The Town of Walkerville election notice in the December 6, 1934 issue of the Walkerville News.
The ballot included a vote on Amalgamation with the Border Communities, the Walkerville News was urging all eligible voters to turn out and to vote “NO” on amalgamation.
Oddly enough the town of Riverside was included in the vote but didn’t become part of Windsor until 1965, three decades later. In Walkerville the votes were as follows:
YES – 641
NO – 2535
3176 out of the nearly 5000 eligible voters, voted (about 63%). It was 4 to 1 against in Walkerville, Windsor voted 5 to 1 in favour, East Windsor voted 2 to 1 in favour, and for whatever reason, the issue did not appear on the ballot in Sandwich.
I wonder what the purpose of the question was then, as the will of the voters was obviously denied anyway.
Ford City, Sandwich and Walkerville were all amalgamated with Windsor in 1935 whereas Riverside did not amalgamate until 1966
I remember in the 50’s I lived on Raymo Rd and there used to be a sign in the median one side said welcome to Riverside and if you were going west on Wyandotte it said thanks for visiting Riverside please come again
we moved off Raymo Rd in 1960 and moved to meighen Rd the south side of Tecumseh Rd was Sandwich eastthe north side was Windsor I think we had our own police Dept they were located in a small office at Pielette and Tecumseh Rd
The amalgamation of 1935 was ordered by the province. The Great Depression hit the area hard and it looked like municipal governments were headed into bankruptcy. Just the year earlier, East Windsor cancelled all repayment of it debt. About 30 per cent of the population was on relief. One out of two taxpayers were in arrears. A Royal commission was appointed to investigate. That led to the amalgamation and the appointment of a board of supervisors, called the Windsor Finance Commission, to enforce a debt and repayment plan for the newly united city. It was much like the situation facing Detroit today.
Would “East Windsor” be the same as “Ford City”?
Douglas, yes, Ford City was apparently renamed East Windsor after the Chrysler plant was built in what was then Ford City.