From the Department of Public Works section of the 1962 City of Windsor Annual Report comes this photograph shown above.
- Riverside Drive, east of the C.N.R. Overpass, has been rebuilt. Curbs and sidewalks were moved back and re-aligned to permit a pavement width of at least 40 feet. This allows four lanes of moving traffic during rush hours, giving a fast and even flow of traffic into and out of the downtown area.
The C.N.R. Overpass, aka the Peabody Bridge, was a fixture for how many years?
So, that is the corner of Riverside Dr. and Devonshire, looking East, right?
Correct Uzzy.
I think that the only building still standing in this photograph is the building just peeking out to the right, behind the flat iron building that was moved around to corner to Devonshire.
And of course the Ford power building stacks in the background.
Don’t forget the Hiram Walker building peeking out from the top left. That’s still there too.
The buildings on the left side of rhe picture are still there and in use. The original offices of Hiram Walker are in the second building on the left, (blocked by building) is open for public tours and imformation about Canadian Club.
Richard, I took the tour in January. It’s so awesome. I already want to do it again. Everybody should go! But that main building on the left, that you say is blocking the offices, looking at street view, I don’t think that’s there, but the routing of the street and intersection could have changed somewhat, and put that building, west of the old main office further back from the road.
Its a good thing they tore all this down… i much prefer the vacant lots.
Great photo Andrew. That long row of White Elm “Ulmus americana” on the left along the curb are long gone as well…. They were well cared for by Hiram Walker grounds keepers until the very end, when they were eventually hit by Dutch Elm Disease. They would still, no doubt, be there to this day if not for that fungi. I remember those trees while driving by the area when I was a young boy. They shaded the buildings in the dead of summer, imagine the cooling effect they had on those stone and brick buildings. Thanks for posting!
This picture brings back a lot of memories for me. My first job at Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd. was in the Duplicating Department running an offset printing press. The department was located on the first floor of the flatiron building. The window in the rounded section was where the supervisor’s office was located. My area was in the space with the 3 windows.
windsorshane that corner looks like sh#@$*now with all those empty lots at least the corner in the photo had character more and more the city is turning into a praire with all these dam empty spaces the windsor from the past is dying from genocide
Gary, I believe Windsorshane was joking…being sarcastic.
This city has become an embarrassment. From a historic point of view.
Scott
I too loved the trees but even without disease, they were doomed. During the cost cutting late nineties, anything that was deemed none value added was chopped…amongst the first to go was the grounds dept.At one point ,driving from Devonshire to Drouillard was like driving thru a botanical wonderland.An oasis in the city !
lawns were manicured, plants were changed sesonaly, hedges were perfectly square and trees were trimmed regularly and properly.When you drove by you had a sense that whomever was running the show at Walkers, really new their stuff and that Walkers as a corporate citizen, was always a cut above the rest.
Unfotunately, nice landscaping does not show up on the bottom line and it was eventually all torn up, dug out or covered up..I myself would pay an extra doller per bottle to return this area to its past beauty. Sadly now its just another collection of red brick buildings.
I wish I could remember a time when the drive from Devonshire to Drouillard was like driving through a botanical garden. Sadly, I’m not old enough to remember that. I don’t even really remember the Peabody bridge, but I remember hearing about them tearing it down.
Newest news from Eddie: Paul Martin building is old and we don’t want it.
Oh yeah he’s not interested in renovating the building and putting City Hall there either? Who cares your current City Hall is fine.. if your elevators don’t work fix them, it’s called renovation. Typical, we obviously have the wrong man for mayor. It’s been 10 years can we get real?
YA i know he’s kidding
They could have taken over a couple floors of the failed Canderal building and made new headquarters for the city there This pay as you go is a bunch of BS
i wonder if that is the old Ford”s building off in the distance when the drive curves just before Drouillard RD???
Gary, that pay as you will save my children and their children a lot of money. It isn’t BS.
What is BS is stating that because something is old we need to destroy and build new. That is one of the biggest scams in N. America that keeps going.
If the governmemt thinks its to expensive to save the Paul Martin building why should Windsor want it? Built in 1933 maybe if the Federal govermemt took care of it there would still be value there, not just an old rundown building.
Sandwitch post office, Paul Martin building, see a patern Walker Rd. postal building next?
I think the situation with the Paul Martin building is not that it is not in disrepair. It is simply that the building is surplus to federal Government needs. There are many examples in Ottawa where the Federal Government has declared buildings to be surplus. Times have changed and government service delivery has been modernized. There is no longer a need for pools of clerks and stenographers. Similarly, the Sandwich post office is facing change. In the ‘olden days’, there was a heavy reliance on mail services by business concerns and the general public. The Internet has changed all of that. And due to computers with word processing capabilities, powerful printers and photo-copiers, business and government no longer rely on pools of stenographers with shorthand abilities, typewriters and gestetner machines. Times have changed! And this also applies to industry and manufacturing. Technology has eliminated much of the manual labour. Processes have changed and the labour force is under pressure from this and offshore influences. Who knows what the future will bring but one thing for sure, the old ways are gone. Sadly, this brings the preservation of historical sites and structures under pressure.
