Happy Friday everyone, and Happy Long Weekend! This was the post that was planned for last Friday, but got cancelled due to unplanned downtime. So we’ll try again today.
Today’s old photo is dated, September 12, 1945, the caption on the back reads:
- Ford Plant # 2 Strike – Windsor
Looks like it was a happening place. I’m not sure if the street was usually this busy, or if it was due to the strike. Note the police or fire call box on the corner, just to the right of the stop sign. Here’s a question for any experts out there, when did stop signs change to the standard white letters on a red background?
The first striker hold a sign that demands – 2 weeks vacation “with pay”. Amazing the things we take for granted today, that were hard fought for, not that long ago.
Here’s a view of the intersection of Whelpton & Drouillard today. Both buildings are still standing although they, along with the view, looks much different.
Have a fun, safe long weekend. See you back here Monday.
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The blue sided building on the right just past that cube van parked on the road, was that there back in the day also ? I think I can see just the edge of the west wall in pictures 1 & 2. I remember this as Spencer Dry Cleaners when I was younger, not sure when or why the owner closed up shop though.
When Ford closed the Whelpton St. gate, it was the end for several Drouillard bars: The Palace,The Temple/Great Western(complete with mechanical bull AND you could cash your paycheck there!)/Mongos and Yesterdays. Before that, Ford restricted Drouillard access at Richmond/Deming which really hurt the East Windsor/Lannys and the Detroit House.
Along with these legit establishments were many other ‘offhour’ watering holes to wet a workingmans whistle….ie. Donnys,Lizards,Ritas…
I think there was also a restaurant/bar right outside the plant gate on Whelpton called Florida’s too. It was a pretty popular watering hole also (especially at break time).
2 weeks paid vacation and other “benefits” are the reason so many employers only hire part timers.
Don’t you “socialists” understand that if *YOU* owned a business you could not afford to pay someone to sit on their asses for 2 WEEKS per year especially now that we trade with slave labor countries like CHINA now?
It is amazing how deep the communist infiltration has gone.
http://www.henrymakow.com/000843.html
Wish i could sit on my ass behind a keyboard for a living instead of getting up in the middle of the night to help someone else get rich. But thanks to our infiltrated union i now get paid to stay at home…..former GM trim/transmission employee. Have a nice day.
Ken,
Like I said, if ***YOU*** owned a business, and I guess that is a big ** IF **, you would see how the real world works!
It is not the worker against the employer, it is the worker and employer against the globalists who want to create a world government, but unfortunately you have been BRAINWASHED with unionist/communist propaganda that you have to “eat the rich” when it is the rich who are your real friends.
http://www.henrymakow.com/000843.html
Ken who do you think is paying for you to stay at home retired from your job?
Your CHILDREN and their children will be paying with their labor.
“Retirement” is something new and it is only on the backs of our children that we can do this, but it seems you do not have a basic grasp of economics.
Some social justice that is eh?
Never mind the political argument; I just really enjoy seeing the old photos and the current one together. That corner looks so tranquil now; it’s really evocative and interesting to see that it has had such a long and lively history, not only with workingmen and bars but with labour excitement too. And I’ll bet the food at the Madison Grill was better than the fast-food chain joints we have nowadays.
Love the then and now pictures. I grew up in Riverside but left Windsor in 1972, but I still enjoy the site. Thanks for an always-interesting look back, and keep up the good work.
Brian
Abu Dhabi
Dear “Socialist” jerk
Get a memory and remember how great the 20th Century was based on that “economic model” of workers’ rights. You’re foolishly attempting to deny DECADES’ worth of evidence that the exact opposite of what you claim is true. Get and education and shut up already. Or go bow before some fat cat and do their clownish bidding. Dance, patsy, dance. And then after you’re done that, leave your idiotic, simpleton pontificating to the Windsor Star comments section where you and your other knuckledraggers can play PretendLand to your hearts’ content.
“Wish i could sit on my ass behind a keyboard for a living instead of getting up in the middle of the night to help someone else get rich. But thanks to our infiltrated union i now get paid to stay at home…..former GM trim/transmission employee. Have a nice day.”
