J. S. Hamilton & Company: Building Brantford’s Wine Legacy
J. S. Hamilton & Company was a late 19th-century firm that turned Brantford into a wine and spirit hub after first starting as a small grocery and liquor store on Colborne Street. Early on, Hamilton formed Hamilton, Dunlop & Company, a wholesale wine and liquor firm, with R S Dunlop. It became quickly well known for selling imported wines, whiskeys and brandies not easily available in Canada. At the time of Dunlop’s retirement in 1877, it continued to run under the new name J. S. Hamilton & Company and was constantly adding new items and customers.
J. S. Hamilton & Company wasn’t just marketing imported goods: it was also promoting Canadian wines. The store also formed an alliance with Vin Villa Vineyards on Pelee Island which was a huge breakthrough. With Pelee Island wines, Hamilton’s shop supplied Canadians with an imported wine of the same level as home. That teamwork also resulted in the production of St Augustine Communion Wine, which soon became very popular in churches across Canada, the United States, and even Great Britain.
As sales grew, the shop had to expand as the number of customers continued to grow. J. S. Hamilton & Company were established at 91-95 Dalhousie Street on a larger premises by the turn of the 20th century and was now one of Brantford’s most important wine retailers. The company didn’t stop there however, in 1913 they constructed a large warehouse by the fire hall on Dalhousie Street. This facility was where the company could produce and store their growing stock of local and imported wines, whiskeys, sparkling wines and spirits.
In 1919, J. S. Hamilton & Company merged with Pelee Island Wine and Vineyards into J. S. Hamilton and Co. Limited. With this addition, the store could unite its businesses and improve its products even further, turning it into a Canadian wine industry powerhouse. The store continued to profit into the 1920s and remained a powerhouse until it was bought by London Winery Ltd. in 1945. Through decades of curation, growth and innovation, J. S. Hamilton & Company expanded from one store to a major force in Canadian wine, making Brantford a hub for fine wines and spirits.
References
https://history-api.brantfordlibrary.ca/Document/View/c35a2046-4306-441e-ab2f-3fade46ce2f3
Warner, Beers, & Co. (1883). The history of the County of Brant, Ontario (p. 295) [PDF]. Warner, Beers, & Co.