Up today is a look at what used to be located on the site of today’s Devonshire Mall. The photo above shows the grandstand at the Devonshire Racetrack as seen from Howard Avenue.
This was the paddock at the Devonshire Racetrack.
This photo shows opening day of the 1924 race season.
I’m often asked about the track, but I don’t have much information. From what I understand there is someone at work on a project that will cover the history of the track and others in Windsor. There was a time where horse racing was banned in Michigan and Windsor was home to three tracks that attracted Americans in droves.
There was the Windsor Jockey Club, which was purchased by the City in 1929. From that track, Jackson park was born, and part of the land went towards Kennedy Collegiate.
There was Kenilworth Race Track whch hosted the “Race of the Century” in 1920
And there was Devonshire, which we took a brief look at in July 2007.
This is a view of the clubhouse as seen from the track in 1929.
The photo above ran in the Border Cities Star July 22, 1929:
After Michigan repealed the ban and allowed racing once again in Michigan (I believe it was in the early 1930’s) our tracks quickly became redundant, and they died a fairly quick death.
After the horses were done however, Greyhounds took over at Devonshire…
The clipping above as well as the rest of the pictures from here on out came to me from a reader named Christine. She got them from one of her neighbours named Rose Perrault. She’s the woman pictured above on the right.
I’m not sure what time frame greyhounds were race at Devonshire, but I think there was racing at the same time as the Riding Club was around. Above is an old business card for the riding club. Seeing as the instructions say to take the Howard Avenue Bus, not the streetcar, it’s safe to assume this is after 1939.
Included in photos passed along are this series of photos. Mrs. Perrault is shown on the far right in this photo as well.
Here was the Riding Club clubhouse. It looks different to the clubhouse shown above while the track was active. From what Christine told me, Mrs. Perrault said that there was a fire and the clubhouse burnt down, and they never rebuilt it.
This photo also shows part of the clubhouse. Mrs. Perrault is in the middle of the photo.
In this photo above you can see part of the track, and the country like setting of the surrounding area in early 1940’s.
Anyone out there have anything to add about the dog racing days or the riding club days?
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Here is a link to a You Tube video of the "Race of the Century" at Kenilworth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC86Jm5oiMc
Does anyone know if there are any remaining clues that there was the race track around the mall area? Maybe a small section of concrete? Anything? I know there is a small area that still remains of Walker Farms just south of E.C Row on Diezel (sp?)Drive. It's behind an industrial building- you can see the trees and shrubbery that just don't seem to belong.
colin, along with the trees and shrubbery there's also the sidewalk that led to the main barn i beleive.
Aaron- do you know where the sidewalk is?
Colin - see here -> http://internationalmetropolis.com/?p=1551
Thanks Andrew- that's the one that I saw and mentioned in an earlier post regarding Walker Farms. I thought he was talking about a sidewalk at the Devonshire racetrack. I was wondering if there were any clues left around the mall of the track.
I LIVED IN DEVONSHIRE RACE TRACK CLUB HOUSE IN THE 1930 DROVE THE 1929 FORDSON TO NEARBY MC ROUNDHOUSE TO BRING BACK TANK OF FRESH WATER MRS STOKES A STOCK HOLDER OUR LAND LADY LIVED IN CLUB HOUSE ALSO MY SISTER & I ROWED OUR BOAT TO THE ISLAND IN POND MY BOYFRIEND & I HELPED HIS FATHER DEMOLISH 1 OF THE 3 CLUB HOUSES HIS NAME WAS BOB SHELLY & LIVED ACROSS THE TRACKS AT THE FAMOUS FLATIRON HOTEL FEEL FREE TO ASK ME ANYTHING I KNOW A LOT ON THAT AREA
Mr. McDonald, can you tell us anything about the Windsor Essex and Lakeshore Railway line into the Devonshire Racetrack? You can see my map of the system here: http://individual.utoronto.ca/sorailmap/
my late father in law name was JAMES BERNARD LOGAN he was a jockey at Devonshire and Kenilworth Tracks,the years were 1930's-early 40's.If anyone has info on this man e.g pics of him, horses and names he drove would really appreciate it.Thankyou for your time hope to hear from you soon. ALSO he did greyhound races at above tracks.
Good morning,
I came accross your site while I was looking for more information about the race track. Wonderful! I'm trying to connect all the Sauve/Sova for many years now and found Alexander Sova arrested on Sept 8, 1922 for shouting his revolver at a man who attempted to climb the fence at Devonshire Park Track. Alexander was a Race Track Officer at that time.
I do have clippings of the track and wonder if you would be interested.
I can forward them to you if you give me an email address.
Thanks,
Carmen