This photo appeared in “Garden Gateway to Canada” from 1954.
The caption reads as follows:
- The Windsor-Amherstburg stage, driven by William Fox, in front of Leo Page’s store and post office, Ojibway. The Page family lived on the second floor. The time is about 1902.
You may recall we looked at Leo Page’s later residence a few years ago. Eventually, he hit the big time.
The Windsor Daily Star – April 24, 1954
Leo Page Inaugurated Home ‘Pin Money’ Work
The late Leo Page, who became one of the best known business and industrial leaders of Windsor during the period which spanned the close of the 19th and the opening of the 20th centuries, was a man with ideas.
He no sooner arrived at the decision that he had a sound idea than he immediately set about putting it to work. The consequence of this flair for business and opportunity established for a number of years one of the city’s most unique and flourishing industries – knitting of gloves and hosiery in the home by housewives who wanted a little extra money.
Hand-knitting was no new experience to the industrious housewives of the Essex County, whose busy hands had been trained to knit from childhood by their mothers. They seized the opportunity offered by Mr. Page and made handsome profits for him as well as for themselves. Mr. Page supplied the material – the wool yarn – and also bought the output. The knitters would call at the Ojibway store of Mr. Page, get their supplies and within a few weeks return with a completed order of mittens or socks. These were sold in many parts of Canada, as far as Dawson City.
Miss Irene Page, daughter of the Ojibway merchant(whose store was also the post office, Mr. Page being the town’s first postmaster) tells her recollection of the knitting industry carried on by her father.
“The store was headquarters for a unique industry which Dad had organized in Essex County which gave employment to nearly every French housewife in this section(at one time, an estimated 300 women were on the list of knitters). He supplied vari-colored yarn and they knitted, by hand, wool mitts which were shipped to cities all over Canada. Blue, yellow, green, white and rose cardboard discs were used by the Frenchwomen instead of money. They had a definite exchange value in the store and could be converted into cash at any time.”
I vaguely remember deciding that this location was at the end Sprucewood (although not called Sprucewood at the time) by the river. Can anyone confirm this or correct it?
Jim: The 1925/26 city directory locates the post office on the west side of Main St (Ojibway Parkway), which ran from Broadway south to Langlois (Morton Dr). This webpage confirms its location at the foot of Sprucewood Ave: http://www.ojibway.ca/history.htm Jumping ahead to the 1931 directory, the west side of Main is now referred to as the north side (why is the river always north when it has a bend in it?), and the post office is described as being located on Elliott Rd, which ran from Main to Front (nearer the river). Assuming that Elliott is present-day Sprucewood, my conclusion is that the post office was on the southwest corner of present-day Ojibway Parkway and Sprucewood Ave.