Happy Friday everyone! This Friday’s old photo is dated August 18, 1935, and the caption reads “Canadian Steel Plant Ojibway”.
In this photo we’re looking east back towards Brighton Beach, the river is to our back, and that boat slip, is the one we saw back in this November post.
Does anyone know what the purpose was of the stuff at the base? There is an identical one at each end of the furnace. It almost looks like something that was left unbuilt, but I wonder if it didn’t have some other purpose as it appears the same at both ends.
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Well 30 years later there seems to be no sign of it..Did this ever go into operation or was it just torn down?? Does anyone know
Were the furnaces possibly decomissioned at this point as it is post depression? Has Windsor ever really recovered from the great depression? It seems we have always "had" so much more industry around here...
We did Rick. In fact we were a truly diverse city economically speaking. But as teh world moved towards globalization these companies went bust.
The "arches" look like some sort of conveyor but I can't tell what that "sarcophagus" would be.
I recall hearing from my parents that the entire mills foundation had sunk even before it began operating, this bankrupted the project and it was abandoned.
I recall my mother stating that the whole plant sank on one side bankrupting the company, It was a big blow for a full new development in Ojibwa. For years you could see the corner curbs off of highay 18 where non-existent streets were planned.
Blast furnace 101: the furnaces are incomplete. The furnaces are the two structures at opposite ends . The middle portions are where air is preheated before entering the furnace bottom - pipes visible. The tops of the furnaces are missing structures which are used to continuously reload the furnaces, and also to collect exhaust gases which are used to preheat the air, and for other onsite uses. Also missing are rails to bring raw materials to the furnaces and take away the slag and molten iron produced by the furnaces. The unfinished concrete structures were probably support structures for the missing bits and pieces.
Back in the 20's, the U.S steel company had ambitious plans to turn Windsor into the "Canadian Pittsburgh." The steel plant was part of a planned community that would include houses, schools and churches along with a mammoth steel complex that would rival Ford's River Rouge operation. Alas, the Great Depression and the introduction of the "Hoot Smalley" tariff bill by the U.S Congress killed it for good.
You can still see the scars in the ground from the blast furnace here:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=windsor+ont&aq=&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=42.435514,78.837891&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Windsor,+Essex+County,+Ontario&ll=42.267819,-83.099286&spn=0.000739,0.001203&t=h&z=20
Nice photo Andrew, thanks!
This just solidifies to me that Windsor has always been dealt a bad hand...
Amazing post Andrew.
When I was working at the Grain Terminal (now ADM) twenty one years ago an elderly man came around looking for those blast furnaces, which at the time really intrigued me. I wish we had I.M. back then! To think those scars Aaron found were right there all along.