A good use of the Paul Martin building woild be give it and a few million $$ to the univercity or St. Clair colllege. This would perserve the building, and repair the exterior,allso keep a downtown building occupied. This the goverment gets rid of surplus space, and more people will come downtown.
The U could call it the Paul Martin School of Political Sciience.
I deffs thing the U or St.Clair could do a fantastic job of taking care of the Paul Martin. About the post office, though there is a lesser reliance on print press and post we still need somewhere to keep offices for local news sites such as Windsorite and OurWindsor and they would be heroes if they took over the post offices and other small closed buildings. Sorry for the run on sentence to all.
Apparently they are spending $150,000 just to do an investigation on how much a new city hall would cost.. You could have put that money towards renovating your current city hall instead of spending it on “investigating” how much a new one would cost. I can’t believe this is what my tax dollars are going to. Disgraced.
yes i was just being a smarta$$ with my comment… sometimes i need to let that side of me out!
I think King Eddie already has his mind made up that Windsor needs a new city hall and yes your right the $150.000 would have gone along way to help improve city hall i think a few years back they spend upwards of $100.ooo to improve the bathrooms i think i heard somewhere that a new City Hall would be in the $60 million range
Back in the day,working at Hiram Walker came with many perks.I remember the company tennis courts located on the river side of the property just east of the silos.Also many Bowling and golf leagues.I recall being told that many years ago, there was a sport shooting ( small calibre pistol )range in the basement of one of the buildings but I never could confirm this. Christmas parties were the talk of the town.Walkers created a true cradle to grave work envirornment back then.You felt like you belonged to a family and it was a privledge to belong. Oh.. and the grounds were stunning !Sadly, like most ,those days are long gone
It was a shame the flatiron building was demolished. Whoever owned Hiram Walker at the time should be ashamed.
As for the Peabody Bridge, that thing was a nightmare. I came over it at speed on a motorcycle late one night and damned near killed myself on a chunk of asphalt that had come loose.
Ted in Toronto… The Evening Record of Nov 25, 1907 indicated that a new bridge (Peabody) was under construction and would be completed by May of 1908. I am not sure about the exact demolition date.
I think Detroit is setting a great example. Tear it all down and plant bean fields. Or, keep it all up and create ghost building tourism of all abandoned buildings. It could be quite the new industry. Really, the City has never encouraged ( by taxes, grants etc. )the salvation of old or underutilized buildings in this City. Even Walkers could have been encouraged with dialogue of some sort. WAKE UP !!
JBM, thanks for the info and your effort. Cheers.
Ted in Toronto… I believe the bridge was replaced in 1930. There were many renovations and repairs over the years and a major rebuild was being considered but foiled when CN announced plans to purchase the rail tunnel and eventually abandon the riverfront yard. Ultimately, the bridge was demolished in 1993.
JBM, the date of demolition was what I was after. So, it would appear that a bridge was there for 85 years. Thanks again for your assistance.
I worked at Hiram Walker as a mail clerk and then typist in summers while I attended Assumption College 1950-53. The bldg peeking at the left corner then housed the vast typing pool. On huge machines that could print out a legal size sheet horizontally, we typed 12 copies of accounting documents…no errors allowed. I still have a ruler from that experience. My father Chris O’Rourke worked in the Accounting dept. from 1936-1962.
gary, I think you’re right. That probably is the old Ford Plant 1 on the left, at the bend in the road. I’m not 100%, but it seems to fit.
Some handsome looking buildings there. Quite idyllic actually. Everytime I drive down Riverside right near where the old Peabody bridge once stood I see the Walker Power Building sitting there alone and derelict and hope that someone will soon come and rescue it. More needs to be done before our industrial heritage has been totally been wiped out.
Last fall, Shane had a great idea for the re-use of the Walker Power Building.
http://internationalmetropolis.com/2012/08/17/what-if-walker-power-building/
I wonder if this stimulated any interest?
Perhaps the same could be done with the Paul Martin Building (built 1933) on Ouellette.
Also, keep in mind that the city badly needs museum space.
I think those are some great options for the Walker Power Building. It has so much potential, just needs an investor willing to take a risk. I would love cafe’s, mixed with student art space to show and sell their work, local only wine shop, mixed with loft apartments and or condo’s. That area has lots of potential to be trendy and cool.
I saw a guy up on the roof of the Walker Power building earlier today. I don’t know what he was doing up there. Strange.
Steve, The building is listed for sale. Could be a prospective buyer, or building inspector.