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290:. As a result of articles in the Canadian press suggesting that meat-packing plants were making excessive profits from the domestic market in wartime, the entire pork industry was the focus of much public outcry, including charges of excess profits and fraudulent meat curing practices. The managers of William Davies were routinely accused of being war profiteers and monopolists. The
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in July 1917 to investigate both the
William Davies Company and Matthews-Blackwell Company Limited (the firms later referred to in the commission's report as "the principal dealers in Canadian hog products in the English market"). In November 1917, after a series of hearings, the commission cleared
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As Davies had predicted in the 1850s, the firm's products did extremely well in the
British market, and commanded higher prices than the offerings of American competitors due to the perception that they were of higher quality. By the 1890s, it was supplying over half of the entire Canadian bacon
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and
Frederick Streets, a few blocks east of St. Lawrence Market, and was able to purchase and expand the plant in 1875. Soon, he was shipping millions of pounds annually of salt-cured pork. The William Davies building at 145 Front Street East, later occupied by the J. & J. Taylor Safeworks,
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In many ways, Davies was responsible for establishing the modern
Canadian pork industry. His efforts led to the establishment of the first Canadian Board of Agriculture, through which producers, processors and government officials could work together to expand the Canadian livestock industry.
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By 1920, the highly profitable wartime commodity markets had fallen, causing a rapid drop in prices. Food producers rushed to sell off inventory at reduced prices, causing prices to drop faster and further. The
William Davies Company was "caught flat-footed" by the downturn, and was facing
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The downturn in the pork trade led to a merger between
William Davies Company, Gunns Limited and Harris Abattoir Co. (in which William Davies Company held a 40% share) in 1927. William Davies Company was the foremost among the merging firms. The newly merged entity was named
248:. In addition to curing pork for export, he began slaughtering and processing hogs, and his business became the first continuous/moving rail hog-slaughtering facility in Canada. In 1891, the new plant was the first in Canada to feature an artificial refrigeration unit.
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William Davies died in 1921, after injuries sustained by being butted by a goat. Once one of Canada's largest food producers, the
William Davies Company not only graced its home city with the "Hogtown" nickname (or epithet), but William Davies also introduced
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functions relocating to
Toronto's union stockyards in the west end of the city. The former William Davies Company facilities by the Don River were first converted into a cold storage facility and soap works, and were eventually sold.
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The company was the first
Canadian food producer to establish its own chain of retail meat and grocery stores, the first major chain of food stores in Canada. By the 1880s, it operated 84 retail outlets across
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Although the first
William Davies plant still stands on Front Street in Toronto (albeit largely modified since its days as a pork curing facility), the last of the William Davies buildings by the
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the two companies of any wrongdoing, noting that any exceptionally high profits during the war were subject to the federal government's war taxes.
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In 1879, William Davies constructed a new facility further to the east, on the south side of Front Street at the
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Reaction to World War I constraints to normal trade: the meat-packing industry in Canada and Australia
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Canada Packers later merged in 1991 with Maple Leaf Mills, a producer of flour-based foods, forming
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08 September 1917 article on "Alleged Profits of the William Davies Company on Bacon in 1916..."
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568:. The Toronto Green Community and the Toronto Field Naturalists. Retrieved December 3, 2007.
519:. Canada: A People's History. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved December 4, 2007.
428:. The Toronto Green Community and the Toronto Field Naturalists. Retrieved December 3, 2007.
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firms. Eventually, the Canada Packers operations were consolidated, with the meat packing and
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trade with Britain. The company's agent in Britain, John Wheeler Bennett, was known as the "
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Hog pen at the William Davies Company pork processing facilities in Toronto, circa 1920s
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Points of Interest Along Lost Streams: Davies/Taylor Site - 145 Front Street East
504:, Larry Becker Collection, City of Toronto Archives. Retrieved December 3, 2007.
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Industries of Canada: Historical and Commercial Sketches of Toronto and Environs
492:, Agricultural Publishing Co. Ltd., April 20, 1998. Retrieved December 3, 2007.
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never proceeded, the lands are currently being redeveloped as part of the
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precinct of Toronto's waterfront. In 2012, a plaque was installed in
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365:. Peameal bacon sandwiches are considered a "signature snack" at
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Points of Interest Along Lost Streams: Toronto Pork Packing Plant
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University of Toronto Press, 2002. Pages 152, 188, 203 and 297.
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583:. Industrial Canada. May 1967. Retrieved December 3, 2007.
531:"Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly says calm has returned to city hall"
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Kill and Chill: Restructuring Canada's Beef Commodity Chain.
267:. By mid-1917, the majority of the shares were held by Sir
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were demolished in the early 1990s in anticipation of the
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Food processing plants in Toronto, retail outlets across
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Merger with Gunns Limited and Harris Abattoir Co. in 1927
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Our Roots • Nos Racines: Canada's Local Histories Online
369:, and were designated Toronto's signature dish in 2016.
155:. At one time, it was the largest pork packer in the
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William Davies Company historical plaque in Toronto
450:. Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1984. p. 100.
286:The company was particularly successful during the
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653:"Toronto's signature dish? Peameal bacon sandwich"
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732:. Vol. XV (1921–1930) (online ed.).
681:. Toronto's Historical Plaques. Archived from
714:, M.G. Bixby & Co., 1866. (Reproduced by
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263:In 1891, the business was reorganized as the
517:Turmoil on the Homefront: Profits for Lives
726:. In Cook, Ramsay; Bélanger, Réal (eds.).
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315:A William Davies Company retail outlet on
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625:. October 31, 2003.
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382:Ataratiri
378:Ataratiri
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
