This vintage brochure dates to about 1935. This house was the residence of Vital Ouellette and his wife, and originally sat on the corner of Ouellette & Chatham. In the first few years of the 20th century, the Bank of Montreal bought the land on the corner of Chatham & Ouellette to build a bank branch (which is still there). The house was purchased and moved one lot to the east. It was the first brick building moved in the city of Windsor when it was moved in 1903.
Sadly the building was just shifted east and not rotated, so what was originally the front facade faced the alley, and the back of the bank. The building was the home of the Windsor Club, and opened in this building in March of 1904. During the depression in 1933, the Windsor Club was forced to leave the building, and it was around this time the building became the Windsor Castle Cafe.
The building amazingly still stands on Chatham Street, and is today home to Jason’s.
If you pop down the alley beside the building and look up, you can catch a glimpse of what once was… This was once the home of the man who lent his name to Windsor’s Main Street. More history tucked away out of sight.