William Davies Company

[1][2][3] One of Toronto's longstanding nicknames, "Hogtown", is attributable to the millions of pigs processed annually by the William Davies Company.

[2][4][5][6][7] William Davies, born in 1831 in Wallingford, England, emigrated to Canada in 1854, and soon thereafter set up a stall in Toronto's St. Lawrence Market, where he sold cured hams and bacon.

Realizing that there was an opportunity to export Canadian pork products to England, he wrote to his brother in 1860 stating: "I think you will say that the quality of the meat I send is as good as you ever saw.

"[1] Davies rented a facility at Front and Frederick Streets, a few blocks east of St. Lawrence Market, and was able to purchase and expand the plant in 1875.

[8] In 1879, William Davies constructed a new facility further to the east, on the south side of Front Street at the Don River, which soon became the second largest pork processing plant on the continent.

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.

[2] The firm was quick to open stores in fast growing areas along streetcar lines; Flavelle was quoted as saying "where the trolley goes it fair to assume that we shall follow shortly.

[3] Eventually, the Canada Packers operations were consolidated, with the meat packing and abattoir functions relocating to Toronto's union stockyards in the west end of the city.

In 2012, a plaque was installed in Corktown Common, located in the West Don Lands, commemorating the industrial legacy of the former Williams Davies Company on the site.