Featured furniture sheds light on Hiram Walker's history

Roco Revival is a style of Victorian furniture that has elaborate carved details on the furniture.

The Warner mansion, home of Farmington's Michigan Gov. Fred Warner, was built in 1867. It is part of the Victorian era and was built by Gov. Warner's parents, P.D. and Rhoda Warner.

Fred was 2 years old when the house was built from a plan book used by carpenters to build houses at that time. This building has double brick construction.

The breakfront on display has elaborate carvings including those of Indians similar to the carvings at Willistat in Walkerville, Ontario, Canada. That mansion was the home of one of the Walkers whose family manufactured liquor.

The breakfront is on permanent loan from the Detroit Historical Museum and came from the Hiram Walker office in Detroit.

Ironically, Gov. Warner's wife, Martha, was an active member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. No liquor was served in the governor's home.

This Roco Revival example of Victorian furniture also leads to a quick discussion of Hiram Walker, an early pioneer to Detroit.

Hiram Walker opened a grocery store on Atwater Street circa 1840. Walker came to Michigan at about the same time as Gov. Warner's grandfather who settled in Farmington Township. Hiram Walker came west to Michigan from East Douglas, Mass., which is near Boston.

Hiram Walker's early disasters in business included two grocery store failures and the failure of a tannery that burned. Hiram Walker's luck changed when he got into the grain merchandising business and the related enterprise of distilling grain into whiskey.

This eventually led to the purchase of land in Canada where Walker successfully manufactured whiskey. In fact, it was so successful that he established his own little town, Walkerville, to house the workers.

Hiram Walker continued to live in Detroit and traveled to his business in Canada by boat to his own dock on the Canadian side of the river each morning.

The Walkers had farms on both sides of the river growing grain and raising cattle.

Hiram Walker died in 1899 and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit. His three sons continued various Walker businesses on both sides of the Detroit River. The Hiram Walker distillery was sold in 1926.

The Gov. Warner Museum on Grand River west of Farmington Road is a house museum where furniture and artifacts of the Victorian era are on display.

The museum is open every Wednesday, March through December, from 1-5 p.m. and the first Sunday of each month.

Docents conduct tours of the house, explaining Farmington history and the significance of our local Michigan governor Fred Warner.

Ruth Moehlman of Farmington Hills is a member of the Farmington Historical Society and the Farmington Hills Historic District Commission. She earned a master's degree in history from Wayne State University, and is author of “If the Walls Could Talk, Historic Homes of Farmington,” first and second editions.