The Hewetson Shoe Factory

The Hewetson Shoe Factory is one of Brampton’s last early industrial buildings and is also architecturally significant. The Hewetson Shoe Company Building stands as an example of early 20th Century Industrial Architecture.

The property also has historical or associative value because it was home to the J.W. Hewetson Shoe Company, a major employer in the City of Brampton for over sixty-five years. The company also had a strong connection with former Premier William Davis, who is regarded as one of Brampton’s most famous citizen’s. J.W. Hewetson was his maternal grandfather and Davis was named after him. As a child, William Davis lived with his parents and Hewetson grandparents in “The Castle”, the stately Gothic Revival style mansion on Church Street West.

Known as the Flower Town of Canada during the early 20th Century for its numerous flower-growing operations, Brampton was also a large shoe-manufacturing centre at this time. In addition to Hewetson’s, there were at least three other substantial shoe-manufacturing operations. For several decades, the shoe manufacturing industry was the largest employer in Brampton after flower growing. Today, however, with the demolition of the William Shoe Factory and the burning of the Haggert Block, the Hewetson Building is one of the last reminders of this industry in Brampton.