Windsor residents donate $145K for Hiram Walker statue

Donations continue to roll in for the larger-than-life statue of Hiram Walker, the 19th century whiskey tycoon, who founded the Walkerville neighbourhood. 

So far, people have given $145,000 toward the project that is expected to cost $400,000. Part of the cost will be paid for by the city, coming from unspent money from a previous year's capital budget.

• City coughs up $400,000 for bronze statue of Hiram Walker

The eight-foot bronze replica of the early industrialist, which will stand on top of several large barrels, is expected to be mounted in the spring near the Canadian Club Brand Centre.

"He's going to be quite the tall guy, which is ironic because in real life he was actually quite a short man," Dilkens said, during an update Friday.

The mayor boasted about Walker's success in building a distillery and his own town, complete with police and fire departments, a school, church and well-paved roads. 

"His development concepts were envied across North America and his ingenuity modelled by generations that followed," Dilkens said. 

The statue will stand north of Riverside Drive at the end of Devonshire Road. Artist Mark Williams talked about the process of creating an iconic replica of such an important figure in Windsor's history.  

"I tried to put him in a different light and I was quickly corrected," he said. "After researching a lot, you learn more about the man and how humble he actually was, not really a flamboyant kind of a person — very humble and would get out and do the work."