Buildings of WindsorNotable WindsoritesWindsor

2177 Victoria Avenue

November 17, 2024
Built in 1929, the house at 2177 Victoria Avenue was originally numbered 1545 Victoria, pre amalgamation. From my research it appears that the home was designed by architects Trace & Diehl, who did many notable projects around Windsor at that time, including the old City Market. Looking at it on Google streetview this one looks to me to be largely unchanged and still in very original…
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Buildings of WindsorNotable Windsorites

4219 Wyandotte Street East

June 2, 2024
Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week about this house at 4219 Wyandotte Street East, on the south side of Wyandotte, just east of Rossini Boulevard. The house was built around 1877 by early settler Stanislas Janisse. His house…
Buildings of WindsorDemolitionLost WindsorNotable WindsoritesOld Newspaper Stories

Clarke Monuments - 1044 Howard Avenue

August 20, 2023
Here’s one that’s a more recently lost piece of Windsor History. This small block building on Howard, just south of Erie Street, stood from the early 1920s until about 2020. For most of a century this was the home to D Clarke Monuments, a gravestone maker that was conveniently located near to Windsor Grove Cemetery at Howard & Gilles. Don Clarke, the proprietor of the…
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MapsNotable Windsorites

The Legacy of Samuel Smith MacDonell

July 24, 2022
The name S. S. MacDonell may not mean much to the average Windsorite today, but this man was crucial to Windsor’s development, and is the man responsible for creating both Wyandotte and Erie Streets. Born in 1823 in Toronto, he went to college studied law and was…
Notable WindsoritesOld Newspaper Stories

Chief Clarence DeFields 1877-1965

January 30, 2022
Today we take a look at the life and times of Chief Clarence DeFields, Windsor’s longtime Fire Chief. He was a fireman with the Windsor Fire Department from 1900-1916 when he became the chief. He served as Fire Chief for 30 years, from 1916 until his retirement at the…
Notable WindsoritesOld Newspaper Stories

Fred Neal - 1855-1931

September 12, 2021
Fred Neal was a local historian, who’s early work “Township of Sandwich, Past & Present” left us an invaluable record of early days in Sandwich. If you don’t have a copy, or have never read it, a copy can be found here: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/swoda-windsor-region/23/ Below is the news of his passing as it ran in the Border Cities Star November 13…
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Notable Windsorites

J Clark Keith - 1886-1982

July 18, 2021
Continuing with the recent theme of notable Windsorites, today we present J Clark Keith J Clark Keith – 1976 He was an engineer who helped shape the Windsor we know today. He was born in Smith’s Falls, Ontario in 1886. His first surveying job was with the…
Notable WindsoritesWindsor

H. W. Patterson House - 2277 Lincoln Road

July 11, 2021
Image from Google Streetview Down in my neighbourhood in South Walkerville is this handsome Georgian style brick home. The house was built in 1924 by Harry W. (H.W.) Patterson. Patterson at his retirement from the Airport in 1959 Patterson was an interesting man.