In the days before E.C. Row ran though the middle of the city, the Third Concession was the east-west road located along the present route. Parts of the old Third Concession still survive today as the North Service Road.
I have always wondered what the story was with the dead end section near Howard Ave. As you can see in the map above this part of the Third ended at Howard Ave.
When the Expressway was put in, the street was closed off and relegated to service road duty.
In the days prior to Union Gas, the Windsor Gas Co. occupied a huge chunk of the land north of the Third Concession. To this day Union Gas still has some pipelines on the property.
The map above makes reference to a “Concrete Bridge”. There is still a bridge over the creek, although I’m not sure if it is the same one or not. Although the bridge on the map is shown as being smaller, than the road is wide, the maps weren’t always 100% accurate. It also shows an electric rail siding going into the Gas Company. Any rail fans know anything about an electric railroad servicing the Gas Co. in the 1930s?
The main building of the Windsor Gas Co. is still standing, and is today used by Woodall Construction.
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Apparently spelling mistakes aren't a modern innovation -- "Grand Marias Road"? Or was that the original name?
:) Malcolm I didn't even see that, otherwise I would have made fun of it!
Good catch. I just checked some other period maps, and the road is correct on those maps.
Nice story. I like the old gas building, looks straight out of a model train set (except for the blocked-off windows on the ground floor).
I saw an article in the Star about widening EC Row to 3 lanes each way, an interchange at Manning, and above-grade crossing at Lesperance with no exit there (the cemetery probably being one reason). That would reduce traffic on Lesperance to mostly local which would be nice I think.
Actually, it looks pretty accurate except for the siding. Your July 24 post on Devonshire Racetrack has a 1967 overhead photo showing most everything in the upper left. The siding is gone, but the bridge looks a bit narrow - it's kind of fuzzy to say for sure.
does anyone have pics of when ec row was first built?
If these pics do exist, and I'm sure they do, I doubt they'd be interesting. After all, it's just ten miles of cement, presuming you are talking about the "finished product" which didn't come along until the mid '80s and not the beginning of construction which started when the Beatles were still together.
How far east did the Third Concession go? To Jefferson? I know there are some old houses on North Service Road between Transit Windsor and Pillette.
Also, did it exist at any point west of Howard?
Wikipedia has a pretty interesting entry about Grand Marais Road. It makes me wonder if anyone has any pre-E.C. Row pictures of the area between Dougall and Howard.
In the late 70s/early 80s we would drive along E.C Row (the road, some of it dirt) from Banwell all the way to the back of Devonshire (Bay/Simpsons side). Like the 3rd Concession, chunks of it still exist.
Hi Andrew,
Just a bit of trivia about road construction. Most roads when designed have a 60 ft. allowance. Most road lanes are about 9 or 10'. which leaves about 20 on either side for shoulder and ditches. So that said, I see from the picture that the concrete bridge is about 25' wide, so that works. And Happy New year from Kingston. Love your site.
I clearly remember going to a variety store at the corner of 3rd Concession and Dominion in the mid-70s, before EC Row. Also recall when the fence that surrounds EC Row was first put up at the end of our street. And finally, in the bush that used to exist behind Bellewood school, there was the remains of a house that stood along 3rd Concession.....