North bank of Humber River, west of Queen St.

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

Distillery Street, now Hickman Street, shown on an 1868 map of Bolton. C.J. Wheelock, Provincial Surveyor
  • 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
  • Henry Bolton, a nephew of George Bolton, operated the distillery for a period of time in the early to mid-1840s.  Henry died in 1845 6
  • It is not known if Samuel Sterne 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 at the age of 46 7
  • Samuel is buried in the Anglican Cemetery, adjacent to Laurel Hill Cemetery, land that he and his wife Ann donated 8
  • Ann Sterne took over her husband’s business interests and fairly quickly closed the bar in his hotel
  • An ad in December 1850, in the Toronto GLOBE, reveals that area farmer James Goodfellow and local tannery owner James Warbrick ‘are selling a nearly new, working distillery in Bolton Village’, presumably on behalf of Samuel’s estate 9.  The sale of the ‘still’ would mark the era of the distilling era in Bolton
  • 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 10

 

And the building?
The stone distillery building was converted into a stable by Edward Hickman 11. The building was still standing to the rear of the property at 24 Hickman Street in the early 1950s 12

 

 

 

 

  1. p.64 of the atlas. Also: Esther Heyes, The Story of Albion, published by the Bolton Enterprise, 1968 edition, pp.236-237
  2. Note on the map above that Distillery Street is marked where Hickman Street would be today
  3. Esther Heyes, ibid. p.236.  The distillery was not an addition onto the grist mill.  It was in a separate stone building, across the river and west of the grist mill location
  4. Esther Heyes, ibid., p.238.  Refer to the Cooperage section of this website under Industry
  5. Perkins Bull Tavern and Hotel Licences, Boxes 32-34, Regional of Peel Archives
  6. Henry was James and Lucy Bolton’s third son, born in 1810.  He left his wife Jane Wilson and five very young children
  7. ancestry.ca
  8. Abstract Index to Deeds,  Albion Township, Reels A&B, Lot 9, Con 6 Inst# 31564, Region of Peel Archives at PAMA
  9. Diane Anderson, a 4X great-granddaughter of James Goodfellow, provided this information which validates the existence of a distillery in Bolton
  10. Abstract Index to Deeds, ibid.
  11. Esther Heyes, ibid., p.312
  12. Information relayed by resident Isabelle Rutherford Bottoms who remembers the building when she was a child