Ken,
Are….are you refering to Andrew in this post? This isn’t his job, this is something he shares with us on his own time. Who the hell are you talking to? What do you mean “getting up in the middle of the night”? What..to go to work? Having a job…unless you OWN the buisness, is, in fact, helping someone that is not you, get rich.
Maybe I’m way off. If so I appologize, but if your criticizing Andrew for some reason, I don’t get it.
what a difference in the photos the photo of whelpton and drouillard today looks like a ghost town and why don’t you communict dick heads take your shit somewhere else
Detroit was the first to use the stop sign in 1915, at that time it was white with black letters on a square sheet of metal. 2 highway engineers after traveling across America decided to standardize the shape so drivers can spot the signs from far away and in the dark, hence the octogon shape. The colour then was yellow with black letters but changed to the red with white letters we know today in 1954. Being that red is used for stop in stop lights, thats probably why they changed the colour of the sign.
That parking lot in the first photo was a taxi stand back in the 1960’s and 70’s. Checker, Veteran and Riverside all shared it although since it was a dirt lot, when it rained the big potholes became big puddles. Remember when there used to be a direct line inside the Drouillard Road hotels to the local cab company?
What got me started in the cab business was the Chrysler strike in 1967. I had just started up in plant 3 at Drouillard & Tecumseth woriking the front line as a stock chaserand driver. We got $1/75 an hour with extra for working midnights. We were just about ready to sign up for the union (UAW back then, and I was already a Teamsters member cause I was a driver)when the Twinsburg Plant went on strike our parts dried up and we were all laid off. Chrysler setteled the strike, and instead of calling us back to work, they just re-hired new people.
Since we were just short of our probationary period the union would not help us! I was off for a couple of months and started to drive cab at Checker.
I often wondered what the the building on the North east side looked like back in the day. We are in the midst of redoing the front facade in the next couple of weeks with new windows and entry doors. I always wondered what the eyelets protruding from the face of the bulding were for? Now I know it was for the old awning overhang around the sidewalk. Thanks for the great pics. Do you have others of the main road between Richmond and Edna. Or any of the old street car pics? I am fascinated by the history of Ford City and Drouillard Rd back in the hayday.
Wow these pictures are amazing! Thank you for posting them. There are a lot of great things happening in Ford City. Please visit this location in the next couple of months to photograph Randy’s work for comparison.
For regular updates on Ford City events, opportunities and revitalization visit: http://www.facebook.com/FordCityNeighbourhoodRenewal
Randy-Glad to hear about your facade improvements moving forward! Can’t wait to see the hard work pay off!
K
Randy…..PLEASE don’t put stucco on it! 🙂
Funny, no one has mentioned the mural on the Whelpton side of the north-east corner -“Shift Change”. I hope it will be preserved.
My great uncle, Phil Lesperance, had a drugstore at that corner. I’m not sure which one though. It was called Charles Street then.
Just passing by,I wanted to see where I used to work and live about 40 years ago. Wow, how quickly time flies,it’s too bad,I always wanted to show my kids where I lived/worked,the building was demolished,it’s a green area inside the Ford property now. My parents sold the business to the lady named Florida. Previously,it was called Pisa Italian Restaurant located just across the alley(North side of Whelpton)at the Ford gate.I used to sell a variety of newspapers,cigars,cigarettes and believe it or not Candy! Between ages of 6 & 7,I not only sold newspapers inside the plant, I played soccer with security guards just moving away at times to let 18-wheelers go by.And I loved the 3-wheeler vespas(I think),it carried fire extinguishers in the back,enough room for a quick spin though.Once,close to the Metcalf gate,I was ambushed by a few bullies from school,I thought I was toast,I ran to the gate,was let in and went home safely in and out of Ford gates.The bullies were furious that they were not allowed in,every new day was like starting from zero once again. At 30 years of age,I was a new skilled trade at Ford. One man said to me,”It’s about time you get hired,you were always around here anyways”. Thank-you Jack J., that comment was heart warming and thus never forgotten. I’ll be back in the future…
A buddy of mine lived in the corner apartment of the building on the left. The 2 windows on Drouillard and 2, or 3 on Whelpton were his. I spent many Sunday nights hanging out there. It certainly looked a lot better with that overhang.