In October 1924, The Baum & Brody Furniture company moved from their store on what is today Riverside Dr. E., just west of Goyeau to the corner of Chatham & Ferry.
Today this building that has had a long history as a downtown watering hole, remains nearly identical.
The building began life as the home of the Universal Car Agency in 1912. The Universal Car Agency sold “The Ford Automobile, The Russell & The Cadillac”. The building served as both a showroom, and a service garage.
The company took out a full page ad to celebrate their move to the new location in October, 1924.
Now coming up on its 97th birthday, it is staggering to think, just how many people have walked through those doors over the years, whether looking for a car, a washing machine, a seafood dinner or a beer.
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An image of the first Ford dealership in the area is posted at;
http://www.walkervilletimes.com/23/gallery23-4.html
It includes the text, "one of the first Ford dealerships in the region was located on the site of The Old Fish Market."
Ok, so I guess that's where the "Old Fish Market" name came from. I keep hearing about bands playing at the old Fish Market. That must be connection. So, before this building and Ford dealership parking lot there must have been an older building called the Fish Market or was the old Fish Market just an outdoor market like Eastern Market where fish dealers pitched tents to sell their goods on the weekend?
In the 90's there was a restaurant on the ground floor called the old fish market.
Shawn, I remember the Coach & Horses being open in the '80s as well. It was a blues type bar at the time. There is a bar on the main floor which I don't even know what it's officially called - I think it's an annex of the Loop?? Anyway, there's a great funk/groove band that plays there on Thursday nights. I agree with you about that place's uniqueness. Its closure/demo would leave a giant hole in downtown. It's not just an ordinary watering hole.
Lots of memories in that old building.
In the late eighties the Tea Party was essentially the house band at the Coach (or the Roach, for the native species) they practiced upstairs in what would become The Loop.
Favourite band that I saw there - The Pariahs (out of Kingston, I think).
The question is, of course, how much work does the building need to be refurbished? It is likely that the owners, like most commercial property owners, bought the building as an opportunity, not a true investment. The commercial real estate market is likely in worse shape than the residential market since most commercial property purchases were leveraged on the "value" of the other holdings a company/individual had. So, I would expect this building to fall into worse repair until ultimately is has to be razed because the cost of repairing it will have exceeded any dollar value it may hold. (Unless of course it mysteriously burns to the ground.)
The bar on the first floor is called Pogo's, I believe. Hopefully if the building ever gets sold, it stays open or is renovated properly to enhance that area of downtown. I could see some nice lawyer or business offices on the second floor with a bar/restaurant on the mainfloor & basement or even some small retail shops.
I've read that the era of Big-Box retail is rapidly coming to an end, thanks to tightening credit and lower spending on big-ticket items. It's the old vicious cycle they say: more layoffs equals less discretionary income. What a perfect opportunity to re-invent downtown Windsor as a retail hub.
Don't hold your breath. Big box is here to stay because of diversification large selection of products, convienence, better warranties, better prices from economies of scale, and FREE PARKING... Last time I checked, Walmart is now open 24 hours, has free parking, they didn't give me a hard time over returning stuff, and they added a whole new grocery line... Why waste your time going somewhere else?
Nonetheless, it would be premature to envisage a useful purpose for this building without first having a vision for downtown development.
There is already an overpopulation of bars most of which the general population would not visit after dark.
As far as I know, the only long term plan for downtown involves building a canal. Unfortunate.
It would be nice to have a plan to include tourism the and promotion of the arts and history somewhat like Niagara on the Lake; link with Walkerville and Sandwich via a trolley system along the waterfront.
David, why waste you time? Because Wal-Mart is garbage. The fact that people like you shop there is why our manufacturing base in North America is in shambles. You couldn't pay me to go into a wal-mart and buy their garbage products.
I'll support a local business any time I can over Sprawl-Mart. There isn't much you can buy there that you can't get elsewhere. As for the free parking argument, that's over rated. I would rather pay .25 at a meter on Ottawa St. and run into a shop there to get what I need. I can go to say Canada Salvage and pick what ever I need, pay a quarter to park, and be back home before I would even get to any of the big box crap stores.
You can have your Wal-Mart.