For all the students heading back to school next week, here’s a look back at the beginnings of the University of Windsor.
Campus looked pretty bare back in ’54.
University Centre, built in 1962, is at the heart of the University of Windsor campus, an institution serving higher education since 1857.
The main entrance of the Pure and Applied Sciences building at the University of Windsor, Canada’s most southerly university.
At Windsor, Ontario, on the shore of the Detroit River, the University of Windsor has earned recognition as an international institution of repute. Windsor Hall, administration tower, was completed in 1965.
The top photo dates to 1954, while all four postcards date to the late 1960’s.
I think that last building was the old entrance to the Library, before the big section was added.
I forgot the University had such nice Mod buildings. By the time I arrived the old Student Centre was just being turned into the CAW centre.
Six years and a couple degrees spent hanging around this place, and I’ve hardly gone back on visits to Windsor.
Shawn, I think you are right about that being the south end of the library, although I don’t know if it was ever the main entrance. When I was a kid the bookstore was in this building with the entrance at the bottom of the stairs under the walkway that connected the 2 library buildings.
Is it just me or is Essex Hall missing its northern half? If so, I never realized it wasn’t built all at once.
Absolutely true on Essex Hall, Andrew. The south half + centre wing was built in ’62 or so (cornerstone reads ’61), and the North Half in ’63 or ’64. There’s a pciture on WSU Virtual Motor City showing the north half under construction in ’63.
You know, the old University Centre had some style back in the day–looks like the pre-reno Cleary. Too bad they didn’t preserve the fieldstone wall–it was classy. The CAW Centre is probably the least interesting building on campus now–it hasn’t aged well, is dirty and poorly maintained and the business-end facing Huron Line was left untouched in the reno (and unkempt)…it’s various obvious as you move around the building where the old parts meet the new.
And yeah, that bottom picture is the entrance to the old library (now simply, the West Building) before the giant brown box was added.
Nothing beats looking up at the ceiling of the CAW center and seeing all the exposed metal covered in several inches of dust.
The Centre was filthy from the day I started at U of W in 1993. Always had a layer of smeg on it. That was when you could smoke inside, and that filth stayed well after it was outlawed.
All universities have that feeling though — I wrote an essay about Sidney Smith Hall at u of t (a 1950s Mod masterpiece on St. George here) for the upcoming Concrete Toronto book, and I mentioned how all university bldings have that slightly dirty feeling.
Shawn,
makes me feel better looking at the thick dust in the CAW, knowing that we aren’t the only ones. Still you’d think that they could take the time for a deep clean once every year or two, or better yet do something to make it a bit more appealing, since it is where everyone eats (overpriced food).
I was there from ’75 to ’83. Sure miss the place. I’ve been looking for pictures of Huron Hall that used to be a few blocks off campus (over by MacDonald’s). I lived there for 6 years. Have to get back down there some day to see all the changes.
I studied 1993 – 97. I remember the smoking section in the student centre! Bars closed at 1am then too! I used to host a radio show in the basement of the CAW. The CAW was awkward and ugly…it always felt unfinished and dead I thought. Most interesting building was the Energy Conversion Centre. I shot a 16mm documentary inside. Great memories!
That’s the campus I attended 1950-53. We had all our classes in what is now Essex hall. The huts in the bottom left were the student center, the farthest from the entrance at the walkway was one large room, where we had dances and some food. We had fun.
I was among the first class of women who entered in 1950, when Holy Names College moved from St. Mary’s Academy to de-segregate Assumption College. There were 50 of us among the 400 men. Lots of fun.
University of Windsor aka “The High School Under the Bridge.”
I think that the university would look exceptionally better if the grey parking spaces were actually green spaces. I think that’s really what’s missing. I know that people need places to park but it really makes the campus look bad. When I look at these images compared to today, it’s missing the beautiful flowers, walkways, etc. that made it special. But I think universities have become large institutions now that, unfortunately, don’t care about that as much as getting money from tuition.