A view of the Ford Powerhouse on Riverside Drive and Cadillac, from the mid 1950’s shortly after it was expanded. Originally designed by Albert Kahn in 1924, the building still stands, and is still in use today.
Hiding in the left corner is a nice view of the old Riverview Hospital (demolished).
Crescent Lanes first opened on Ottawa Street in 1944 at 1055 Ottawa Street, opposite Lanspeary…
Above is a photo of the home of Mr & Mrs Oswald Janisse, located at…
in 1917 two Greek brothers Gus & Harry Lukos purchased a one story building on…
Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week…
An unremarkable end to a part of Windsor's history. The large vacant house at 841…
One for the lost Windsor files, is this house that once belonged to Joseph Reaume…
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RobS. It was the early 1990s. It was originally a school. My Grandfather was there for a few years before he passed away. As akid I always thought it was a neat old building and you could definitely tell it was a school.
@Uzzy. Some days the brain works, some days it doesn't. Sorry for having wasted electrons. Did Kahn design other Windsor buildings?
@Douglas, yes he's got many buildings in Windsor. If you search this site, you'll see a lot of them.
Actually, on the topic of Kahn designed buildings - is there a "master list" of all his work in Windsor? The city's list of heritage buildings is helpful, but it would be nice to have all his known work for Windsor in one list.
A popular misconception about power houses, is that the steam released from the stacks is smoke. It is the vapour from the water in the boilers.
Thank you Colette. Most people think that if you have a smokestack that you are the evil one making pollution when in fact all co-gen plants are gas fired just like your furnace in your house. There is only Lambton generating station burning coal and because of “scrubbers” in the stacks, you see nothing coming out. Back in 1968, Ford installed scubbers voluntarily on their stacks at the foundry by a company called Centri-spray out of Lansing. Their office was the Valiant plant at Tec. and Jefferson. Now, these were not up to today's standards but it was a start for things to come. Unfortunately we see the condensate from Zug Island all day if you drive west on Tec. Road, endorsing the old stereotype and giving modern plants a bad rap.
Riverview was a public school before a hospital. That whole area east of it was once owned by a scottish man named Erskine Askin, hence Erskine street. Strabane was named after his estate back in Scotland.
Riverview hospital was originally built as a public school.
Riverview Hospital was originally the Ford City School, which opened for the 1917-18 school year. It was renamed the Belle Isle School for the 1923-24 school year and then the Belle Isle Avenue School for the 1927-28 school year. It appears to have been closed as a public school after the 1931-32 school year. It was part of the Ford City and East Windsor School Boards. All this came from the 'Schools and Teachers of Ontario' or the Ontario Blue Books, which were published from 1911 to 1966. A great source of information on the Windsor area schools. One of the principals was Ada C. Richards, who later moved to the Ontario Street School. That school was named for her in the 1947-48 school year.
David Hansen, interesting information. But I find it strange that they would call it Belle Isle Avenue school, since it's not on Belle Isle Avenue. It is on Belleview Ave. Though, maybe it was called Belle Isle Avenue back then? That's possible. There is a Belle Isle View Blvd in Windsor, but it's more in the Riverside area. Maybe there was a conflict during amalgamation and this one was changed.