I got an email from reader Mark F. who asked about the band shell at Jackson Park, that’s tucked behind Windsor Stadium.
You can see it in the Google Earth Map above.
I dug into the history of the band shell, while working on the Windsor Modern book.
This band shell was built in 1959, and designed by Windsor Architects Johnson & McWhinnie. It replaced an earlier band shell that was destroyed in a fire in 1957.
Today the structure sits unused, and covered in graffiti. The doors on the stage are welded shut, and the area around the stage is used as a storage yard by Parks & Recreation.
There are some interesting musical decorations flanking the sides of the stage.
The back of the building reveals several doors. For loading instruments, maybe dressing rooms or washrooms?
The building was built very close to Windsor Stadium, and I am assuming that when the west grandstand was built, it blocked the band shell, and rendered it obsolete. It’s too bad, because if there’s one thing we’re short of is outdoor musical venues… Unless you like the blacktop parking lot feel of the festival plaza…
More of our history siting neglected. This time as a storage yard. Jackson Park used to host Motown acts, I wonder who graced this stage?
Anyone out there have any memories of this place when it was in use?
During the fifties and sixties a lot of events took place there including countless band concerts and “battle of the bands” venues. High schools would also hold pep rallies there. There were actually grand stands for the shell on the backside of the west stands for the stadium. They were, in fact, two separate venues. The freedom festival which now adorns the river front started at and used to be an annual event at Jackson Park. All of the rides and concessions and events weere held there. It actually was a lot better than it is now. For whatever reasons, the City opted to move everything down town and so things go. It would still make a perfect venue for such things as the Blues Fest.
Wow. What a suprise. I’ve lived in Windsor my whole life and never knew this existed.
City of Windsor summer student Parks&Rec employees used the band shell as their breakroom.
Oddly, I didn’t realize there was still a bandstand there but I remember being taken to a real, live Minstrel Show at the original venue, the one that burned down in ’57 (though I don’t remember that event either. I was ten in ’57 and our house burned down about then so I was kinda preoccupied.)
The old one was open in front and you sat on the lawn (I’m pretty sure) and I recall white scallopy trim around the arched proscenium. The inside of the shell was also painted white and I think there was blue involved. I may have attended other shopws there but the minstrel show is the only one I remember for sure.
I remember going to the battle of the bands there in 71 or 72.We as the Windsor Guardsmen Drum and Bugle Corps used the place to practice at also.To bad it should still be used for out door shows.I also remember the Freedom festival being in the park.
I remember seeing a flyer a week ago on the Jackson Park Hearing Committee or something for Feb 8? It was a hearing on changes or future uses/events for Jackson Park. Maybe someone should mention outdoor music venues here for the bandshell. But, then again you may get a lot of noise complaints from the high rises and they may find it’s more trouble than it’s worse.
I guess if you’re living in a downtown high rise and can put up with all the noise from nightclubs in downtown, you can tolerate the noise from the blacktops of Festival Plaza…
They could even do a second Art in the Park to Willistead at Jackson Park, but who am I kidding. In this economy?
I remember Air Supply played there in the late 80s early 90s? I forget when exactly. I didn’t go.
I recall the bandshell being mentioned during a TV report (CHWI I think) about the impending demolition/replacement of the existing seating at Windsor Stadium. Can’t remember the details but I thought it involved (possibly) making the venue viable again by way of the removal of the west grandstand. Could be wrong.
And I will add–from everything I’ve seen, Johnson & McWhinnie sure had an eye for the flair of mid-century modern–just look at the lines on that simple bandshell–they sure loved that blonde-colored brick too, didnt they!
JT – That’s true, if there’s one thing they were truly a master of it was their use of Concrete as a building material. They did it better than anyone else in town. Look at Alicia Mason or the Budimir Library (both J&M). It’s hard to tell from these photos, but the concrete liner inside the band shell is pretty impressive.
I was lucky enough to meet with Doug Johnson, who was the Johnson in Johnson-McWhinnie, and he gave me a copy of their job list. One of these days, I’ll do a full post on those guys.
Air Supply didn’t play in the bandstand itself though, Darren. They set up a stage at the south end of the field, with the crowded seated in the bleachers and on the field. Same deal with the Beach Boys who also played the same venue that summer. Was the summer of 1983 or 84.
Now this would be an excellent community reclamation project. An army of volunteers overseen by Parks and Rec. and maybe our new Heritage planner. Mission… To bring this beauty back to it’s glory days. Funding could come by way of a donation drive. Talk to people like Ted Boomer to see if we can get a major gig in there. It should also be re-introduced to the symphony for summer outdoor concerts, to the theatre community for the same. This is an opportunity. P.S…There are no apartment buildings or dwellings which are that close. This thing is buried pretty well in the back/central portion of the park. Andrew…If you can suggest the Yorktown Plaza sign for Heritage, you might make sure that this gem be worth while as well. See you out there.
