Happy Wednesday everyone, and also the last post of April. Today’s shot is looking west [urrrr… thanks for pointing that error out Tom] East along Tecumseh Road from the intersection of Pelissier (Victoria Ave is the boulevard in the extreme foreground). This shot from September 1929, shows the recently built Kennedy CI on the grounds of the old Windsor Jockey Club. The old horse track is still visible, and Jackson Park has yet to be created. At the spot where the Jackson Park Gates are today, you can see the streetcar turn-around loop.
In the very centre of the photo, above the white blank area, there is about a dozen large trees — those were American Elms, they were taken down in the 1950’s and 1960’s by the Elm bark beetle, and Dutch Elm Disease… I remember driving through that amazing canopy corridor as a young boy. I think there is now only one American Elm left on Ouellette Ave. in that stretch between Tecumseh Rd. and Eugenie. A row Kentucky Coffee Tree have now replaced them on both sides of the roadway. Great photo Andrew!
Great shot! I think it is looking east though, not west.
Yes Tom, thanks, I’ve fixed that error… 🙂
The old Toledo Scale Co. water tower and two story wooden structure are visible in the extreme upper right of this wonderful photo. I worked there from 1974 to 1987. My nearby house on Fraser Ave was yet to be built. Good memories of my years in Windsor.
And the old Chrysler heavy truck plant is visible in the upper left of the photo, at the corner of Tecumseh and McDougall.
Pretty cool seeing Tecumseh Road with a boulevard.
Is that the old racetrack grandstand just visible about the middle of the photo to the extreme right ?
WED, if you mean the grandstand behind Kennedy Collegiate Then no. That is the first incarnation of Kennedy Stadium (to be taken by City of Windsor and renamed Windsor Stadium later).
I see my childhood home in what appears to be the end of its construction. Lots of memories of that area, though of course it looked much different by the 70s and 80s. The two little houses on the east side of Pelissier were moved and the space used for expanded parking for what was the Hacienda at the time. The little section of sidewalk to the road for at least one of the two houses is still there. And of course the Colonial House long gone.
We played in and around the grandstand in the fifties without knowing it was once for horseracing. This pic gives a great idea of how the track became Jackson Park and KCI. Those must be paddocks beside the grandstand? Is that a horse and buggy on Pelissier? Hanna and Victoria sure look barren. Wonderful pic Andrew!
I read that the area that became Jackson Park was used as a training ground for WWI soldiers. Wonder if what appear to be rectangular bare spots and circular design between Tecumseh and the grandstand resulted from the barracks that once housed those soldiers?
That row of trees appears to border a street–possibly Ouelette? I am puzzled, as my understanding was Ouellette used to end in a turn a round just south of Tecumseh. Before my time. Can anyone out there clarify this for me?
No Dave.I guessed that the smaller track behind Kennedy was to be the eventual Windsor Stadium. I was reffering to the very small portion of a dark roof at the far right end of the photograph which looks as if it would be directly across from the stadium. Did the grandstand face east ?
You’re right “Ex-Pat”, it did end in a turn-around south of Tecumseh. The Boer War monument (now in the sunken gardens) was moved from the old post office downtown and placed on the turn-around facing towards Tecumseh. It was moved to the gardens to make way for the Ouelette overpass. If you walked past the monument, you’d see the bandstand as you walked along the treed path shown in the pic.
what year did they finally extend Ouellette Ave south to the way it is now??
I took the bus home from St. Mary’s Aca at that corner for many many years in the 30s and 40s. Nice to see it again as it was.
I don’t remember the turn around. The bus turned the corner at Ouellete and Tecumseh and went on its way.
Gary, they began the footings over the railroad tracks and through Woodall’s little pitch and putt course not long after the grandstand burned down, which was around ’57 or ’58?
Here is a good view of the intersection in 1915 looking North in 1915… courtesy of the Windsor Star.
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2011/03/15/rail-lines-on-ouellette/
Gary, it was done by 1962… http://internationalmetropolis.com/2013/04/10/jackson-park-overpass-1962/
WED sorry, I see where you are referring to now. I would believe those would be the ones because they were still standing at this time.
WED, my guess is that it is likely the grandstand facing east… the afternoon sun would not be shining in the eyes of the spectators. Every racetrack I have seen has this orientation… but there may be exceptions.
Lanny, Hanna and Victoria are not visible in that pic. 🙂 Thanks Andrew! Wonderful find!