Today’s old photo comes from the Detroit Publishing Co. collection housed by the Library of Congress. The caption calls it June 4, 1914, but given that ice in the river, I would disagree with the date.
It’s a neat photo, as the old Walkerville Wagon Works building where Ford of Canada was born is still standing.
Across the street, houses, along with some Model T’s parked out front. I’m going to guess, but I suspect the photo was taken from the bell tower at Our Lady of the Rosary.
Have a good weekend everyone! See you back here Monday.
I would have to agree with you that the date is wrong considering there is also snow on the house roofs.
Great photo.
i wonder if that building in the first photo is the old walkerville/ford city town hall at drouillard and riverside drive
it drives me crazy when i see old photos like this of windsor because of the way it is today all this nice old archetecture gone to waste what a shame
Gary,
I too thought that might be the Ford City town hall at first, but as Andrew said the photograph is most likely taken from the top of the church.
The town hall was next door to the church (where the current parking lot is).
I dug up a photo of the down hall to confirm and the architecture is much different.
You can view it here: http://swoda.uwindsor.ca/swoda/node/277
Steve tnx for the info and photo ya it most definatly has a different roof line
Nice work. Great find Andrew. Part of Windsor have never seen before.
environment canada says it was 25C on june 4, 1914. definately wouldnt be icy.
Andrew, in one of your captions you mention that the old wagon works is still standing. I don’t think any of the original wagon works is still there.
Vince, I believe Andrew meant “is still standing” at the time the photoraph was taken. Most of what is seen in the photograph is long gone. Great photo showing what once was present in this location!
So cool. One of my ancestors was one of the original 6 Canadian hire-es.
i’m curious if the foundry sand piles at the foot of drouillard road were there back then and if where they are now is their original location the shore seems pretty close to the road
gary> The Ford Foundry opened in 1934, 20 yrs. after this pic, this area was backfilled to be used for the sand pile and coal pile..
Interesting post regarding this area, go here: http://www.shorpy.com/node/12459?size=_original
Everything in the picture is gone no, I believe the plant was torn down in 1955 because in 1945 they had the big strike where they blocked riverside and drouillard. The original and oldest building belonging to ford motor company is at the corner of Albert and wyandotte street now owned by Champion Paper products built in 1906. I believe the bottom right corner would be where the homes are near alexander park is nowlooking from the park you see that corner that sticks out into the river where the ice is also look how far hiram walker is in the picture.
From the angle of the picture and how far back it is taken the church at drouillard would be just out of the picture.
>david trombley as per previous post, the bottom right corner was backfilled and used for sand to be used in the Foundry and coal storage for use in the Powerhouse. This area also is used for water intake/water return for the Ford site. This area extends from the foot of Drouillard east to Pratt Ave.
Just flipping through some archived posts. I love this shot. It’s a reminder of what once was a bustling, thriving part of town (and in fact it’s own town). Every time I drive down that way whether it be down drouillard or along RS Drive, I can’t help to wonder what it really looked like 50, 75, 100 years ago. Most of everything is gone save for the church and some houses. The empty land along the river which I believe Ford still owns, stands there with overgrown weeds, crumbling driveways and some visible guard rails. One thing I noticed a few years ago was if you look at the extreme west portion of the property bordering Hiram Walker, there is an old iron gate still standing that faces the road. I would love to go back about 80 or 90 years in time and walk through the neighbourhoods of Ford City and Walkerville. I imagine it would be bustling with activity, people, and little to none of the rotting, decrepit state that we see it in today.