Today I have a then and now for you that’s going to blow you away…
Behind the new facade of the Janisse Brothers Funeral Home….
… You will find the Leo Page Mansion. (Photo from the Virtual Motor City Project)
A trip around back reveals the truth about what lies behind that modern brick facade.
Original detailing remains on the chimney.
A view from the side shows where old and new meet.
A picture of the Page house from the Border Cities Star in 1924. Leo Page started out as the postmaster of the settlement known as Ojibwa (before being renamed Ojibway in 1913), he also ran a general store in conjunction with the Post Office.
Sometime around 1913, he teamed up with Albert F. Healy and Alberie Chappus to form the Healy-Page-Chappus Real Estate Company. They cashed in on the boom and speculation surrounding the new steel city of Ojibway and sold tons of property in and adjacent to the town. While the metropolis of Ojibway never came to be, the three gentlemen apparently made out alright, judging from the size of Mr. Page’s house.
Of all the subdivisions they carved up, only one remains today as it was laid out. They were responsible for the establishment of Brighton Beach on the Wright Farm. They purchased the farm in 1913 for a reported $225,000, the equivalent of about $4.3 million in today’s dollars.
Today the Healy-Page-Chappus company lives on at least for a little while longer, in the street names of Brighton Beach.
Built in 1929, the house at 2177 Victoria Avenue was originally numbered 1545 Victoria, pre…
Crescent Lanes first opened on Ottawa Street in 1944 at 1055 Ottawa Street, opposite Lanspeary…
Above is a photo of the home of Mr & Mrs Oswald Janisse, located at…
in 1917 two Greek brothers Gus & Harry Lukos purchased a one story building on…
Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week…
An unremarkable end to a part of Windsor's history. The large vacant house at 841…
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a peek at the BLAST furnaces...via this website.
http://internationalmetropolis.com/index.php?s=blast+furnace
and @ Paulette Kupnicki. I REMEMBER YOU! You worked with my mother in the 80's. I knew you were connected to the funeral home family, and i also met your daughter Nicole! How ARE you?! Do you have ANY photos of your childhood? Or perhaps the inside of the PAGE/Janisse res.?? I know MANY people who would KILL to see (not only exterior of back then) but moreso the INTERIORS, which we dont often get to enjoy. I also knew a Paul Janisse who lived in East Riverside??? Worked in Tecumseh?
For MJD
In my search tonight, before stumbling on this feed, i remember an article on the History of Ojibway Prairies, and what it COULD've been before!
It mentions HUGE prospects of STEEL CITY, and the division and plans for streets in the Brighton Beach area. But due to WWII, it never came to be...and Healy Page Chappus owned all the land, including the best of them ALL! The WRIGHT Farm. Anyways, if you scroll down to about 1917, you will see the area MEANT for the steel mill.
http://www.ojibway.ca/history.htm
Too bad it never happened. Windsor would be a different place today!
another interesting site with a google MAP of Morton area...is the Steel technologies which closed in 2009. If you scroll the map north east, looking for ADM Agri...you will see rectangular OUTLINE of the Scars of the BLAST FURNACES, east of ADM, close to Morterm. http://wikimapia.org/11532749/Steel-Technologies
Notice in Healy-page-Chappus article the spelling of Matchett Road. Not Matchett(e),it was named after my great great grandfather Alfred Mstchett-he was responsible for building of the road and it was named after him.