The other day’s post talked about the 1930’s phenomenon of Tourist Camps. Below are a few post cards I have collected along with some other information on Boose’s Camp. Anyone know anything about it?
This advertisement is from the 1937-38 Tourist Guidebook of Ontario – Published expressly for the Essex County Automobile Club.
Back when Dougall Ave. was a little country road in Sandwich West Township. Note the Cities Service Station.
I think this is the oldest of the three. Note the gas pumps are in front of the house. This is before the stand alone service station was built on the property.
A nice view of the house/office, with a sign advertising “20 cottages”.
This one is marked Baby Tourist Camp. Baby Park was adjacent to Boose’s and unless there was an ownership/name change at one point, I believe that they are the same place.
The 1937 Fire Insurance Map showing the 20 cottages, main house and service station.
An aerial view of the area today. Sometime in the late 1950’s Dorwin Plaza was built on the site of Baby Park. If you drive to the rear of the plaza, there are still some wooded areas still standing. Anyone know anything about the park and why it vanished? As far as I can tell Boose’s stood on the chunk of land that is today Cogeco Cable. A quick check didn’t reveal any remnants of the site’s past.
1930’s Tourist Camps have seemed to pretty much have vanished from the landscape. Locally, I was able to find two examples.
1. This old Neon Sign in St. Joachim on the former #2 Highway. In the rust you can faintly make out the words: “TOURIST MOTEL”
2. Also in St. Joachim, in the rear of a convience store, there is what appears to be 3 remaining tourist camp cottages (2 pictured here). The size, shape and clustering of them would certainly lead me to believe that’s what they were.
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I just discovered your site It's always fun to find things that relate to your family. The location that you are looking for is not near the Dorwin Plaza but further south past the EC Row express way at West Grand. You would need to look around the land on the east side of Dougall and West Grand to see if there is any remains of the cottages left.
ok... so the Boose camp was where the present day Real Canadian Wholesale is today. ..a lot of shrubbery in this area, more than usual, considering how many businesses are along this stretch! Thank you Bruce Boose!
Jay Thompson Ricard, the only Real Canadian Wholesale Club on Dougall, that I know of, is further south, and on the other side of the road. There is a Cogeco Cable building on the site, and in front of that, there's a small strip mall, with a massage therapy clinic, an insurance sales office, and Scoot-A-Long of Windsor, according to street view.