EARLY LIFE

Lawrence Alexander Wilson was born on June 14, 1863 in Montréal. His father owned a wholesale and import hardware business. Following a brief elementary education, he began to work in his father's business at the age of 14, starting out as a traveling salesman between Halifax and Vancouver. After that, he worked at Pagnuelo Frères in Saint-Hyacinthe. It was in this establishment, specialized in the import and sale of wines and spirits, that Wilson discovered and developed an interest in this field¹.

A SELF-MADE MAN

In Montréal, at the age of 26, Wilson started his own company in 1889, registered under the name Lawrence A. Wilson & Co. In less than ten years, this company became Canada's largest importer of wine and spirits, and became, all categories considered, the country's largest royalty payer to the government in terms of taxes, excise duties, and customs duties². The company was also the largest importer of wine and spirits in the country. A large building housed its offices at 87 Saint-Jacques Street in Montréal until its closure in 1921, year in which the Québec Liberal Government adopted the Alcoholic Beverages Act and set up the Commission des liqueurs du Québec, today known as the Société des alcools du Québec. Wilson never attended high school and never graduated. He was a self-taught and a self-made man. His contemporaries reported that for over thirty years, he never slept over four hours a night...

POLITICIAN AND PHILANTHROPIST

In 1921, the liquidation of his company made him immensely wealthy, and he decided to permanently withdraw from the business and settled in Coteau-du-Lac while keeping a convenient pied-à-terre in Montréal. From then on, he became involved in municipal, provincial, and federal politics. An indomitable Liberal, he was involved in four successive electoral campaigns in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges riding before being appointed senator in 1930³, during which time Wilson also contributed to several real estate projects that benefited and improved the quality of his contemporaries' lives. He was very generous in the construction and decoration of churches, the creation of parks and public spaces, as well as the construction and renovation of schools, seminaries and many other public buildings⁴.

VAUDREUIL-SOULANGES COMMUNITY HALLS

Over the years, he provided each of the 30 municipalities of the Vaudreuil-Soulanges county with a municipal hall and recreational area⁵. In Dorion⁶, this municipal hall (1927) is still stands at 190 Saint-Charles Avenue. The building was renovated and transformed into a town hall in 1961. A bronze plaque, made by the Montréal workshop T. Carli-Petrucci Ltée, was placed at the entrance of the municipal hall to commemorate the importance of his gesture. It states: [Original text] À / l’Honorable/ Sénateur/ Lawrence A. Wilson / Commandeur de / l’Ordre de St-Grégoire le Grand / La Ville de Dorion reconnaissante / 1933⁷.

Lawrence Alexander Wilson passed away on March 3, 1934 at his home on Hutchison Street in Montréal. He was laid in state for three days before his funeral was held at Notre-Dame de Montréal Church. A large delegation from the Senate, the House of Commons, the Barreau du Québec, the business and industry sectors, as well as several bishops and representatives of religious communities were in attendance. At the end of the ceremony, a train awaited at Bonaventure Station to bring his remains back to Coteau-du-Lac, where one last mass was celebrated at the Saint-Ignace Parish Church followed by his burial in the parish cemetery⁸.