Today’s entry comes sent in from regular reader Steve L. He found these photos at his Grandmother’s house, and shared them with me to share with all of you:
Interesting to note, model homes already popping up in front prior to the implosion.
Going…
…going…
…gone…
A shot from the front during the implosion.
Steve told me they were in an envelope marked “Windsor Star”. So they were shot by Star photographers, however I’m not sure if they were ever printed in the paper or if they were just photos shot that day. If so, they may be seeing the light of day for the first time here.
A big thank you to Steve for scanning and sending them along. As always if you have any photos hanging around your house, or maybe your parents or grandparents have some, feel free to contact me, I’d be happy to share them.
A sad day in Windsor history…
Great shots.
Andrew, can you give a little more information for those of us who didn’t grow up here in Windsor? What is this building, a school?
Jodi – St. Mary’s was to Girls, what Assumption was to Boys.
It was a girls hight school. Originally located on Ouellette, where the tunnel is today, they were bought out and moved to south Windsor.
A little more info here:
http://internationalmetropolis.com/?p=96
Where about in South Windsor, Andrew?
One of the biggest mistakes this city made amongst many. Windsor, the city of short-sightedness.
The entrance was at the corner of Academy and Norfolk in south windsor.
I remember that day well. I believe it was Friday, May 13th, 1977. I was in Grade 8 at a now closed South Windsor Public school and that afternoon we had roller skating (for Patrols) at South Windsor Arena but everyone wanted to get out early because…St. Mary’s was gonna blow up. I got home and rode my bike back along Longfellow Avenue. Seems every school was there and everyone cut class. I waited…and waited and then had to leave to go home for dinner or I would get hell for being late. Naturally they imploded the building 5 minutes after I pedaled away.
That really was one of Windsor’s greatest losses. When I saw photographs of the place I could not believe it once stood in this city and the decision makers of the time decided to destroy it. Quite unfortunate, really.
Academy has the boulevard right? Now that I think of it, the houses back in there (about a block south of Norfolk)don’t fit the rest of the neighbourhood- they are newer and some are much larger. I used to play baseball at that park just west of there (not sure of the name) and I could see the ‘new’ houses right behind the diamond. I had no idea that this used to be there. Too bad.
Colin – Central Park.
The ‘newer’ homes there, are called ‘The Gates of St Mary’s’ or ‘St. Mary’s Gates’. My friends live there, they find old bricks and foundations of St. Mary’s every once and a while, when digging in their garden.
This is a beautiful Neo-Gothic building. I can imagine the time it would take to construct a building of such beauty and craftsmanship. I can’t believe that the city of the school board could have found a use for this school.
It’s a far cry from the magnificent school that was imploded to make way for the little cookie cutter homes that replaced it. I guess that was considered progress in 1977.
What a shame…
Thanks, Ric- Central Park rings a bell. I was only 2 when it was demolished so I don’t ever remember seeing it. It’s amazing how when you look at old buildings- even ones built in the 1800’s- you wonder how did they build them with such detail back then without the technology, equipment and everything else we have today. That’s why I appreciate older buildings over the newer ones 9 times out of 10. Not only that but anything built these days looks the same and has little or no personality..
50 years young at the time of its demo. That’s what blows my mind. It was an older but not an “ancient” building in the ’70s. What exactly was so unserviceable and decrepit about it already?
I lived at the very end of the 3200 block of Morris Drive as a child…. saw the Academy everytime I played in my yard and in the huge grassy field in front of their property, I learned how to catch fogs in the stream in that field…. We would walk around the school grounds with my dad on Sundays… we’d climb the orchard trees and get chased away by the nuns… I even studied private charcoal and pastel drawing lessons in that building when I was in grade 5 at Central Public School… if I recall, the classes were on the third floor far northeast corner tower of the building…. I attended the auction in the chapel just before demolition, and bought a few things cheap.
I remember this exact day like it was yesterday. A huge blast, and within 20 seconds, it was a pile of rubble. I believe the same folks that demolished most structures in the USA did this demolition as well, possibly the J.L. Hudson building in Detroit a few years back??
An absolute shame to have destroyed this building….. they said it wasstructurally failing!!!!!???? ……and we call this “progress”. If this building was in Europe, it would still be standing and in use.
I wish there was a resource for high quality photos of this building somewhere. Andrew, do you know?
thanks for posting, some great childhood memories.
Hard to believe a building like this once stood in this city. Such a shame it’s gone. I could just imagine if this building was still around, the use could be doctors offices, condos/apartments and even ground floor shopping.
Who was the architect?
David – it was designed by a nun from the order.
Imagine if the University of Windsor, or St Clair College for that matter, had made this part of their campus… now that would have made a great School of Engineering!
Impossible to imagine. Just thinking about the history of the University of Windsor and historical buildings, I’m pretty sure they would have demo’d it if they’d gotten their hands on it like other historical buildings such as the Prince of Wales Public School, which I bet was in much better condition.
I was a student at St. Mary’s, from 1946 to 1949. 1st through 3rd grade. There seems to be little info on the boys who attended as borders. What a beautiful place….it’s so sad.
I remember as a student in the mid 1960`s…marching up three fights of stairs to the classrooms… all hardwood floors … oak staircases…stained glass windows…the 4th floor housed the student residence…& some retired clergy…we`d hang out in the “Grotto” (usually to smoke) at noon & recesses or wonder around the two courtyards or the orchards , hoping the Assumption boys would dare drive around the grounds & leer at the St Mary girls … on occasion some of our duties as day students included dusting the parlours on the main floor in preparation for a funeral service for a nun (“sister”)…or the annual “mother & daughter tea”…there was a grand auditorium for the theatrical events the students put on …wonderful old stage with “practice” rooms (ie piano) surrounding it…the locker rooms & lunch rooms were in the stone basement… there was an old “cage” type elevator we`d sneak rides on (or press the button to pull an unsuspecting pasenger (usually a “sister”) back down…the Chapel was beautiful ( the only part of the building salvaged )…we`d wear our “beanies” for sevices…What a sin that this building was not treated as heritage !!!
if you go south on Acadamy from Norfolk you’ll see two brick columns that was the original main entrance
The home on Normandy in Lasalle which is owned by the Tunnel BBQ family has the original gates in their entrance of their driveway
I am looking for information about an extracurricular group from the 1950s that involved the both the girls of the St. Mary’s Academy and the boys of Assumption High School together. My dad (Mike Jacko) was involved in that group and we are interested in the name of it (Catholic or Christian “something”?). Does anyone remember that group? Thanks for your help!
I remember skipping classes that day, was my first year at V.Massey. I still have a piece of a chalkboard out of one of the classrooms. I grew up in the 3400 block of McKay and we used to cut through the grounds as a short cut to central park pool and the nuns would yell at us… Good memories
Does anyone know the exact address where this building was?
Scott, do you need the actual address, or do you just want to know where it was? The address no longer exists.
I’m quite certain that the two houses on the immediate right in the link, are the two you see popping up in the top photo.
http://goo.gl/maps/26JCD
I’m also pretty sure these two brick lawn ornaments mark the original location of the gates.
http://goo.gl/maps/qCllQ
Scott Kuli… The two model homes you see being built in the first picture are the present day 3385 and 3395 Acadamy Drive. If you google street view, or google map it, you’ll get the idea of where the school was. The entire property was divided up into a small sub-division.
My very first girlfriend went to St Mary’s. Her name was Paulette