One way to start the bandshell’s recovery is to stage guerrilla events there. Fun summer book readings, little acoustic shows, performance art. When the people start coming, it will be a place.
We found this somewhere around 94 or 95 — was used for Parks storage then too. We played a little game of handball on the stage. Apart from being Hot Modernism, it was good for handball.
MOM – It is already on the inventory.
Shawn – The problem with it, is that it’s fenced off to the public. During spring/summer when parks is working, the gate is open during working hours…
JT is correct. CBC TV ran a story on this in August/September. The current grand stand is/was supposed to be demolished and the band shell renovated. I don’t know why it hasn’t been mentioned since. Perhaps the plan was put on hold when the true extent of the economic downturn was finally acknowledged in September.
I was also unaware of its existence until I saw the news report. I guess I should have attended more football games while at Kennedy!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who has lived here their entire lives, gone to that park an unspeakable amount of times, and never knew the place existed!
Also, Jackson Park must have been a really nice place for the Freedom Festival. The grass is so much easier on your feet than that tarmac at the river front, not to mention the shady trees that provide respite from the heat in June-July…
I’ve read somewhere that Jackson Park was a lot bigger a long time ago than it was now… something to the effect that it even extended north across Tecumseh (?)
The City of Windsor Parks Department will be holding their second open house on the new concept plan for Jackson Park. It will be Tuesday, February 10, 2009 from 6 to 8 pm at Caboto Club. They had one last fall where they took comments. Apparantly, they are developing the new plan and are answering questions and receiving comments. I will be there. It is a good time for anyone interested to pursue the re-use of this bandshell. I know that I will be bringing it up.
Thanks for posting this topic, truly a piece of Windsor history that could actually be restored…
I had the opportunity to perform on this stage a few times throughout the 1970’s… Fireman’s Field Day, The Battle of the Bands was one of these events…. (1971) I think that was the year we placed second. I also recall it raining just before we were to go on stage, I had to stand in a wet area on the stage, and got a bad electric shock off the microphone when i began to sing… I’ll never forget that jolt.
I like and agree with this idea, could be a weekly event in the summer – Wednesday Evenings at the Bandshell – could be funded as well if cards are played in the proper order….. that then would sustain the events and they wouldn’t die out because of lost interest – any ideas?
re: Comment by Shawn Micallef
“One way to start the bandshell’s recovery is to stage guerrilla events there. Fun summer book readings, little acoustic shows, performance art. When the people start coming, it will be a place.”
I remember attending ‘Emancipation Day’ (the August civic holiday which was referred to as Emancipation Day by local residents) celebrations at Jackson Park. It featured a large midway, a beauty pageant and lots of music. The bandshell was well used. Eventually this celebration was moved (banished?) to MicMac Park on Prince Road if I recall. I was not a resident of Windsor back then and was just a lad so my recollections are a bit vague on the named acts appearing at the bandshell. Did the International Freedom Festival hold events at Jackson Park also? The history of the park and events held there would be an interesting read.
Andrew – thanks a lot for the information about the band shell. I think everyone is in agreement that if there’s a way – it would be great to restore this forgotten piece of our history. It’s really a shame that it was allowed to get the way it is – but judging by the pictures it definitely looks like it can be reconditioned! thanks again.
not this stand but did see Princess Elizabeth or maybe by this time she was Queen, at original band stand with windsor schools in 1952 or 53, I remember it was coloured like a giant clam shell.
ron
correction on number 22 comment it was 1951, and she was the princess royal.
she would be queen of canada the next year….
I have a copy of the program for the 1959 Freedom Festival (the first one). It is true, events were held at Dieppe Park (which was inaugurated during the festival) and at Jackson Park.
Under the calendar of events
June 29 – 8:15 pm: Detroit Symphony conducted by Valter Poole at Jackson Park Bandshell, guest soloist, Maureen Forrester, leading Canadian Contralto
June 30 – 8:00 pm: Sixty-five piece Detroit Concert Band at Jackson Park Bandshell – Leonard Smith conducting.
The Emancipation Day festival used to be massive, attracting over 250,000 at its peak.
The CBC has a blub about it, on their site. It seems like it was canceled due to the Detroit Riots in 1967, and canceled again in 1968.
