward Hickman. Samuel Sterne died the following year ending the era of the distillery.  He was 46 ⁶
• Samuel is buried in the Anglican Cemetery, adjacent to Laurel Hill Cemetery, land that he and his wife donated ⁷
• It is worth noting that Bolton’s Temperance Society was established in the late 1840s and members built a Temperance Hall.  It sat on land provided by Samuel Sterne ⁸

 

And the building?
The stone distillery building was converted into a stable by Edward Hickman ⁹. The building was still standing to the rear of the property at 24 Hickman Street in the early 1950s ¹⁰