For years I’ve been meaning to take pictures of this little shop at 1044 Howard, just south of Erie. The business was owned by former city councillor Don Clarke (thanks to Chris Edwards for reminding me of that).
This little shop was around forever, really close to Windsor Grove as well, built back in the days when proximity to the cemetery was important. The business is now closed, and the sign refers callers to another local headstone maker.
The sign looks like it has seen better days and will probably one day soon bite the dust.
Thanks for sharing this. Strange little structure that I have always noticed driving down Howard.
I wonder where the very original tombstone makers of this region worked out of. Probably downtown?
My grandfather was a caretaker at Windsor Grove in the sixties and seventies and set many monuments from this supplier.
Andrew…speaking of Windsor Grove , do you have anything on the mausoleum there ? I often wonder what the interior looks like . I think its has been designated a city heritage building yet so little is known about it. It really is a stunning piece of archetecture despite what it was designed to function as.
I’ve often been intrigued by this small business as well. I think the only left around is on Hwy 3 and Walker.
Thanks for the info.
Andrew- if you want to check out Windsor Grove’s mausoleum I may be able to arrange- also many of Windsor’s historical figures are buried at Windsor Grove such as Seagraves
Glad that you mentioned Seagrave’s, Chris. Reminds me of a late summer afternoon walking home to Bruce Ave. from the Lanspeary Park pool. Somebody mentioned that the “sea grave” was where old sailor’s shipwrecked corpses were interred. Imaginations ran wild. We entered the grounds, crawled all over the vault, climbed the roof, looked for a way in…. until we were run off by a white shirted guy come running from the cemetery office, tie flapping behind him in the breeze. Easy to be brave in a cemetery in broad daylight. Now, if we had returned in the dead of night, seeking the dead…..that would have been something.
Andrew…you got some fine pictures of a soon-to-vanish aspect of the old home town. Late afternoon light…the rusty pole sign…corner of the old redbrick apartments….Detroit dinosaur in the foreground……fine stuff.
I delivered mail there for years. About 3 years ago the guy who ran it, told me it was their 100th anniversary. They closed shortly afterwards. He was a super nice guy, still lives up the street a bit.