In 1969 it returned, but this time in MicMac park.
http://www.cbc.ca/windsor/features/detroit-riot/emancipation.html
In the 50s and 60s (my time growing up in the “Rose City”) Jackson Park was the focal point of summertime celebratory fun. All the major parades would end there after marching up Ouellette. Typically there was a carnival midway and all sorts of events scheduled on the broad grassy fields and the bandshell. The “grandstands” that people keep referring to were nothing more than a plain and simple set of bleachers, quite out of synch with and something of an afterthought next to the daring (for Windsor anyway) modernist design of the bandshell itself. The previous bandshell, which I remember very vaguely since I was a young child on my only visit, was more of a traditional “Hollywood Bowl” type of semi-circular clamshell. It was fronted by rows of proper seats, or at least benches with back support, as I recall. The “Emancipation Celebration” took place on an August weekend and was sponsored by Dr. Roy Perry, a long time Windsor dentist and Alderman. It featured a parade, carnival, and musical entertainment. As a young fella I remember being fascinated by the large numbers of gleaming automobiles with license plates from such exotic places as Alabama and Mississippi scattered throughout the park. It was a huge event and drew tens of thousands of negroes (as African Americans were properly known in those days)from all over the map. The last big blow-out of the summer was the Firemen’s Field Day, sponsored by the Windsor Firefighters, held over the Labour Day weekend. The Labour Day parade was HUGE, as you can imagine, during the halcyon days of 60s prosperity. Every family seemed to have at least one individual employed in the red hot auto industry and every shop was a union shop. Jackson Park would be teeming with revelers. The last time that I was at the bandshell was some battle of the bands, Labour day weekend ’67 or ’68. One of the top bands was ” The Dukes of Windsor” a bunch of South Windsor dudes with skinny pants and skinnier ties. Sad to see the site falling to ruin and suffering such humiliation. I always felt that the bandshell was poorly situated, hard up against the backside of Windsor Stadium. These venues require a broad expanse of open space in front of them, and what we got here was just the opposite.
thanks john, it didn’t seem that there would be enough room for people to watch from around that thing. when i remembered they played there though it’s where i thought they might be since i didn’t think many people would want to see them play.
I remember the news story too. They mentioned that new stadium seating would be reversible so you could watch the football game and if there was a concert, the stands would be switched to face the stage. Will that ever happen?
Well they did have a string of top 10 hits leading up to that time and were big on FM radio, so the stadium was actually packed. It wasn’t like Duran Duran, but they were still relatively “big” at that time. I think these days Air Supply’s Greatest Hits CD would be a guilty pleasure. 😉
I think Shawn’s suggestion of “Guerilla Events” at the bandshell should be examined. Exactly how secure is this fence around the property? It doesn’t look like it is too inaccessible from the aerial photos.
Used to live by Jackson park. When we were little kids we used to find ways into that compound all time. And we’d walk the grounds beneath the grandstands of the stadium and collect all the money and “cool stuff” people dropped. I’m sure today we’d get more than a simple “hey you kids, you don’t belong here” from the parks & rec. employees though.
I used to live on Logan Ave. during the mid 60’s and early 70’s. I remember the feastival’s and battle of the bands very well.
The battle of the bands were hosted by Rick Hamilton and Donna Gross of the Big 8 CKLW.
The band I remember winning I believe 2 years in a row was the Power and the Glory. A local band with Moe Pinard as the lead singer.
Those were great summer activities that we looked forward to each year.
The assumption that you made anout back doors are correct. Parks and Rec use one of the rooms for storage of tools and things for Jackson Park maintenance. One door is a washroom and the other door is part of the storage area used by the Windsor Cavaliers Cricket Club. There are stairs just to the right, out of view of the photo that lead to the WCC changing room.
VP
Back in the early-to-mid 80, a group of academics, businesspeople and concerned citizens formed an organization to raise money to bring a CFL franchise to Windsor. Part of the organization’s fund raising strategy included bringing big name entertainers like The Beach Boys to Windsor at the Jackson Park bandstand. I don’t remember much else but the dream of a CFL franchise never caught on and the plans for a new stadium to house a CFL never came to fruition.
in answer to comment 25
emmancepation festival amd firemans field day were both major events in my childhood, mid fifties to mid sixties… they were ended not because of detroit riots but because the powers that be thought jackson park should be only for looking at not actually for the general population of windsor to actually use…ignoring the fact our taxes pay for them. Don’t believe me go to any of the river fests and spend the day walking and sweating on hot ashphalt staring at a band shell that must have cost less than the up keep of the garden around the bistro restaurant….
ron
Thanks Ron, I was simply going by the info. in the CBC link.
YES! My father owned the amusement arcade next to the bandshell from the 60’s to late 70’s. The bandshell would have concerts/festivals & the area was a lively place and a nice local beach. Since it was the 60’s & there was always people smoking pot, we weren’t allowed to attend the concerts much (I was born in ’61). A few blocks away, they had a covered public grill area where we used to haul our things on Sunday mornings and cook breakfast. We have a lot of pictures of this street back in the day… I can’t believe the bandshell is still there… or isn’t it?
