Yawkey Farms

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• My girlfriend grew up on Matchette Road in the late 50's and early 60's and has fond memories of Yawkey Bush.

• Hi Aaron i worked for the city public works dept for 30 years and thats what the city referered to that area as dogpath when i was a kid i always heard it referred to as Yawkey Bush and still refer to it as that it always felt like a special place to visit

• Hi Aaron i worked for the city of Windsor PWD for almost 30 years, i remember when ever someone was on restricted duties due to an ijury, they would always send people out to Dogpatch to clean up the junk i guess alot of junk and garbage have been dumped out there near the river after they built the berm people couldn't get out there nice photo of the barn by the way

• I've really enjoyed this read. How interesting. I'm still trying to find our if the Wright Mansion was located in Yawkey Bush/Ojibway/Brighton Beach ???

• This has been a great resource. I live on Malden Rd in an extreamly old house and would love to find out more about it. The house backs onto the section of ojibway between malden and matchette. A neighbour has said it used to be the "Drouillard house". Anyone know anything?

• Hi julienne. Its hard to say without knowing exactly where your house is.
  I wouldn't urge you to say so either of course lol
  It's very possible though. I'm looking at an 1880s map and just north of
  What today is Reaume, there is indeed a T. Droulliard listed. The house
  However is marked on the east side of Malden. Would you say your house
  Is close to that time period.
  Looking at google maps, there is one property that really seems to match
  The spot in the 1880s map and it's located on the east side directly across
  From Stewart. I can't see the house because of vegetation, but it's set way back
  Behind a short wood fence and has a gravel wheel rut driveway.
  From over head the property certainly looks like an old farm, and the roof seems
  To have a very old design as well. This is my candidate, but you should definitely
  Do some more digging! Thanks for being a care taker of one of these old homes
  Regardless of who's it was in he past!
  Good luck!

• Thanks, and i will look into this "T.Drouillard", but this is not my residence. I am a bit north, with the Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Resurve,(www.ojibway.ca/history.htm) behind me. I did find a 1798 map, on a history of the ojibway prairie site, which shows a Simon Droulyar, in a "crown surveyor", and i swear it is directly over where i would be. Haven't been able to find much from this on the web, but i will be reaching out to drouillard's.

• I am C Boismier and grew up in "Dogpatch". I lived on the corner of Healy and Reed. Those of you who were there in the 50's,60's, 70's and so on know me. Mrs. pinstripes I believe I know you lol. I spent many of hours in all of the bush in that area, both Yawkey, and Ojibway, and any other wooded areas in that hood. There was no better place on this planet to have my childhood !!The names "Casey, Lafleur, Lecour, and so many more are familiar to me. As a matter of fact, Casey was my first friend ,and is still one of my very best friends today. Anyway, the point I wanted to adress was that Healy street did go all the way ro the river at one time,and there were many unseen alleys there also. Another not too well know thing about that neighborhood was that all along 18 hwy between Broadway and the raceway there is a curb poured there. It has been buried many years ago. There was to be a huge sub division ,or new neighborhood, as it would have been described in that day, to go there in the late 40's, early 50's. I don't remember exactly. I know this to be a fact as my Grandfather was one of the men who worked on this project

• I grew up on the far west end of Windsor on a street initially called Alberta but later changed to Armanda. It was between Malden and Matchette Roads. I went to John O Cahill Grade School on Springarden Rd as did many of the kids my age in that area. I fondly remember family names such as Lafleur, Casey, Todd, Kaza, Keczem, Labute Brendjar and so on. Back then in the 70's, I remember riding my bike on Broadway, Healy, Chappus etc. It was a great time being a kid. I remember an old variety store on Sandwich Street near the old Power Plant, the riding stables on Matchette Rd called the Flying Dutchman and so on. I spent many a day riding my bike on the trails in Ojibway Park too. Brighton Beach was a big area of homes as I remember...I moved away from Windsor in the early 90's and have not been back. Is the area once known as Brighton Beach with neighborhoods and my memories now gone? Does anyone have pictures from back then?

• Hey Scott, my full name is Chris Boismier. I grew up there too. On Healy as I stated earlier. The name of the store you remember was Hawchucks, the other store was the gas station on the corner of Chappus and 18 highway. I was owned and operated by Mr. Paul Lecouer. The Neiborhood fondly known as "Dogpatch" or Brighton Beach, is currently being demolished to make way for the new Windsor/Detroit Bridge. It's a damn shame. What would your last name be? I knew just about everone in that hood. Living on Armanda, I'm surprised you didn't mention the Underwood family lol