Barbara, any chance you’d be willing to scan-share any of those old photos?
This Bandshell is a GEM! It should be moved to Dieppe Park on the waterfront: Restored, etc.. It has great accoustics. I’ve always thought it could sit at the south-western-most point of Dieppe Park, facing North-east. The sound would go out to the river, plenty of lawn space, not impedeing the view from the drive. Win, win, win. It’s doing nothing where it is. It’s a great shell that deserves to be permanently set up downtown. Thanks.
Jackson Park was way bigger and better before the Ouellette Overpass was built, which cut the park in half. before that, the park stretched from Dougall Avenue all the way to the current eastern border. as others have commented, it was the main event venue for the city.
Correction for the Power & the Glory. It was Claude Pinard and Ken Koekstat playing in the Power and the Glory. Founding members. The first year we were paid to play during the change ups of bands. I left after the second year to turn professional at the Riviera Motor Hotel.
Ken Koekstat
Our band (The Fereration)played there in 1967. We came in 3rd place and played 3 songs that were on the big CK at that time – brown eyed girl, light my fire, and hey Joe.
Bobby Jay and the night hawks came in 1st, and the sounds of windsor 2nd (aka power & glory).
I did a 5 minute drum solo in the middle of one of songs, and was recognized for that by the judges.
Those were the old day, and I was almost 16 – but drove my own car home after.
Still remember it well
Our Lead guitar player still plays at legions etc. today Bob Boyle(BB & the DJ’s)
Gib
i REMEMBER THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS IN 68 OR 69 FOR THE OLD FREEDOM WEEKEND WAS BOB SEGAR vs MICH RIDER…………..FORGOT WHO WON …..BUT GRETA BAR BANDS FROM MOTOR CITY
thanks to kenny for correcting Claude Pinards name. The band also included Rick Ingals, Tony Caputo, Dave Pratt, Kenny Koekstat and Gary Fields as the members who were there.
special mention to the Lonely Knights, who always battled with us.
At the time that parades ended at Jackson Park and there was a carnival set up, the area that is now the Rose Garden with the airplanes was all grass. This is where the carnival was located, just south of the Sunken gardens. If you look at the really old photos of today’s JP , you’ll see in 1900 it was a fairground and the buildings were being used by the 99th Regiment. When it was decided to develop JP into a passive park, walking paths, flower beds, there was no more room for a carnival. The large grandstand ( where the overpass is today) had burned down, then Ouellette was extended. That was pretty much the end of Emancipation Day and Fireman’s parades downtown. Too bad because it was a wonderful way to grow up. I went to Kennedy in the late 50’s and it was always an incentive to school startup because the Fireman’s carnival was still there for the week after Labour day.
I don’t remember much about the “new” now old bandshell built late 50’s early 60’s. I do remember very well the old Grandstand which was huge. It was the remnant of the Windsor Jockey Club racetrack. It was almost victorian in style with a high roof and I would estimate a couple thousand seats at least. it haD space underneath for offices, storAge, and parks department equipment during the early 1950’s. From about 1949 till it burned I went many times with my parents to hear the musical concertS called “Music Under the Stars” sponsored by the Ford Motor Co and I believe the Windsor federation of Musicians.
During the war the space beneath and adjacent to the grandstand was occupied by a military unit the No 2 Ordinance Field Park. later that unit was renamed # 6 Technical Regiment RCEME and moved to St Luke Road Barracks. Name later chnged to 29th Technical Suadron RCEME AND NOW PART OF THE 31 sERVICE bATTALION.
iN THE 50’S THE OLD RACE TRACK STILL WAS AN OVAL INFRONT OF THE GRANDSTAND AND TH BANDSHELL WAS A SEPARATE STRUCTURE ACROSS THE TRACK, IN FRONT OF THE GRANDSTAND, A FEW YARDS TO THE EAST . i REMBER IN 1953 FOR THE 100TH aNNIVERSARY OF fORD A DISPLAY OF FORD CARS AND AN aNNIVERSARY SHOW THAT ROLLED THE CARS, INCLUDING THE fORD 999 RACER AROUND THE TRACK AS WELLAS A MUSICAL SHOW. tHERE WAS ALWAYS A SHOW IN FRONT OF THE GRANDSTAND ALONG WITH AN ADJACENT MIDWAY FOR THE eMANCIPTION dAY cELEBRATIONS
Ford 50 anniversary 1953, 110th 2003.
correction 100 th 2003, sticky key.
anyone remember the band called AMITROF? I heard they were great in windsor. what were the name of a band at the battle of the band called bob something? i’m not sure of the name. just curious, I heard they placed 3rd and were only were put together over a short time
in the 1970’s battle of the bankds